Wan Review (2026): Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons
Alibaba's image and video platform; Wan 3.0 supports 30 s segments, native audio and reference media, billed per second via API.
Wan spans text/image-to-image, text/image-to-video and image editing, with an international site at wan.video. The Wan 3.0 video model generates 2–30 s per segment with native dialogue, sound effects and music, takes up to 10 reference images, 5 reference videos and 5 reference audio clips, and documents a timestamped multi-shot storyboard format (4–6 s per shot). The API price list charges per second of output: $0.05 / $0.10 / $0.20 at 480P / 720P / 1080P in Singapore. No novel parsing or episode compositing.
Pros
- 30 s segments; the price list charges output seconds only, with no separate line for reference inputs
- Native audio
- Images and video on one platform with a mature API
Cons
- No parsing, splitting or compositing
- Strict content moderation (gore terms rejected)
- Follows its own prompt conventions for silence/speech control
Against the field
Wan against the field
- Script & novel parsingsame as 13 others13513221
- Character consistencysame as 13 others12131533
- Storyboard & shot controlsame as 12 others2412843
- Video generation qualitysame as 10 others310164
- Voice & audiosame as 10 others2141064
- Episode compositingsame as 7 others756871
- Cost & free tiersame as 12 others6141214
Coverage of the six stages
| Parsing | Reference art | Storyboard | Video | Audio | Compositing | Σ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SceneMixer | 6/6 | ||||||
| Scenes AI | 6/6 | ||||||
| Pixmax | 6/6 | ||||||
| Frameo.AI | 6/6 | ||||||
| Elser AI | 6/6 | ||||||
| M Studio | 6/6 | ||||||
| PopShort AI | 6/6 | ||||||
| Katalist | 6/6 | ||||||
| LTX Studio | 6/6 | ||||||
| Melies | 6/6 | ||||||
| invideo AI | 6/6 | ||||||
| Storyboarder.ai | 5/6 | ||||||
| AutoWeeb | 5/6 | ||||||
| OnSolo | 5/6 | ||||||
| Veo / Flow (Google) | 5/6 | ||||||
| Argil | 5/6 | ||||||
| Topview | 5/6 | ||||||
| Showrunner Studio | 4/6 | ||||||
| Hailuo (MiniMax) | 4/6 | ||||||
| Morph Studio | 4/6 | ||||||
| Kling AI | 4/6 | ||||||
| Wan | 4/6 | ||||||
| PixVerse | 4/6 | ||||||
| Runway | 4/6 | ||||||
| Luma Dream Machine | 4/6 | ||||||
| MagicLight | 3/6 | ||||||
| ScreenWeaver | 3/6 | ||||||
| CapCut | 3/6 | ||||||
| Higgsfield | 3/6 | ||||||
| Vidu | 3/6 | ||||||
| SkyReels | 3/6 | ||||||
| Dreamina | 3/6 | ||||||
| OpenArt | 2/6 | ||||||
| Mootion | 2/6 | ||||||
| Sora (OpenAI) | 2/6 | ||||||
| Pika | 1/6 |
Published per-second prices
Features & pricing
Core features
- Text/image-to-video, 2–30 s per segment
- Reference image, video and audio inputs
- Text/image-to-image and editing
- API via Alibaba Model Studio
- Async tasks; prompt rewriting is on by default and can be disabled
Pricing
- Free tier
- New-user free quota (per site)
- Starting price
- International API (Singapore) $0.05/s (480p), $0.10/s (720p), $0.20/s (1080p); $0.041 / $0.083 / $0.165 in Tokyo, Frankfurt, Virginia and Hong Kong; consumer plans per site
- Billing
- API per second; consumer membership/credits
- Platforms
- Web, API
Prime tier matches standard quality at higher speed. Series estimate →
Scores and basis
Methodology →Scored 1–5 per criterion on our published methodology from official documentation and vendor pages; criteria without enough information are left unscored.
| Criterion | Score | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Script & novel parsing | 1 | No parsing; single prompts |
| Character consistency | 3 | Reference images / multi-subject reference, manual |
| Storyboard & shot control | 3 | Canvas / manual arrangement |
| Video generation quality | 4 | |
| Voice & audio | 4 | |
| Episode compositing | 1 | Export segments, assemble by hand |
| Cost & free tier | 4 |
Best for
Models under the hood
Compare with alternatives
All alternatives →FAQ
Is Wan free?
New-user free quota (per site) International API (Singapore) $0.05/s (480p), $0.10/s (720p), $0.20/s (1080p); $0.041 / $0.083 / $0.165 in Tokyo, Frankfurt, Virginia and Hong Kong; consumer plans per site
Can Wan turn a novel into a short drama?
No Consistency: Up to 10 reference images, 5 reference videos, 5 reference audio clips
Who is Wan for?
Long, low-cost segments with many references; as an alternate engine inside a pipeline.
What are the alternatives to Wan?
See the Wan alternatives page — every option on the same rubric with the criteria where it is stronger.
Sources
Official pages opened while writing; current pricing and features are always as shown on the vendor site.