OpenAI Starts Charging for Sora Videos—Because Free Was Too Expensive

| October 30, 2025

Good news if you love AI video: Sora is wildly popular.
Bad news? It’s too popular to stay free.

This week, OpenAI announced that heavy users of its Sora video generator will now need to pay $4 for every 10 extra videos after hitting their daily limit. The change affects everyone—even paid subscribers.

Why? Because, as Sora’s head Bill Peebles put it bluntly:

“The economics are currently completely unsustainable.”

 

What’s Changing?

• Free, Plus, and Teams users: Get 30 free videos per day

• Pro users: Get 100 free videos per day

• After that? You can buy 10 more for $4 through the App Store

And don’t get too comfortable—Peebles warned these free limits might go down soon. Why? Because generating AI video takes massive computing power, and GPUs (the chips that run AI) are expensive and in short supply.

“We thought 30 free videos would be plenty,” Peebles admitted on X. “We were wrong!”

Building a “Sora Economy”

But this isn’t just about cutting costs. OpenAI has bigger plans: a “Sora economy” where creators and rights holders get paid when their characters or likenesses appear in AI videos.

Imagine paying a small fee to put your favorite cartoon hero—or even a celebrity—into your Sora clip. That fee could go directly to the rights owner.

“We imagine a world where rights holders can charge extra for cameos of beloved characters and people,” Peebles said.

Early creators on the platform may get first access to this system when it launches in a pilot soon.

Legal Trouble Over the Name “Cameo”

There’s one problem: Cameo, the real company that lets fans buy personalized videos from celebrities, just sued OpenAI. They say using “Cameo” as a feature name in Sora confuses customers and threatens their business.

Cameo’s CEO called it an “existential threat.” OpenAI hasn’t commented on the lawsuit yet.

Why This Matters

Since launching on September 30, Sora has already been downloaded over 2 million times in the U.S. and Canada—and hit #1 on the App Store. That kind of success is great… until the bills come in.

Now, OpenAI is trying to balance user demand, real-world costs, and legal risks—all while building something new.

So yes, Sora just got a price tag. But if it helps keep the tool alive—and pays creators fairly—it might be worth it.

Just don’t expect 100 free AI movies a day forever. Even magic has a meter.