Which 8s 9:16 720p model fits a $1.00, $1.50 or $2.50 per-clip ceiling

Under a $1.00 ceiling per clip, three models fit an 8-second 9:16 clip on Sume: minimax-h3 at 60 cents (768p, not 720p), wan-3.0 at 100 cents and gemini-omni-flash-1.1 at 100 cents. At $1.50 kling-3 with audio off joins at 112 cents. At $2.50 every model in the set fits, including seedance-2-fast at 242 cents.

OpenAI removed the Videos API on 2026-09-24 and named no replacement, and most teams that lost sora-2 have a per-clip price in mind already. Start from the ceiling and see which models are left.

The ceiling table

A model fits when its billable cents per clip are at or below the ceiling. The ceilings are 100, 150 and 250 cents.

Edge cases that change the answer

Seedance-2-mini at 152 cents misses the $1.50 ceiling by 2 cents. If the prompt can run at 6 seconds it costs 114 cents and fits. Kling with audio on is 168 cents, which is why a silent track matters in the table. Seedance-2-fast at 242 cents fits only at the top ceiling, and at 6 seconds (182 cents) it fits $2.00 but not $1.50.

MiniMax is the lowest row, but it counts only if 768p is acceptable. If a spec says 1280x720 exactly, treat it as not fitting at any ceiling, because the catalog says 768p is a native tier and not 720p.

What a ceiling means for a batch

A ceiling also caps the batch. At 100 cents per clip, 250 clips cost at most $250.00; at 150 cents, $375.00; at 250 cents, $625.00. Models under the ceiling cost less than that, so the real bill is lower, and the ceiling is the number to put in a budget approval.

Set the ceiling in your submit script too. Before it sends a job, the script looks up the model's cents for the requested length and resolution, and skips the row with a message if the price is above the ceiling. A typo in a duration then costs nothing.

Using the table well

A ceiling is a filter, not a recommendation. Among the models that fit, differences in motion, audio and how closely they follow a prompt matter more than a few cents. Run your five hardest prompts on each candidate, and take the cheapest one that you would approve.

The total for a library follows from the per-clip figure: 1,000 clips at wan-3.0 or Omni is $1,000.00, at Kling silent $1,120.00 and at seedance-2-fast $2,420.00. Pick the ceiling, then multiply.

• Ceilings are for 8 seconds; recompute for other lengths from the grid.
• Audio is a price choice only on Kling.
• The catalog lists limits per model, so check supported_durations before you assume a length.