Wan (Alibaba) Review 2026: Wan 3.0 Tops the Leaderboard, Cheapest Per Second
Wan (Alibaba) — 8.1/10
Alibaba’s Wan 3.0 ranks first on Artificial Analysis’s text-to-video leaderboard, makes clips up to 30 seconds at 1080p, with API prices from about $0.05 per second; the older Wan 2.2 is open-weight and free to self-host.
- You need lots of clips at the lowest cost
- You can use an API or a third-party platform
- You want to self-host an open model (Wan 2.2)
- You want an app that just works
- You need official customer support
- You’re new to AI video
No. 1 on the leaderboard, clips up to 30 seconds, cheapest per-second price, older open-weight version
Hard for beginners; Wan 3.0 is no longer open-weight; the official app is still limited
Research-based review: official pricing pages, docs, the Artificial Analysis leaderboard and public user feedback, checked October 30, 2026
What Wan is
Wan is Alibaba’s family of AI video models. Wan 3.0 launched on August 24, 2026 (public beta from August 6). It makes clips up to 30 seconds in a single pass, up to 1080p, with multilingual voice (not yet independently verified). On Artificial Analysis’s text-to-video leaderboard (October 2026), Wan 3.0 ranks first.
Pricing
Wan 3.0 is priced per second of video: about $0.05 at 480p, $0.10 at 720p and $0.20 at 1080p, far below Veo 3.1 (about $0.40 per second at the standard tier). The older Wan 2.2 is open-weight (Apache-2.0) and free to self-host if you have a powerful machine.
Downsides
Alibaba kept Wan 3.0’s weights closed, unlike earlier versions. The wan.video service is planned as members-only and API access is still rolling out, so beginners usually go through a third-party platform; for example, Runway resells Wan 3.
Verdict
Wan suits creators who need many clips at low cost and don’t mind some technical setup. For an easier app, see Hailuo AI or Google Flow (Veo). To assemble and color grade clips: DaVinci Resolve.
Compare: Wan vs Hailuo AI 2026