OpenAI is giving ChatGPT Plus subscribers unlimited access to Sora over the holidays. This is only for the "relaxed queue", so video generations will take a little longer but its a chance to see just what the AI video generator can really achieve.
Normally, subscribers of the $20 per month plan get 50 video generations per month with no mechanism for increasing that other than paying $200 per month for the ChatGPT Pro plan — which most users don't need.
CEO Sam Altman wrote on X: "Our GPUs get a little less busy during late December as people take a break from work, so we are giving all plus users unlimited Sora access via the relaxed queue over the holidays!"
Other limits on the Plus plan still apply including video resolution being limited to 480p if the clip is 10 seconds long, or 720p for a 5-second video. Plus subscribers also can't use Sora to animate images of people, real or AI-generated.
Sora was finally revealed on Day 3 of the 12 Days of OpenAI event after almost a year of teasing from the AI lab. It was first announced early in 2024 and at the time was better than any other AI video tool available.
While others have caught up, Sora still offers some impressive features, not least of which is the rapid generations. Even in the relaxed queue I found videos would be produced in under a minute.
It isn't clear how long the unlimited generations promotion will last, but I suspect it will be gone by early January. So, if you don't want to spend $200 per month to get unlimited access to Sora — now is your chance to put it to the test.
OpenAI says it is working on dedicated Sora pricing plans and will release details in the New Year. This could include an unlimited Sora subscription unbundled from ChatGPT. The reason Pro is so expensive is because of the o1-Pro model and increase compute power behind the other advanced models.
If you want to keep making AI video after the Sora promotion ends, Runway is $95 per month for unlimited usage or you can get unlimited basic generations from Haiper for $10 per month (but that includes a watermark and no commercial use).
