Prism StudiosModel Leaderboard
Live · data checked Oct 18, 2026, 6:10 AM ET

October 2026 · Video

The best AI video models right now

Best overall

MiniMax H3 Max (on fal)

MiniMax

It is the one model in the statistical top tie of both public video arenas that also held up in our own tests. In our October lip-sync test the faces held with no morphing, and it accepts a real person's face, which several top models refuse. It is also among the cheapest per second in that top tier.

Our testLip-synced talking charactersOct 4, 2026Arena#5 of 23 · tied with #1Image to video arena, as MiniMax H3 MaxCost$0.26 per 5-second clip at 768p (promo price until Oct 31, then $0.40)fal.ai page
Why it won, with the evidence

Best value

MiniMax H3 (768p) same family as best overall

#1 on the image to video arena · $5.40 per minute of video (price listed by Artificial Analysis)

It is #1.

The rule: the cheapest model that would still win at least 4 of every 10 blind matchups against #1 (within 70 Elo points). A formula, not an opinion, so no one can buy their way onto it. Image to video is how most production work gets made: you design the frame, then animate it. So Best Value is read off that board.

Best for the job

If you needUseEvidenceWhat to know
Talking characters, lip-synced to your own audioMiniMax H3 Max (on fal)Our test, Oct 4, 2026Feed it the image and your voice track. Identity held in all 4 test shots. Lip sync scored 6 of 10 from our AI grader, so judge your own shots by eye.
Flat 2D explainer animationKling 3.0Our test, Jun 13, 2026Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.0 and Vidu Q3 tied at 9 of 10 on our cartoon fox. Kling Standard is the cheapest of the three at 720p.
A video starring a real personWan 3.0Our test, Sep 15, 2026MiniMax H3 and Wan 3.0 accept a real face. Seedance and Gemini Omni refused in our check, so they are out for anything with a real person in it.
Action, fights and fast physicsSeedance 2.0 and 2.5Practitioners, Jun 13, 2026The practitioners we follow rate Seedance first for action. It is also the most expensive per second here, and it refuses real faces. We have not run our own action test yet.
Text prompt only, no starting imageWan 3.0Arena and our useNumber 1 on the text to video arena this week.

Watch out

  • LTX 2.3 Fast Scored 2 of 10 on style in our test: the face warped and the chart jittered. It is also last on the image to video arena.

See it for yourself

Our test 4 months old, archived

Flat 2D explainer animation

Which model animates a flat cartoon character without breaking the art style?

How: One source frame (our fox host, Finn) and one motion prompt, sent to four models through fal.ai. Only the model changed. Each 5-second clip was scored 1 to 10 for style, motion and usability by an AI reviewer (Gemini Flash), then checked by eye.

The source frame every model started from: Finn, a flat-vector cartoon fox pointing at a bar chart.
The frame every model started from
  • Seedance 2.0 9 / 9 / 9 130 s to render

    Style and motion held.

  • Kling 3.0 Standard 9 / 9 / 9 75 s to render

    Style and motion held.

  • Vidu Q3 9 / 9 / 9 88 s to render

    Style and motion held.

  • LTX 2.3 Fast 2 / 3 / 1 21 s to render

    Face warped, chart jittered. Unusable.

Scores: style / motion / usable, out of 10.

Limits: One frame, one style. Since June, newer versions of these models have shipped. Scores are from an AI reviewer, so a tie at 9 means none of them failed, not that they are identical.

The public arenas this week

Image to video arena (AA-Video-I2V v1.1) · You give it a picture, it animates it. Top 10 · Artificial Analysis · read Oct 18, 2026, 6:10 AM ETThe score is an Elo rating, like chess: people compare two outputs without knowing which model made them, and winners gain points. The thin line is the margin of error. When two lines overlap, the models are effectively tied. Pink is our best overall pick. Linked names have their own evidence page.
  1. 1 MiniMax H3 (768p)MiniMax 1140$5.40 per minute of video
  2. 2 Dreamina Seedance 2.5ByteDance Seed 1138$24.60 per minute of video
  3. 3 Gemini Omni Flash 1.1Google 1132$9.12 per minute of video
  4. 4 Wan 3.0Alibaba 1127$12.00 per minute of video
  5. 5 MiniMax H3 MaxFal 1125$5.76 per minute of video
  6. 6 Dreamina Seedance 2.0ByteDance Seed 1121$22.45 per minute of video
  7. 7 FLUX 3Black Forest Labs 1086$17.40 per minute of video
  8. 8 Grok Imagine Video 1.5SpaceXAI 1067$15.00 per minute of video
  9. 9 HappyHorse-1.1Alibaba-ATH 1061$9.90 per minute of video
  10. 10 MAGI-2 PreviewSand.ai 1046no price listed
Text to video arena (AA-Video-T2V v2.1) · You give it a text prompt, it makes the video. Top 10 · Artificial Analysis · read Oct 18, 2026, 6:10 AM ETThe score is an Elo rating, like chess: people compare two outputs without knowing which model made them, and winners gain points. The thin line is the margin of error. When two lines overlap, the models are effectively tied. Pink is our best overall pick. Linked names have their own evidence page.
  1. 1 Wan 3.0Alibaba 1174$12.00 per minute of video
  2. 2 Utopai XUtopai Studios 1169no price listed
  3. 3 Dreamina Seedance 2.5ByteDance Seed 1160$34.12 per minute of video
  4. 4 MiniMax H3 (768p)MiniMax 1159$4.80 per minute of video
  5. 5 MiniMax H3 MaxFal 1155$4.80 per minute of video
  6. 6 FLUX 3Black Forest Labs 1146$17.40 per minute of video
  7. 7 Dreamina Seedance 2.0ByteDance Seed 1136$22.45 per minute of video
  8. 8 Gemini Omni Flash 1.1Google 1132$9.12 per minute of video
  9. 9 Agnes-Video-2.5Sapiens AI 1068$2.40 per minute of video
  10. 10 Grok Imagine Video 1.5SpaceXAI 1060$15.00 per minute of video