Best AI for generating video
If you are building a narrative, Seedance 2.5 comes first today: it produces up to 30 seconds of video in one generation and takes up to 50 reference files. Its resolution ceiling is 720p, though, so if the output goes to a client, Kling VIDEO 3.0 and its native 4K is the better call.
- four models, all ranked
- numbers from vendor documentation
- Iran column with its method stated
Last checked: This is a reference page. It is re-checked against the vendor sources and updated when a new version ships. What changed
The ranking today, from what each vendor published itself
Every number in this table was read in the vendor own documentation. An empty cell means the vendor published no figure, not that the figure is zero.
| Rank | Tool | Score | Clip length in one pass 30 | Resolution ceiling 25 | Reference inputs 20 | Scene control 15 | Access from Iran 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seedance 2.5 Current pick | 65.0 | 30 seconds Source | 720 lines of vertical resolution Source | 50 reference inputs Source | 4/4 Up to fifty reference inputs across three types, plus editing an existing video and extending it twice: scene control and post-generation editing in one model | not verified |
| 2 | Kling VIDEO 3.0 | 46.2 | 15 seconds Source | 2,160 lines of vertical resolution Source | 7 reference inputs Source | 3/4 Multi-shot storyboarding, character locking and binding a voice to each character; post-generation editing exists only in the Omni mode, which caps at 1080p, not on the 4K path | not checked / no working route Kling publishes no supported-countries list, so we say nothing about network reachability and we have run no test from inside Iran. What we did read is their own user policy: you have to warrant that you are not subject to any sanctions or embargoes. Subscriptions are paid by international card only. |
| 3 | Veo 3.1 | 40.0 | 8 seconds Source | 2,160 lines of vertical resolution Source | 3 reference inputs Source | 2/4 Up to three reference images, first and last frame, and extending an earlier video, but no separate camera control and no regional editing of a finished video | blocked / no working route We opened Google supported-countries list ourselves today and read it: the list jumps from Indonesia straight to Iraq, and Iran is not on it. That is reading a page, not measuring a network; a direct test from inside Iran has not been run yet. |
| 4 | Runway Gen-4.5 | 2.7 | 10 seconds Source | 720 lines of vertical resolution Source | not verified | 1/4 The API schema exposes prompt text and one first-frame image; no reference array, no audio parameter, no editing of a finished video | not checked / no working route Runway publishes no country list, but its terms of use state that its products and services are subject to US export control laws and may not be exported or re-exported without prior US government authorisation. We read that on their own page rather than measuring a network. |
An empty cell means we could not verify that number, not that the tool scored zero.
How this ranking is calculated
Every criterion below has a weight and a source. Change a weight and the whole table recomputes. There is no hand-placed position anywhere in this hub.
| Criterion | Weight | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Clip length in one pass | 30 | vendor stated specificationThe longest clip the model produces in a single generation. Single-pass length is what removes the edit, and with it the chance of a face shifting between shots |
| Resolution ceiling | 25 | vendor stated specificationThe ceiling in lines of vertical resolution, from the vendor own docs. 4K here means generating at that size, not upscaling afterwards |
| Reference inputs | 20 | vendor stated specificationHow many reference files one generation accepts. For a consistent character or product this number matters more than the resolution |
| Scene control | 15 | defined scale, with a written reason per assignmentThe only ordinal criterion in this table: from bare prompting up to full scene control plus post-generation editing. Every assignment carries a written reason |
| Access from Iran | 10 | our access column, with its method statedTwo models have data in this column and two do not. An empty cell means we have read no document, and we are not guessing |
Why Seedance 2.5 leads, and why that lead is conditional
It takes two columns outright. Length: 30 seconds in one generation against Kling fifteen and Veo eight. References: 50 input files, being 30 images, 10 videos and 10 audio clips, against seven and three. For anyone who needs one character to hold across a story, those two numbers outweigh everything else.
The same model loses the resolution column completely. ByteDance own API documentation allows only 480p and 720p for Seedance 2.5, while listing four values up to 4k for Seedance 2.0. In that one column the newer model went backwards from its own predecessor. We saw the same thing again in Runway API schema, which resells the model.
So who should take Kling
Anyone delivering the output to a client. Kling VIDEO 3.0 is the only model in this table with native 4K, and native is the part that matters: upscalers move faces, and the character drifts between shots. Its fifteen seconds are enough for an advertising shot. It comes with one constraint they wrote down and so do we: the reference-driven Omni mode caps at 1080p, so 4K and heavy referencing do not happen in one generation.
The thing none of the four has
Persian. Kling own guide counts five speech languages: Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. Persian is not on that list, and none of the other three names Persian among its speech languages either. So for a Persian video, whichever route you take, the voice is a separate step. If you read somewhere that one of these speaks Persian, ask for the source.
Two things deliberately missing from the table
First, generation time. The owner of this reference asked that generation speed carry weight, and they were right, because in real work waiting time turns straight into cost. But not one of these four vendors publishes a generation time. We do not lift an unpublished number from someone blog, so the column was never built, and its place in the data model sits empty until somebody prints a figure.
Second, price. Runway API price list is the one place where several of these are priced in one currency and one unit: a credit is one cent, Gen-4.5 is twelve credits per second, Seedance 2.5 at 720p is thirty and Veo 3.1 with audio is forty. That is twelve, thirty and forty cents per second of output. But Kling is not on that list, and its own pricing is in credits tied to a subscription tier. A column that leaves a quarter of the table empty and fills the rest with a reseller price misleads more than it helps.
Why Sora is not in the table at all
Because we have read nothing from OpenAI. openai.com, sora.com and sora.chatgpt.com all return 403 to our server, through our own fetcher and through plain curl. We do not even know the current version name of Sora, and we do not write a version name we have not seen. We did not give it an empty row either, because this table ranks versions and we have no version to name. The day those pages open, it gets added here.
What we have not looked at
We opened Higgsfield and found that what it sells is not its own model: it serves Seedance 2.5 and other people models on its own platform, the way Runway does. So it has no place in a table that measures models. Hailuo, Grok Imagine and Luma have not been assessed. Their absence means we have not got to them, not that they failed.
When not to take our first pick
- If you want an explainer with Persian narration, this table is not a complete answer: none of them speaks Persian and the voice is a separate step.
- If all you need is a five second silent shot, the cheapest row will do and the top of the table is money wasted.
- If you want a long video in 4K, none of these four does that in a single generation today.
Where it falls short
- Generation time has no column here, because no vendor publishes the number.
- Neither does price: three of the models are priced in dollars on Runway list and Kling is not.
- The Iran column carries data for two of the four models; the rest read as unknown.
- Kling reference-input figure comes from the Omni mode guide, because the 3.0 guide itself prints no count.
- Sora is absent because no OpenAI page opens for our server.
- Every number comes from vendor documentation rather than from our own testing; we have not run these four side by side on one prompt.
Our take
For narrative and a character that holds, Seedance 2.5. For professional delivery, Kling. For wiring video into software you are building, Veo 3.1. And if cost is the only thing that binds you, Gen-4.5. If the output has to be in Persian, put a voice step in the plan from day one: that is the one thing none of these four solves for you.
Questions people actually ask
What is the best AI video generator
For narrative and a consistent character, Seedance 2.5, with 30 seconds in one generation and 50 reference inputs. For output at delivery quality, Kling VIDEO 3.0, the only native 4K model in this table.
Which model makes the longest video
Seedance 2.5, at 30 seconds in one generation. Kling gives fifteen, Gen-4.5 ten and Veo 3.1 eight. Veo can go longer through extension, but an extended output is 720p only.
Which AI video model speaks Persian
None of these four. Kling, the one that publishes its speech-language list, names five and Persian is not among them. For a Persian video, produce the voice separately.
Can these be used from Iran
Veo has no official route; Iran is not on Google supported-countries list. For Kling and Seedance we have read no document and will not guess. We sell no accounts and recommend no circumvention.
If what you need is a finished, publishable video rather than a raw clip, that is the work in our motion graphics service