The best AI video generators right now, ranked by two blind-vote arenas

Picking a video model from launch posts is hard: every release claims to be the best. Blind-vote leaderboards are a better signal. Voters see two clips made from the same prompt without knowing which model made which, pick the one they prefer, and thousands of those choices become a rating, much like a chess rating.

There are two big public boards for text-to-video, and they do not always agree. So instead of trusting one, we ranked the models by where they land on both. The data below was read on October 13, 2026.

The ranking

Each card shows the model's Elo on Artificial Analysis and, in the text, its score on Arena. The two boards use different scales, so compare positions, not raw numbers across them.

1. 1

   1. Wan 3.0

   Alibaba1158 AA Elo · #1^[2]

   The only model in the top six of both boards with first place on one of them. It leads Artificial Analysis and scores 1476 on Arena, sixth there.

   Best for A default model for most prompts when you do not want to gamble.

   • First on Artificial Analysis
   • Mid-range price at $12.00 per minute through the API

   • Sixth on Arena, behind Google's and Black Forest Labs' models
   • Its Arena rating rests on 2,598 votes so far
2. 2

   2. Gemini Omni Flash 1.1

   Google1115 AA Elo · #8^[2]

   Holds the top of Arena twice: version 1.1 scores 1516 and the earlier Gemini Omni Flash 1513. Artificial Analysis voters are less impressed and place it eighth.

   Best for Prompts where broad audience appeal matters more than a specialist look.

   • Number one on Arena
   • Inexpensive at $9.12 per minute

   • Only eighth on Artificial Analysis
   • Version 1.1 has just 1,784 Arena votes
3. 3

   3. FLUX 3

   Black Forest Labs1131 AA Elo · #6^[2]

   Third on Arena with 1493, sixth on Artificial Analysis. A strong debut, but Arena still marks its rating as preliminary.

   Best for Teams already using FLUX for images who want one style across stills and motion.

   • Top three on Arena
   • Top six on Artificial Analysis

   • Preliminary on Arena with 1,302 votes
   • Costs $17.40 per minute
4. 4

   4. Dreamina Seedance 2.5

   ByteDance1144 AA Elo · #3^[2]

   Third on Artificial Analysis and seventh on Arena at 1474 for its 720p version. The newest Seedance is a clear step up on the AA board.

   Best for Hero shots where quality beats budget.

   • Third on Artificial Analysis
   • Released in July 2026, among the newest here

   • Most expensive in the AA top ten at $34.12 per minute
5. 5

   5. Dreamina Seedance 2.0

   ByteDance1120 AA Elo · #7^[2]

   Fifth on Arena with 1479 and seventh on Artificial Analysis. With 56,318 Arena votes it is one of the most tested models in this list.

   Best for A proven choice when you want results others have already stress-tested.

   • 56,318 Arena votes behind its score
   • Fifth on Arena

   • $22.45 per minute
   • Older: released in March 2026
6. 6

   6. MiniMax H3

   MiniMax1141 AA Elo · #4^[2]

   Fourth on Artificial Analysis at 768p, with the H3 Max version fifth, and eighth on Arena with 1460. Arena lists it under a community licence rather than as proprietary.

   Best for High-volume work where cost per clip decides the budget.

   • $4.80 per minute, the cheapest in the AA top eight
   • Two versions in the AA top five

   • Eighth on Arena
   • Check the community licence terms before commercial use
7. 7

   7. Grok Imagine Video 1.5

   1047 AA Elo · #11^[2]

   Fourth on Arena with 1492 for its agent version, but eleventh on Artificial Analysis. Together with Gemini Omni Flash, the biggest gap between the two boards in this list.

   Best for Trying it side by side with your own prompts before committing.

   • Top four on Arena

   • Preliminary on Arena with 1,218 votes
   • Eleventh on Artificial Analysis
   • $15.00 per minute
8. 8

   8. HappyHorse 1.0

   Alibaba-ATH1023 AA Elo · #14^[2]

   Tenth on Arena with 1427 from 22,264 votes and fourteenth on Artificial Analysis. Its successor, HappyHorse 1.1, already sits higher on the AA board.

   Best for Only if you already use it; the newer 1.1 is the better starting point.

   • Well tested on Arena

   • Lowest in this list on both boards
   • $14.40 per minute

The scores side by side

Which one should you pick

Why the two leaderboards disagree

Gemini Omni Flash is first on Arena and eighth on Artificial Analysis; Wan 3.0 is the reverse. Different voters, different prompts and different settings explain most of it: Artificial Analysis, for example, runs some of its votes with sound on.

• Ratings with only a few thousand votes still move. Arena flags those as preliminary.
• Some strong models appear on only one board. Utopai X is second on Artificial Analysis but has no public API yet.
• Leaderboard prompts are general. Your product shots, characters or brand style may favour a different model.

How we ranked them

We took every model that appears near the top of both text-to-video boards, averaged its position on the two, and broke ties with the Arena score. Where a model has several versions, we used the one each board lists. Prices are the API prices Artificial Analysis lists per minute of generated video. We will update this page as the boards change.

If you would rather skip the testing, LUDGI's video generation library shows finished AI films with the prompts and settings that made them.