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Research profile · Sora 2 (December) and Sora 2 Pro

Sora 2, researched.

Highest blind-preference placement in this set. Overall verdict withheld. Explore the findings, limitations and 3 cited sources below.

Evidence verdict Not established 17% coverage

We are withholding an overall verdict on Sora 2. Evidence coverage is 17%, below the 75% our method requires. Highest blind-preference placement here, but with no standalone price and no published consumer limits, most criteria stay open.

Researched scope
Sora 2 (December) and Sora 2 Pro
Best supported for
Prompt-faithful scenes with generated audio, if you already pay for ChatGPT
Principal limitation
No standalone pricing and no published consumer generation limits
Accepted sources
3 · 2 of 12 criteria supported

Best for, and not for

Best supported use

Prompt-faithful scenes with generated audio, if you already pay for ChatGPT. The strongest finding is highest blind-preference placement in this set.

Where the evidence warns

No standalone pricing and no published consumer generation limits.

What the evidence supports, criterion by criterion

2 of 12 applicable criteria have enough accepted evidence to say something. The rest are listed below them, unscored.

CriterionEvidenceWhat we found
Visual fidelity and aesthetics Limited evidence Sora 2 (December) is the highest-placed model in this set on blind preference, Elo 1097 from 4,832 votes, with Sora 2 Pro at 1076.Vote count is under a third of Vidu's, so the interval is correspondingly wider.
Native audio and lip sync Limited evidence Native synchronised audio is a headline capability of the Sora 2 announcement, and one of the few models in this set where audio is generated with the video rather than added after.Vendor announcement only; no independent evaluation of the audio was accepted.

Not established

Researched, but the available public evidence does not support a conclusion. These are gaps, not low scores.

  • Temporal stability and artifact control — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Prompt or script adherence and control — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Reliability and iteration burden — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Workflow and editability — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Output specifications and delivery — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Pricing and value — Cost per clip not derivable. There is no standalone price: access is bundled into paid ChatGPT tiers, and OpenAI has not published per-generation limits for consumer tiers.
  • Camera motion — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Character and object consistency — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Physics and material realism — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.
  • Text rendering — Researched; no source meeting our weighting bar addressed this for the scoped version.

Pricing

Published list price, normalised to a five-second generation. Assumes full use of the plan allocation, before tax, no retakes — so real cost per clip you keep is higher.

PlanCost / 5sResolutionAudio

All Sora 2 pricing scenarios and how they were normalised. Prices verified 2026-09-12 and change without notice.

Alternatives

Same category, so genuinely comparable. We do not rank across categories.

  • Kling AI — Complex physical movement and holding a character's face steady across a shot. Moderately supported.
  • Higgsfield — Camera-move control and stylised cinematic shots, with access to several models in one place. Not established.
  • Runway Gen-4.5 — Creative and editorial work — generative editing, motion brush and in-context controls. Limited evidence.

Sources

Every finding above traces to one of these. Version match records how closely each source matches Sora 2 (December) and Sora 2 Pro.

SourceTypeVersion matchAccessed
OpenAIOfficial documentationExact2026-09-12
OpenAIOfficial documentationExact2026-09-12
Artificial AnalysisIndependent benchmarkExact2026-09-12
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