AI video in October 2026: the Sora API is gone

This is the 1 October 2026 letter. Last month's letter was written ten days before a deadline, and the deadline has now passed. What follows is only what moved between mid-September and today, and what each move changes about the row you open on Monday.

The short version. One model left the API market. One Google model ID retired. Two vendors pushed output resolution up, but on their own servers. One open-weights model became official. Three names people keep typing into search still do not exist.

Sora answers with a 410 now

OpenAI removed sora-2 and sora-2-pro from its Videos API on 24 September. From 25 September a call returns 410 Gone, and OpenAI named no successor model (byteiota's migration guide). The Sora app and web had already closed on 26 April.

The status code matters more than it looks. A 500 is an outage: you back off and retry. A 410 is the server saying the resource is gone for good. If a job queue still has retry logic pointed at that endpoint, it is spending time on an answer that will never change. Delete the route. Do not wrap it in a fallback that silently swaps models, because then nobody notices which brief ran on what.

For the backlog, sort old Sora briefs by what they actually needed, not by how they looked:

• Someone talks on camera. That is Veo 3.1, 4 to 8 seconds, native audio, from 64 credits a clip.
• One long take where the face has to hold. Seedance 2.5 runs up to 30 seconds at 720p, from 34 credits.
• Volume with sound, cheaply. Wan 3.0, below.
• A clip you already have, changed. Gemini Omni Flash Edit, from 50 credits.

The full checklist, including what to export and how to re-brief, is the Sora API migration plan. If any tool still shows you a Sora option, test one generation before you promise a client anything built on it.

Google retired a preview ID, not a model

Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash went generally available on 27 August. Google's post lists 3 to 10 second clips with audio, output from 360p to 4K, extension in 10-second steps up to 40 seconds, first and last frame control, and video references. It puts 720p at about $0.10 per second on Google's own meter (Google developers blog).

The line with a date on it: Google set 30 September 2026 as the sunset for the preview model ID. Code that hard-coded the preview name in the summer is now calling a retired name. The fix is one string and one test render. The risk is that nobody owns that string, so check your integrations today rather than when a client asks why the render queue is red.

On Versely, the Omni rows bill in credits and did not change names. Omni Flash text, image and reference-to-video start at 40 credits; Gemini Omni Video starts at 29; the Edit row starts at 50. The Omni 1.1 explainer separates the controls that live only on Google's own surfaces from the rows you can run here. Read it before you brief a 40-second extend.

Resolution went up, mostly elsewhere

FLUX 3 Video now renders 2K and 4K at Black Forest Labs. From 10 September BFL lists QHD at $0.40/s and UHD at $0.80/s, with video-to-video at $0.65/s and $0.95/s. FLUX 3 itself still generates up to 20 seconds of FHD with audio (BFL release notes). BFL also shipped FLUX Video Upscale on 20 August: 1.5x to 3x, up to 4K, on clips up to 20 seconds.

Neither the 2K/4K output tier nor FLUX Video Upscale is on Versely. The FLUX 3 text-to-video row stays at up to 1080p, 5 to 20 seconds, from 34 credits. If the keeper is 1080p and the delivery spec says 4K, the upscale rows here are ByteDance Upscaler Video (from 3 credits) and Topaz Upscale Video (from 4). Upscale the take you approved, never the draft you are still arguing about.

MiniMax H3 Max gained native 1080p and a Turbo tier, per Krea's changelog on 9 September. That is one secondary source, so hold it loosely (Krea changelog). The Versely H3 Max rows still list 480p or 768p and start at 20 credits. The Turbo tier is not on Versely. Base MiniMax H3 is the 2K row, from 104 credits, and it remains the one to pick when the plate will be graded.

Kling's 4K rows spread. Kling 3.0 4K, O3 4K and O3 4K reference-to-video turned up on hosts around 27 August; sourcing on the exact date is thin. Runway's changelog for 17 and 18 September shows its MCP adding Kling O3 4K, Kling 3.0 Standard and motion control, plus frame-rate conversion (Runway changelog). On Versely the 4K Kling row is Kling Video V3 4K, from 168 credits. There is no O3 4K row here. Most vertical social does not need a 4K master, so price that decision per deliverable, not per habit.

Wan 3.0 is formal

Alibaba formally released Wan 3.0 on 24 August. The announced spec is 30 seconds at 30 fps, 480p, 720p or 1080p, audio on by default, up to 10 image, 5 video and 5 audio references, and a document mode that turns PDFs, decks or webpages into video (WinBuzzer).

The Versely rows are narrower than the launch post. Wan 3.0 runs 2 to 15 seconds at 480p, 720p or 1080p with native audio, from 6 credits. The faster Prime tier starts at 11. So the 30-second number is Alibaba's; a Versely take tops out at 15. Two takes and a cut is the honest workaround. At that entry price Wan 3.0 is the row to draft on when the brief is still moving and you need sound in the draft.

The rest of the field, briefly

• Runway shipped no new model. Gen-4.5 is still its latest. Its September news was distribution, other companies' models inside its MCP. The Versely Gen-4.5 row starts at 200 credits and stays a camera-control pick.
• Vidu S2 went real-time on 15 September. S2-Avatar is an interactive character at up to 720p, up from 540p. S2-Editing changes a live stream as it plays (ShengShu on PR Newswire). Vidu S2 is not on Versely. The closest row is Vidu Q3, from 28 credits, and it renders files, not live sessions. Real-time is a different product class, so do not expect a rendered row to stand in for it.
• Mirage, formerly Captions, launched Tesseract on 22 September. It is an agent-driven editing and motion-graphics suite, not a generation model, and the local engine is free (Fortune). Mirage's Avatar X script-to-avatar rows are in the Versely catalog.
• Seedance 2.5 reached API resellers around mid-August at 4 to 30 seconds, 24 fps, with audio, per one secondary source (cellcog). The Versely row was already live.
• LTX-2.5 open weights (22B, multi-shot in one pass, 4K HDR) landed 11 August, again from one secondary source (ComfyUI Wiki). The hosted LTX 2.5 rows start at 44 credits (Fast) and 58 (Pro).

Still not announced

Kling 4.0. Veo 4. Seedance 3.0. None of them had been announced by any vendor as of 1 October. If a video, a thread or a pitch deck calls any of them "released", it is wrong. There is no Veo 4 walks through Google's actual lineup. Do not hold a Q4 content plan for a model that has no announcement, no API and no date.

Which row for which job, as of 1 October

Credits are the starting figure on each Versely row. Length and resolution raise them.

Job	Row	From
Dialogue on camera, 4 to 8 s	Veo 3.1	64 credits
Cheaper dialogue drafts	Veo 3.1 Fast	16 credits
One take up to 30 s, identity holds	Seedance 2.5	34 credits
Draft with sound while the brief moves	Wan 3.0	6 credits
Same, faster turnaround	Wan 3.0 Prime	11 credits
Up to 20 s with audio at 1080p	FLUX 3 text-to-video	34 credits
Change a clip you already have	Gemini Omni Flash Edit	50 credits
Prompt plus references, 4 to 10 s	Gemini Omni Video	29 credits
2K plate for grading	MiniMax H3	104 credits
Low-res H3 look on a budget	MiniMax H3 Max	20 credits
True 4K master	Kling Video V3 4K	168 credits
Camera control	Runway Gen-4.5	200 credits
1080p keeper to 4K	ByteDance Upscaler / Topaz	3 / 4 credits

What to change this week

Delete Sora routes and their retries. A 410 does not come back.

Search your code for the Omni preview ID. Replace it with the 1.1 Flash ID on Google, or move the job to a Versely Omni row.

Stop quoting launch-post specs as row specs. Wan 3.0's 30 seconds, FLUX 3's 4K and H3 Max's 1080p are vendor or host numbers. The Versely rows say 15 seconds, 1080p and 768p. Brief to the row.

Draft cheap, finish expensive. Wan 3.0 or Veo 3.1 Fast for iteration; Veo 3.1, Seedance 2.5 or H3 for the take that ships; upscale last.

The November letter will be short if nothing on this page changes. Run the rows above in the web app or the mobile app; it is one catalog on both screens.

FAQ

Did OpenAI announce a Sora replacement for the API?

No. The shutdown notice named no successor. Calls to sora-2 and sora-2-pro return 410 Gone from 25 September. Map each old brief to a job and pick the row for that job.

Can I get FLUX 3 in 4K on Versely?

Not today. The 2K and 4K tiers are on BFL's own API. The Versely FLUX 3 rows go to 1080p. Render the keeper at 1080p, then run it through an upscale row.

Is Veo 4 or Kling 4 coming this month?

Neither is announced. Neither is Seedance 3.0. Plan on Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.5, which you can run today.