Hailuo and MiniMax alternatives: what each name means and what to use
3 min read
If you want to generate video from text or an image, the alternatives to Hailuo are Kling, PixVerse, Vidu, Runway and Seedance 2.5. If you want to change who appears in footage that already exists, that is a different job, and the options are Duble AI, vswp and Real Xablau.
Everything below was read on official pages on October 24, 2026, with the link beside it. No quality test was run, and no prices were copied from comparison sites, which disagree with each other. Duble AI is this site's product and only appears in the section on replacing people in footage.
Hailuo and MiniMax: what each name means
MiniMax is the company. In its MiniMax H3 announcement of July 31, 2026, it says it previously built two model generations, Hailuo 01 and Hailuo 02. Hailuo is also the name of the video site and app, hailuoai.video, where H3 can be used.
MiniMax H3 is a multimodal model: it reads text, images, video and audio and generates video with its own stereo sound, up to 15 seconds at 2K, according to the announcement. MiniMax said it plans to open the model weights. On Hailuo's home page on October 24, 2026, the creation panel shows H3 with up to 12 references, 2K and 5-second clips by default, with Wan 3.0 on the same site.
So "Hailuo alternative" can mean another site to generate on, or another model instead of H3. For creators the first matters more, because one model often appears on several sites at different prices.
What Hailuo costs, according to its own pages
The two official sources we could read do not match:
| Source | Standard | Pro | Master |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription terms, updated 07/14/2025 | $14.99 a month, 1,000 credits | $54.99, 4,500 credits | $119.99, 10,000 credits |
| Hailuo blog, 07/27/2026 | $9.99 a month | $34.99 | $79.99 |
The plans page did not load when we read it, so the current price is the one at checkout. The terms also say extra credits cost $1 per 70, plan credits expire after a month, users without a plan download with a watermark, and credits come back automatically if a generation fails or does not pass review.
Hailuo alternatives for generating video
| Tool | Published price | Generated audio |
|---|---|---|
| Kling | Credits per second, in the guide | Not stated in the Motion Control guide |
| PixVerse | Standard $10 a month | Optional on V6 |
| Vidu | Standard $10 a month or $99 a year | The site lists a sound-effect generator |
| Runway | Standard $12 a month billed annually, $15 monthly | The plan includes voice, music and sound-effect generation |
| Seedance 2.5, via CapCut | Not stated on the page | Generates audio and video together, per ByteDance |
To choose between these models, see the AI video models of 2026, our Seedance 2.5 guide and PixVerse alternatives.
When what you want is to replace the person in a video
If you already have the footage, or want to join a trend, generating a new scene does not solve it: the setting, the camera and the sound all change. The job is to change who appears and keep the rest.
On Duble AI, your AI influencer (the app calls it a double) takes the place of one person, or up to three, in a trend or in your own clip of 3 to 30 seconds. The result keeps the recording's sound, and Duble AI never creates a voice or music. The price is per second, 3 credits at Standard and 4 at High (Full HD). There is no free video.
vswp and Real Xablau do the same kind of swap with different limits on length and number of people. The comparison is in AI tools for swapping a character in a video, and the two ways of making a video are explained in text-to-video or character swap.
To start a swap, create your AI influencer.
Frequently asked questions
- Are Hailuo and MiniMax the same thing?
- They come from the same company. MiniMax is the company and the name of its newest models, such as MiniMax H3, launched on July 31, 2026. Hailuo is the name of the video site and app, hailuoai.video, and of the two earlier model generations, Hailuo 01 and Hailuo 02, according to MiniMax's blog.
- How much does Hailuo AI cost?
- The official pages disagree. The subscription terms, last updated July 14, 2025, list Standard at $14.99 a month with 1,000 credits. A Hailuo blog post from July 27, 2026 quotes Standard at $9.99. Check the amount at checkout before you subscribe.
- Does Hailuo have a free plan?
- The terms say users without a plan download watermarked videos and that new accounts get a one-time credit package that expires after three days. In October 2026 the home page also offers 3,000 credits for downloading the MiniMax Design app. Paid plans remove the watermark.
- What is a good alternative to Hailuo?
- To generate video from text or an image, Kling, PixVerse, Vidu, Runway and Seedance 2.5 do the same kind of work. To replace the person in footage you already have, keeping its sound, the job is different, and the options are Duble AI, vswp and Real Xablau.
