If you’ve been using Sora extensively and find yourself quickly exhausting your allotted video generation capacity, OpenAI now offers an elegant solution: the ability to purchase supplementary credits, enabling you to produce a significantly greater number of AI-generated videos without interruption. This update is particularly noteworthy because the company has signaled that the free generation allowances currently available to users may eventually be scaled back as Sora continues to grow. In anticipation of that shift, OpenAI’s introduction of a pay-as-you-go model ensures that enthusiastic creators can sustain their workflow seamlessly, even as the platform’s resources evolve.
Bill Peebles, the head of the Sora team at OpenAI, clarified the reasoning behind this change, openly acknowledging that the existing model — allowing generous free access to such a computationally intensive video generator — has become financially untenable. Describing the current economics of Sora as “completely unsustainable,” Peebles explained that some users, especially those relying on the advanced Pro edition, have been consistently hitting their daily quota of free generations and expressing frustration with the constraints. At present, Pro users receive up to 100 complimentary video generations each day, while users on the standard tier are limited to 30. To address this disparity and meet the demands of power users, OpenAI is now removing those barriers by allowing individuals to obtain as many generations as they are willing to finance, effectively transforming Sora from a restricted free experience into a scalable creative engine governed by user choice and budget.
According to Sora’s official listing on the Apple App Store, the new pricing model is straightforward: users can buy an additional package of ten video generations for $4. However, the number of credits consumed per creation may vary depending on several technical parameters — including the length of the video, its chosen resolution, and other content-specific factors — as explained in the detailed documentation on OpenAI’s support page. Once a user reaches the limit of their free daily quota, the app conveniently triggers an in-platform prompt offering the option to acquire more credits through the App Store interface. Purchased credits remain valid for a full twelve months, giving creators flexibility in planning their projects. Interestingly, these credits are not restricted solely to Sora; they can also be used interchangeably on OpenAI’s other creative and technical products, such as the coding-focused Codex platform, thereby uniting different branches of the OpenAI ecosystem under a single credit-based economic structure.
Peebles also cautioned that the currently generous free limits are temporary and may soon decrease as Sora scales to accommodate an ever-growing user base. In his words, at some point OpenAI will “need to bring the free gens down to accommodate growth,” though he emphasized that for now users should take advantage of what he called “the crazy usage limits.” He assured the community that any adjustments to the allowances or pricing would be executed transparently, with clear communication as the changes unfold, maintaining user trust and predictability as the system matures.
This monetization initiative does not exist in isolation but represents part of a broader strategic movement within OpenAI to build a sustainable economic model around Sora and foster what the company envisions as a new AI-driven creator economy. To achieve this, OpenAI has been gradually expanding Sora’s capabilities with innovative features that enhance both creative expression and community engagement. Among the new tools integrated into the platform are clip-stitching functions that allow seamless blending of multiple video segments and leaderboards showcasing the most popular content and creators. Another major addition, albeit one that has sparked legal and ethical debate, is the introduction of “cameos” — a feature enabling users to design and deploy lifelike deepfake avatars of themselves, famous personalities, or entirely original characters. These avatars can then be shared for use in other users’ videos, expanding collaborative creative possibilities while simultaneously raising questions about intellectual property and likeness rights.
Looking ahead, Peebles revealed that OpenAI intends to roll out a monetization program for creators “soon,” envisioning a scenario in which rights holders can set fees for the use of their character likenesses or personal cameos, thereby earning revenue directly within the Sora ecosystem. This initiative is expected to formalize and regulate aspects of content sharing that had previously existed in a gray area, especially regarding depictions of copyrighted or sensitive material. For context, Sora’s earlier leniency on copyright and representation had led to widespread circulation of videos featuring questionable portrayals of well-known fictional entities — from animated icons such as Pikachu and SpongeBob to historically significant figures like Martin Luther King Jr. — often in ways deemed “disrespectful.” By introducing monetization and consent-based cameo licensing, OpenAI hopes to transition from that loosely governed creative environment toward a more structured and commercially sustainable framework that protects artists, preserves integrity, and encourages responsible innovation within the AI video generation community.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/811241/sora-pay-for-extra-video-gens
