Imaginode vs Wan: Alibaba's app, its API, or Wan next to other models
Wan 3.0 is not open source, and wan.video costs $10 a month unless you pay yearly. Where to run Wan, what a clip costs, and when Imaginode makes sense.
Competitor data verified on October 30, 2026
Frank HoubreFounder of Imaginode
Recorded at Wan (Alibaba) on October 30, 2026
- Free : Free
- Pro : $10/month300 credits/month
- Premium : $40/month1,200 credits/month
Our pricing, same day
- Starter : $17/month900 credits/month
- Creator : $55/month3,100 credits/month
- Studio : $188/month10,500 credits/month
Wan is Alibaba's family of video models. You can run it in three places: the wan.video app, the Alibaba Cloud Model Studio API, or a third party that hosts it, such as fal.ai or Imaginode. Wan 3.0 launched officially on August 24, 2026. It renders up to 30 seconds in one continuous take at 1080p, with sound generated in the same pass.
A lot of sites claim Wan 3.0 is open source. It isn't. As of October 30, 2026, neither the Wan-AI organization on Hugging Face nor the Wan-Video GitHub has weights for Wan 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 or 3.0. The latest open weights are Wan 2.2 (Apache 2.0, July 2025) and its Animate and Dancer offshoots. Anything newer goes through an API or the app.
The create.wan.video pricing page is readable without an account. On October 30, 2026 it listed a Free tier where you earn credits by checking in daily, Pro at $10 a month (300 credits, or $5 a month billed yearly) and Premium at $40 (1,200 credits, or $20 a month yearly). Those credits only work on create.wan.video; the API is billed separately. On Imaginode, Wan 3.0 costs 60 credits for 5 seconds at 720p, and the exact price shows on the button before you generate.
Access to Wan
Wan (Alibaba)
wan.video app (web, iOS, Android) or Alibaba Cloud API
Imaginode
Wan 2.7, Wan 3.0 and Wan 3.0 Prime in the Video node
Entry price
Wan (Alibaba)
Pro $10/month (300 credits) or $5/month billed yearly
Imaginode
$17/month before tax (900 credits) or top-ups from $7, no subscription
Cost of a Wan 3.0 clip
Wan (Alibaba)
"Up to 60 videos" for 300 credits on Pro, no length or resolution given; API: $0.10 per second at 720p
Imaginode
60 credits for 5 s at 720p, 120 at 1080p, shown before you click
Length and resolution
Wan (Alibaba)
10 to 30 s clips and 1080p on paid tiers only
Imaginode
2 to 30 s, 480p to 1080p, on any plan
Free
Wan (Alibaba)
Free tier with daily check-in credits, watermarked downloads
Imaginode
15 credits at sign-up, no card required
Other models
Wan (Alibaba)
Wan family only
Imaginode
Over 100 models: Kling, Seedance, Veo 3.1, MiniMax, Flux, ElevenLabs...
Open source
Wan (Alibaba)
Wan 2.2 downloadable (Apache 2.0); 2.5 to 3.0 closed
Imaginode
Does not run Wan 2.2 locally
Refunds
Wan (Alibaba)
First month or year non-refundable once activated
Imaginode
Credits refunded automatically when a generation fails
wan.video prices checked on October 30, 2026 on create.wan.video/pricing (public page), in US dollars, excluding any taxes. API prices checked the same day on the Alibaba Cloud Model Studio pricing page, Singapore region, including the temporary 30% discount on Wan 3.0. Check the official sites.
When to choose Wan (Alibaba)
- You only want Wan and you generate a lot: Premium billed yearly works out to $20 a month for 1,200 credits.
- You want Wan 2.2 for free on your own GPU: download the weights from Hugging Face and run them in ComfyUI. Imaginode doesn't do that.
- You're building Wan into your own product: the Model Studio API bills per second and includes 30 free seconds of Wan 3.0 in the Singapore region.
When to choose Imaginode
- You want to test Wan 3.0 against Seedance, Veo or Kling on the same shot without opening an account with each vendor.
- You want 1080p and 30-second takes without a subscription: a $7 top-up buys 300 credits that never expire.
- Your character speaks: Wan 3.0 takes up to 10 reference images and 5 reference voices wired in from the canvas, and the voice itself can come from ElevenLabs in the next node.
- You're building a whole sequence: start frame, end frame, Camera node, voiceover and Edit node on one canvas.
Frequently asked questions
Is Wan 3.0 open source?
No. As of October 30, 2026, Alibaba has published no weights for Wan 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 or 3.0. The latest model you can download is still Wan 2.2, under Apache 2.0. Our [ranking of open source video models](/blog/meilleurs-modeles-video-ia-open-source) goes through the licenses.
How much does wan.video cost?
Pro is $10 a month with no commitment, or $5 a month billed yearly ($60), for 300 credits a month. Premium is $40 a month, or $20 billed yearly ($240), for 1,200 credits. The Free tier hands out daily credits but caps length and resolution and keeps the watermark.
What's the difference between Wan 3.0 and Wan 3.0 Prime?
Same resolutions, same inputs. Alibaba says Prime is faster but publishes no figure. It costs about 40% more: on Imaginode, [Wan 3.0 Prime](/models/wan-3-prime) is 84 credits for 5 seconds at 720p versus 60.
Is Wan 2.7 still worth using?
For short shots, yes: [Wan 2.7](/models/wan) goes up to 15 seconds at 720p or 1080p. For a long take, several references or a talking character, pick Wan 3.0.
Sources
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