The Complete 2026 Guide to AI Generation Tools: How to Choose Between Image, Video, and Music

Last month there was a piece of news that many people missed: OpenAI's Sora — the "god of AI video" that took the internet by storm in 2024 — officially shut down on 26 April 2026.

What is even more dramatic is the other side of the story: on the world's most authoritative blind-test leaderboard for AI video, 7 of the top 10 are Chinese models, and the number one is ByteDance's Dreamina Seedance 2.0 — 94 points ahead of the runner-up, a runaway first place.

In just two years, the table has been completely reshuffled. Anyone still choosing tools on the strength of 2024 impressions may be spending money they did not need to and settling for second-rate results.

This article sorts out the state of play in mid-2026 in one go: AI image, AI video and AI music — what to use in each category and how much it costs, all backed by real leaderboards and official data.

If you want the conclusion quickly, jump to the decision guide at the end and use it as you go.

First, a note on methodology: capability rankings come from LMArena and Artificial Analysis, two international blind-test arenas — "blind" here means millions of real people choosing between two options without knowing the model names, which is far more credible than the numbers vendors tout at their own launch events. Pricing data is current as of June 2026; please check the official sites before buying.

1. AI image generation: free is enough, paid is god-tier

Start with the leaderboard. LMArena's text-to-image arena has collected 5.39 million human votes, and the June 2026 ranking is clear:

OpenAI's GPT Image 2 ranks first with 1385 points, 112 points ahead of the runner-up. At a time when AI leaderboards generally show "the top ten bunched together", this is a rare commanding lead. Its biggest advantage is that it "understands plain language" — say "swap the cat in the picture for a dog, leave the background alone" and it really will change only the cat, leaving the background untouched.

How can ordinary people get access to it? The good news: GPT Image 2 is built into the free version of ChatGPT, generating roughly 2-3 images a day. That is plenty for light use; for higher quotas and the "deep-thinking composition" mode you need a Plus subscription (USD 20/month). The bad news is that you need a VPN to reach it.

Options that work directly from mainland China:

-Dreamina (ByteDance): an all-in-one image and video service; membership unlocks the latest Seedream 5.0 image model. Registration comes with free credits, and the Standard membership is CNY 199/month (CNY 119 for the first month on a recurring plan). One caution: from April 2026 Dreamina raised prices and trimmed credit allowances, so heavy users should work out the numbers before buying.

-Kling (Kuaishou): it also covers both image and video, with a free daily quota; the Gold membership is CNY 66/month, and just CNY 19 for the first month on a recurring plan — the lowest-cost entry point for trial and error among today's mainstream tools.

> Summary: for occasional use → the free version of ChatGPT; for commercial use in China → Dreamina or Kling;

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2. AI video: Chinese players are winning big — but hold on to your wallet

This is the track that changed most dramatically in 2026 — straight to the ranking:

On Artificial Analysis's video arena "text-to-video (with audio)" track, Chinese models take 7 of the top 10 places:

-No. 1: Dreamina Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance), Elo 1215, 94 points ahead of the runner-up

- No. 2: Alibaba HappyHorse-1.0

- No. 3: Kunlun Wanwei SkyReels V4

- No. 4-7: the entire Kling 3.0 series from Kuaishou

- Google Veo 3.1 only reaches No. 8, and Sora 2 sits at No. 9 — and has already shut down

This landscape is backed by real money. Kuaishou's financial reports show that Kling AI brought in over CNY 650 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up more than 300% year on year; it has passed 60 million users worldwide and generated over 600 million videos to date. In March 2026, Kling's annualised revenue stood at around USD 500 million — a year earlier that figure was USD 100 million. AI video is no longer a toy; it is a serious business.

How to choose:

-If you want the strongest tool in the world right now: Dreamina Seedance 2.0. How hot was it after launching in February 2026? Generations queue up, and memberships get resold by scalpers. It supports mixed generation from four input types — text, image, audio and video — so a single prompt can produce a finished clip with voiceover.

-Budget-conscious, wanting to test the water: Kling. At CNY 19 for the first month the barrier is almost nil, and its model quality (Kling 3.0) is in the global top tier.

-Based overseas / needing an English-language ecosystem: Google Veo 3.1, available right inside Gemini.

A money-saving note: video generation is a credit-burning, "whale"-grade expense, and every platform's membership credits run out faster than you expect. Estimate your real usage with the free quota first, then decide which tier to buy.

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3. AI music and voiceover: the era of a song for ten yuan

Suno and ElevenLabs: dated operating figures

• Suno: about 100 million cumulative users, 7 million songs generated daily, USD 300 million annual recurring revenue, and about 2 million paying subscribers. Free tier: 50 credits/day (about 10 songs, noncommercial); Pro: USD 10/month with commercial rights.
• ElevenLabs: USD 11 billion valuation and USD 500 million Series C in February 2026; more than 14 million songs generated by its music engine; five of the top ten places in a TTS arena. Free tier: 10,000 credits/month (about 10 minutes of speech); Starter: USD 5/month with commercial rights.

Sources and dates are those cited in the original June 2026 graphic; verify current figures before making a purchasing decision.

The audio track is currently a "two-horse race", and both players post striking operating figures:

Suno — it has made writing a song dirt cheap. About 100 million people have used it, it generates 7 million songs a day, it earns USD 300 million in annualised revenue, and it has roughly 2 million paying subscribers. The free tier gives 50 credits a day (about 10 songs) — more than enough for a birthday song for a family member or background music for a video; for commercial use, the Pro plan is USD 10/month.

ElevenLabs — the "most competitive player" in voiceover. It raised USD 500 million in February 2026 at a valuation of USD 11 billion. On Artificial Analysis's speech (TTS) arena it alone holds 5 of the top 10 places. The free tier gives 10,000 credits a month (about 10 minutes of speech), and the Starter plan at USD 5/month already includes commercial licensing — enough for audiobooks or narration for videos. In April it also launched a music feature, ElevenMusic, which has generated more than 14 million tracks to date.

The option that works directly from mainland China is "Hailuo/MiniMax": its speech model Speech 2.8 HD sits firmly in the top tier of international TTS leaderboards, performs especially well in Chinese, and offers both free quotas and pay-as-you-go billing.

An easy pitfall for ordinary users — copyright:

- Suno "songs generated on the free tier cannot be used commercially", and Suno itself still faces unresolved copyright lawsuits over its training data;

- ElevenLabs's music engine is trained on a licensed music catalogue, so the legal risk in commercial settings is lower;

- General principle: if the content is meant to make money (product videos, ads, paid courses), buy the tier that includes commercial licensing and be done with it — a few tens of yuan a month is cheaper than a lawyer's letter.

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4. How to choose? Two useful comparisons

Capability is covered; now down to money. I checked the prices of eight mainstream tools:

Now let us compress every conclusion into a practical decision guide:

Tool choice by use case (original guidance, June 2026)

• Images — casual/free: ChatGPT free or Dreamina free credits; quality-first: GPT Image 2 with Plus at USD 20/month; direct mainland-China access and commercial use: Dreamina membership from CNY 119/month; art style: Midjourney from USD 10/month.
• Video — strongest in the cited arena: Dreamina Seedance 2.0; budget trial: Kling from CNY 19 for the first month; international/documentary style: Google Veo 3.1; Sora had closed on 26 April 2026.
• Audio — songs/background music: Suno free tier or Pro at USD 10/month for commercial use; narration/audiobooks: ElevenLabs Starter from USD 5/month or Hailuo/MiniMax.
• Start with free quotas, confirm commercial rights before paid use, and check current prices because rankings and plans change.

If you do not want to spend another minute, just remember these three lines:

1.Start at zero cost: images with the free version of ChatGPT + video with Kling's free quota + songs with Suno's free tier — try all three modalities without spending a penny.

2.A "best-value package" for under CNY 100 a month: Kling Gold (CNY 66) covers image and video, Suno Pro (about CNY 72) covers music — together they deliver an output capacity that even professional teams in 2024 did not necessarily have.

3.The commercial-use baseline: monetised content must use a paid tier that includes commercial licensing; free quotas are only for practice.

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Two years ago, "AI generation" was a demo video at a launch event; today it is a real production capacity of 7 million songs and 600 million videos a day. And this round, the global top tier of the video track is almost entirely Chinese companies — a picture that never appeared in any previous wave of technology.

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References (data as of June 2026)

1. LMArena text-to-image leaderboard: arena.ai/leaderboard/text-to-image (2026-06-05, 5.39 million votes)

2. Artificial Analysis video arena: artificialanalysis.ai/video/leaderboard/text-to-video

3. Artificial Analysis speech arena: artificialanalysis.ai/text-to-speech/arena

4. OpenAI official: the Sora shutdown notice (help.openai.com, announced 2026-03-24)

5. Kuaishou's Q1 2026 financial report and earnings call (Kling revenue and user data)

6. ByteDance Seed: the Seedance 2.0 launch announcement (February 2026)

7. Suno operating figures: November 2025 funding disclosure and media reports (valuation USD 2.45 billion, ARR USD 300 million)

8. ElevenLabs Series C funding announcement (February 2026, USD 500 million, valuation USD 11 billion)

9. Tool pricing: the official pricing pages of Dreamina, Kling, Suno and ElevenLabs (verified June 2026)