Compare AI video generators
OpenAI closed the Sora app on April 26, 2026 and shut down the Sora API on September 24, 2026. M Studio is a script-to-film tool you can use today, with storyboards, video, voice, music and editor export.
M Studio is a Sora alternative you can still use. Sora is no longer an option: OpenAI closed the app on April 26, 2026 and shut down the Sora 2 models and the Videos API on September 24, 2026, with no one-to-one replacement API. Pick M Studio if you need a working tool that plans a film from your screenplay and makes a storyboard picture, a clip, voiceover and music for each shot. If you still have Sora work, OpenAI's help article points to sora.chatgpt.com/sunset for export and says the data is deleted after any final export window.
Switching is probably not worth it if you only used Sora for single clips from a prompt and another clip generator already does that for you; M Studio is built to plan a whole film from a screenplay.
Prepared by the M Studio team. Last checked against OpenAI Sora’s own pages. How we checked
M Studio vs OpenAI Sora
Availability
Available. A browser app with nothing to install; plans from $27/month, and a $1 trial for 24 hours.
Video generation
MiniMax H3: text or picture to video, shots of 5 to 15 seconds, up to 9 reference images per shot.
Storyboard and planning
Import a screenplay PDF or write a brief; M Studio plans scenes, a shot list and the cast, then lays out the storyboard on a canvas.
Script to cut
Script, storyboard, video clips, voice, music, and sound without moving files between tools
One session
First cut in one session: storyboard, video clips, and an animatic from your script
Edit-ready
Export MP4, WebM, or MOV (1080p on Starter, 4K from Professional), or hand the cut to your editor as FCPXML or EDL
Models from these AI providers
At a glance
M Studio is open for new projects. Sora's app closed on April 26, 2026, and its API on September 24, 2026.
M Studio plans scenes, a shot list and the cast from a screenplay. Sora made clips from text or images, with a storyboard tool to set the inputs frame by frame.
M Studio makes voiceover, music and sound effects as separate tracks. Sora 2 made speech, sound effects and background sound inside each clip.
Static board vs motion
Drag the handle to compare a static storyboard with the video clip M Studio makes from it.
Drag the handle to compare the static board with the M Studio video clip.
Script, characters, pictures, video, voice and the timeline that ties them together — every part of making a film lives in one place. Pick a tool to see it in action.
Editor — Lay your shots out on a real timeline and cut them together.
Feature by feature
The answer in each cell, with the plan it needs. A check marks the stronger side for a writer-director making a film from a script; an equals sign means neither is stronger. Each OpenAI Sora cell links the page we read it on.
| What you need | M Studio | OpenAI Sora |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Stronger here:From $27/month, billed monthly; no free plan | Discontinued: the app closed April 26, 2026 and the API shut down September 24, 2026; no Sora plan can be boughtRead on help.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Availability | Stronger here:Available. A browser app with nothing to install; plans from $27/month, and a $1 trial for 24 hours. | Discontinued. The Sora 2 models and the Videos API were shut down on September 24, 2026, and OpenAI lists no one-to-one replacement API.Read on developers.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora 2) |
| Video generation | Stronger here:MiniMax H3: text or picture to video, shots of 5 to 15 seconds, up to 9 reference images per shot. | Sora 2 took text or an image and returned video with synced audio, at 720x1280 or 1280x720. No longer available.Read on developers.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora 2) |
| Storyboard and planning | Stronger here:Import a screenplay PDF or write a brief; M Studio plans scenes, a shot list and the cast, then lays out the storyboard on a canvas. | A storyboard tool to set the inputs for each frame, launched with Sora in December 2024. It closed with the app.Read on openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
| Voice, music and sound effects | Stronger here:Voiceover in 12 languages, music and sound effects as separate tracks, mixed on a timeline (volume, trim, fade). | Sora 2 made background soundscapes, speech and sound effects inside each clip. No longer available.Read on openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora 2) |
| Consistent characters | Stronger here:One reference image per character, sent with every shot that mentions the character. | The Sora app's characters feature put a person into scenes after a one-time video and audio recording. It closed with the app.Read on openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora app) |
| Getting your work out | Stronger here:Export MP4, WebM or MOV, plus FCPXML and EDL for Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro. 1080p on Starter; 4K on Professional ($99/month). | OpenAI's help article says to export Sora content at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset, and that the data is permanently deleted after any final export window.Read on help.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 |
Same job, both tools
24 shots of 5 seconds, each with a storyboard picture and a video clip, plus a voiceover and music. Budget three takes of every clip and two of every picture. One person, one month, billed monthly.
$27/month
Starter, billed monthly
Starter includes a $90 monthly generation budget. A storyboard picture costs $0.25 (GPT Image) and video costs $0.05 a second (MiniMax H3), so the 48 pictures and 72 five-second clips use $30 of it. Voiceover, music and sound effects do not draw on the budget. Exports are 1080p; 4K export needs Professional at $99/month.
Read on mstudio.ai, Oct 25, 2026Not available
None: Sora is discontinued
This job cannot be done on Sora at any price. OpenAI closed the Sora app on April 26, 2026 and shut down the Sora 2 models and the Videos API on September 24, 2026, and lists no one-to-one replacement API.
Read on developers.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora 2)Decision fit
OpenAI discontinued the Sora web and app experiences on April 26, 2026.
OpenAI removed the Videos API and the sora-2 and sora-2-pro models with their snapshots; its deprecations page lists no recommended replacement.
OpenAI's help article says to export at sora.chatgpt.com/sunset, and that Sora data is permanently deleted after any final export window.
Sources:Read on help.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on developers.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026Read on developers.openai.com, Oct 15, 2026
Decision fit
M Studio reads the PDF and plans scenes, a shot list and the cast, then writes each shot's picture and video prompt.
Voiceover in 12 languages, music and sound effects are separate tracks on a timeline, so you can change one without remaking a clip.
The delivery package carries FCPXML and EDL, so the cut opens as a timeline in your editor.
A $1 trial for 24 hours storyboards your first 10 shots; then the plan you chose starts unless you cancel. Starter is $27/month.
Decision fit
Neither of these is available any more.
At its December 2024 launch, Sora made clips up to 20 seconds and up to 1080p from text, and could extend, remix and blend your own assets.
The Sora 2 app's characters feature put you or a friend into a scene after a one-time video and audio recording.
Sources:Read on openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora (December 2024))Read on openai.com, Oct 15, 2026 (Sora 2)
Switching
Switching is probably not worth it if you only used Sora for single clips from a prompt and another clip generator already does that for you; M Studio is built to plan a whole film from a screenplay.
How we checked
Prepared by the M Studio team. We make M Studio, so read this as a vendor's comparison and check the linked sources. Each fact about another product links the page we read it on, with the date we read it. "Read on" means we read it on that vendor's own pricing page, docs or release notes; we did not run its product for this page. M Studio facts come from our live plans and model list. We last checked the OpenAI Sora facts on .
Why M Studio
Script, storyboard, video clips, voice, sound, and export, with no handoffs between single-purpose tools.
Script, storyboard, video, voice, and sound in a single workflow — no tool switching.
Export the finished film in 4K on Professional and up (1080p on Starter).
Write, direct, and narrate films end to end — scripts, dialogue, and voiceover in your language.
You own what you make — use it commercially, on YouTube or for clients.
How it works
M Studio builds a film shot by shot, and you direct every shot — this is the whole path, start to finish.
Start from a one-line brief, or import a screenplay PDF and build straight from the pages you already wrote.
Scenes, action and dialogue laid out shot by shot — editable line by line before anything renders.
Add each character once with a reference image so the same face carries across every shot in the film.
Your script breaks into shots on a canvas. Reorder, reframe and re-prompt any shot until the board reads right.
Turn approved storyboard pictures into video clips one shot at a time, then layer voiceover, music and sound effects.
Take the finished cut out as an MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 4K on Professional and up, ready for the edit or the pitch.
There is no length cap in the editor. Because films are made shot by shot, how long a film can run comes down to how many video clips your plan includes — not a limit in the tool.
FAQ
Common questions about workflow, AI generation, audio integration, and export capability.
It depends on what you compare, because Sora has no price now: OpenAI closed the app on April 26, 2026 and shut down the API on September 24, 2026. M Studio starts at $27/month on Starter, and our 2-minute pitch trailer uses $30 of Starter's $90 budget.
No. The Sora web and app experiences closed on April 26, 2026, and the Sora 2 models and the Videos API shut down on September 24, 2026. OpenAI lists no one-to-one replacement API.
It depends on whether OpenAI still offers an export window. Its help article points to sora.chatgpt.com/sunset and says Sora data is permanently deleted after any final export window, so export as soon as you can.
No. M Studio makes every clip with MiniMax H3. For storyboard pictures you choose between GPT Image (the default), Nano Banana 2, Seedream 5.0 and Flux Klein.
Yes. Sora 2 made speech, sound effects and background sound inside each clip. In M Studio, voiceover, music and sound effects are separate tracks that you mix on a timeline.
Related pages
Try it on your own script
Go from script and shots to storyboard pictures, video clips, and sound without moving between tools.
$1 today for 24 hoursThen from $27/mo unless you cancelReminder email ~6h before it ends