Wan 3.0
Top-tier video from text or images, clips up to 30 seconds, at half Veo 3.1's price. MiniMax H3 costs less.
Should you use it?
Pick it if
Creators who want leading quality and longer clips at a mid-range price.
Best for: Longer clips, up to 30 seconds, from text, image, video or audio (Video models Top 20)
Skip it if
You need the lowest price per minute; MiniMax H3 is close in quality for less.
You give up: Weights are closed, unlike Wan 2.2; MiniMax H3 costs less per minute
The short version
- What this is
- Alibaba's newest video model. It turns text, images, audio or video into clips up to 30 seconds long at up to 1080p, through Alibaba Cloud's API.
- Why it matters
- It is one of the best-rated video models in blind tests and costs about half as much per second as Veo 3.1.
- Scores 89 for video: top 6 on both arena.ai video boards and first on Artificial Analysis text to video.
- About $10 to $12 per minute of 1080p video, pay as you go.
- Closed weights; MiniMax H3 is the cheaper near-equal.
Good at
Our take
Wan 3.0 is a safe default for video right now. It sits in the top group on both arena.ai video boards s1 s2 and leads Artificial Analysis's text to video arena s3. The 30 second clip length is double many rivals' and helps for short ads or explainers s5.
It is not the cheapest strong option. MiniMax H3 scores a little lower, 84 against 89, and costs less than half as much per minute s3. Alibaba's page lists audio as an input; whether clips come with generated sound is not stated there, so check before you rely on it s5.
Score
A score from 0 to 100 per job, against everything available today. Overall 89 across 1 job, the average of the job scores.
New to this? What the scores and labels mean
- 0 to 100
- Our score for one job, like writing or coding, compared with everything else out today. 100 is the best available today. For AI models we build it from public data, such as Arena's blind votes and Epoch AI's independent tests; apps and tools are scored on our own checklist. The same tool can score differently for different jobs, and where two likely ranges overlap, we call it a tie.
- Our verdict
- Use it: a top choice for most people. Worth trying: good, and worth a go. Depends: good for some people or one kind of job. Wait: too early to tell, or not out for everyone yet. Skip: something else does the job better.
- First look
- Just released. We say what it is and whether to bother, and give it a score once public results exist.
- No score yet
- None of the public sources we use covers it yet, or the only evidence is from a source whose numbers we can't use, so we describe it in words instead.
- Best buy
- Nothing cheaper scores as well for that job.
- Best free
- The best score for that job that costs nothing, through a free plan or by running on your own computer.
- Pay as you go
- No monthly plan: you pay for each use, usually through a developer account.
- Checked
- The day we last confirmed the score and the price against the sources. Prices change often, so check the date.
- AI model
- The engine underneath, like GPT or Claude. You use it through an app or, if you code, directly.
- Open source
- Free to download and run on your own computer, so nothing leaves your machine.
#3 of the 5 we have scored for this job.
From blind votes (Arena) · Arena data, CC BY 4.0
2 sourcesData read 20 Oct
Alternatives
Better or cheaper for video, from our scores, then the ones we'd also look at. The same kind of product comes first.
- Gemini Omni Flash 1.1BetterVideo model100$4.99 a monthScores 100 in video, against 89 here; $4.99 a month. Pick it for the top arena.ai text to video rank at a lower per-minute price on Artificial Analysis. Side by side
- MiniMax H3Video model84Pay as you goPick it for cheaper strong video, especially from a starting image; it scores 84 against 89 here. Side by side
- Seedance 2.5Video model88Pay as you goSimilar quality on the boards, but Artificial Analysis lists it at almost 3x the price. Side by side
Evidence
Everything behind the call and the scores, folded so the page stays short. Spotted a wrong price, score or link? Report a mistake.
How we scored this
The video score is our own, built from public data: blind votes on Arena and, where they cover the job, Epoch AI's independent tests. How we combine them is our method and we don't publish it.
Public leaderboardIndependent test
Reviews are drafted with help from AI models, including Anthropic's Claude. Model scores come only from outside leaderboards and independent evaluations, by a written rule.
No one paid for this review or gave us free access, and we earn nothing if you sign up. How we score
Sources 7
- s1arena.ai Image to Video leaderboard
- s2arena.ai Text to Video leaderboard
- s3Artificial Analysis text to video leaderboard
- s4Artificial Analysis image to video leaderboard
- s5Alibaba Cloud Model Studio: Wan3.0 video
- s6Alibaba Cloud Model Studio privacy notice
- s7The Next Web: Alibaba launches Wan3.0 video model
Something here out of date or wrong? Report a mistake and we will check it against the source.
History 1 change
Every change to a rating, the price or our call, with the reason. Scores are against what exists on the day, so they drift down as better things ship. Older entries come from before we moved to scores.
- New: Video ratedReviewed: video. Same day: re-derived under our updated rules.
Use it well 4 guides on this site
Pages on this site that help with the jobs above.