# Alibaba prices Wan3.0 video at a quarter of Veo 3.1's rate

> Alibaba launched Wan3.0, a 30-second 1080p video-with-audio model, priced well below Google's Veo 3.1.

*The release lands days after a $10bn share sale meant to fund AI spending, and undercuts Google on cost per second.*

By Bez · InsidersFeed
Canonical: https://insidersfeed.com/news/alibaba-prices-wan3-0-video-at-a-quarter-of-veo-3-1-s-rate

Alibaba's Tongyi Lab has put a number on how much it wants to undercut Google in generative video: $0.20 per second at 1080p for Wan3.0, against $0.40 for the standard tier of Google's Veo 3.1. At the lower 480p tier, Wan3.0 runs $0.05 a second. For a minute of top-quality footage, that's $12 — a pricing gap aimed squarely at studios, ad agencies and marketers choosing between the two.

Wan3.0 went into public beta on 6 August 2026 and became generally available on 24 August, according to [TechNode](https://technode.com/2026/08/24/alibaba-launches-wan3-0-video-model-with-30-second-generation-and-document-input/). It generates clips up to 30 seconds long — double the 15-second cap of the prior Wan2.7-Video — at 480p, 720p or 1080p, with synchronised audio produced in the same pass by default, including realistic faces, micro-expressions and voices across several languages. An "intelligent duration" feature recommends a clip length, and outputs can be extended afterwards.

The model also takes inputs beyond prompts: documents of up to 50 pages, spreadsheets, slides and web pages can be converted directly into video. A feature called "Omni-Reference" accepts up to 20 references — images, video, audio, documents or web pages — and keeps them visually consistent across a generation. Alibaba points to short dramas, film, advertising, tourism, marketing, music videos, and synthetic training video for self-driving cars and robotics as the target uses.

Unlike the open-weight Wan line, which stops at Wan 2.2, Wan3.0 is closed and available only through Alibaba's Model Studio API, currently in preview, as [The Next Web reported](https://thenextweb.com/news/alibaba-wan3-video-model-after-share-sale).

The timing is pointed. Wan3.0 arrived days after Alibaba completed a $10 billion share placement to fund AI spending — the largest-ever primary follow-on offering by a Hong Kong-listed company, according to Reuters.

## The Insider view

Alibaba is using fresh capital to buy share in a market Google has led on quality. A price cut of this size — half Veo 3.1's per-second rate at matching resolution — is a direct bid for enterprise video-generation budgets in advertising and media production, markets where cost per clip compounds fast at scale. Making Wan3.0 closed and API-only, breaking from Alibaba's open-weight tradition, signals the company wants to monetise this model directly rather than seed an ecosystem around it. The document-to-video and multi-reference features aim at production teams who need brand consistency, a segment Google has not emphasised as clearly. Watch whether Google responds on price, and whether the $10bn raise shows up in further model releases from Tongyi Lab.

## Key takeaways

- Wan3.0 at 1080p costs $0.20/second versus $0.40/second for Veo 3.1's standard tier
- Launch follows a $10bn Alibaba share placement, the largest such Hong Kong listing ever
- Model is closed and API-only, breaking from Alibaba's open-weight Wan line up to 2.2

## Sources

- [Alibaba launches Wan3.0 video model with 30-second generation and document input](https://technode.com/2026/08/24/alibaba-launches-wan3-0-video-model-with-30-second-generation-and-document-input/) — TechNode, 2026-08-24
- [Alibaba launches Wan3.0, its 30-second video model, days after raising $10bn](https://thenextweb.com/news/alibaba-wan3-video-model-after-share-sale) — The Next Web, 2026-08-24