Sora 2 vs. Veo 3 - Google vs.Open AI: Who Is The Ultimate Winner?
My life as an AI tool reviewer is really never boring. Companies constantly outdo each other's innovations, literally letting us, the audience, watch history in the making. It just happened again, heavyweight OpenAI has launched their newest video model, Sora 2. Directly challenging Veo3 from Google, simply by being the first competitor to add audio to their video generation as well.
I remember when OpenAI launched Sora's first generation and we were constantly in awe of the man surfing the wave at the museum. Jaws dropped all over the place, it was as if I could hear Hollywood sigh in Berlin. Even I fell into a quick hysteria, announcing that Sora is the death of every film production company. Until, well. Until we saw the actual Sora (1) generations. To say they were disappointing would be a crude understatement.
Let me tell you, this is not it! This time, my Reddit feed is rightfully plastered with Sora 2 videos, because it works actually great!
And because the two tools mingle side by side on my favorite filmmaker platform Artlist I want to understand the strengths and weaknesses of both. This way I can always choose the best tool for every video mission.
Ladies and gents, it's about time. Please go get some popcorn, dust off your shoulders, and let's compare video genAI royalty in this Sora 2 vs. Veo 3 comparison.
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I will give each AI tool the same prompt so that we can directly compare the new AI video. This will not be the typical blog post only showing the best results, I want to show you the real-world outcomes, therefore we will always show the first generation without any alterations.
The Three Main Testing Categories for Sora 2 vs. Veo 3
Prompt Coherence & Realism -Is the AI able to bring a complex prompt to life and does it look believable?
Aesthetic Appeal & Beauty - Does the final video look visually appealing and are the video generation tools able to interpret prompts artistically well?
Motion Handling - When multiple things move at the same time, do the camera movements stay smooth and realistic?
Each of your test clips focuses on a different strength that AI video tools need to have, giving us a good idea of where each tool excels and where it struggles. I've created all videos in 720p (HD) only, so details and faces are not 100% crisp, which in this case is not the fault of either tool.
I will access Sora 2 and Veo 3 both through Artlist, who kindly agreed to let me use their impressive AI suite for this test and have sponsored the credits for it.
Have you heard of Artlist yet? Artlist is a creative AI platform that provides content creators with a full tool box to turn their visions into reality on screen. It houses various AI video generation tools, it has just yesterday added Sora 2 to their already extensive palette. Other video generators Artlist offers are Veo and it even recently integrated Kling 2.5 Turbo and Seedance 1 Pro. They also offer an incredibly extensive catalog of royalty-free music tracks, sound effects, video footage, and digital assets for their projects. I've been quite impressed recently by the pace Artlist adapts new models and passes on price reductions directly to their customers. Therefore I've cured them the number 1 video generator in my big video gen comparison.
A Few Facts About Sora 2 on Artlist Now
OpenAI's state-of-the-art video model is now accessible on the platform
Text-to-video generation available immediately (image-to-video coming soon)
Model Options:
Regular Model: Includes audio generation, 720p resolution, flexible durations (4, 8, 12 seconds) at competitive pricing
Pro Model: Enhanced prompt understanding and superior audio-video sync for professional results
This integration provides creators access to advanced AI video generation alongside Artlist's existing royalty-free content library.
Sign up to Artlist now and get 2 months for free on the annual plan. You can access Sora 2, Veo 3, Kling 2.5 Turbo, Kling 1.6, Kling 2.1 and Seedance V1 Pro all in the same platform via Artlist.
Sora 2 vs. Veo 3 Comparison
Scene 1: Prompt Coherence & Realism "Make a nun dance breakdance"
Prompt: A nun dances breakdance like in the 80s in the middle of young, urban-looking spectators. The background is a public square, the crowd of spectators is surrounding them like breakdancers usually are. Everything looks very urban and a bit gangster. The crowd cheers and whistles. The style is photorealistic, and everything has enhanced shadows.
I've used this prompt for a creative project before and all models had difficulty making the nun dance breakdance, usually there was some mix up with the legs or the nun danced something that looked more like River Dance than breakdance. Not very cool.
Sora 2 Test Result Scene 1
I absolutely love what Sora 2 made out of this scene, the nun is throwing some serious downrock moves. The crowd, scenery and background music are spot on too. The new Sora 2 model really excels at realism and prompt coherence here.
My rating for Sora 2 for Prompt Coherence and Realism: 5/5
Veo 3 Test Result Scene 1
Google's Veo 3 struggles much more with realistic breakdance moves. This nun's legs are somehow morphed into each other and windmilling in an unrealistic way. The crowd's movements are too in unison, and the scenery and background music are decent. But in general I wouldn't be able to use the video because the break moves are clearly a mistake.
My rating for Veo 3 for Prompt Coherence and Realism: 2/5
Scene 2: Aesthetic Appeal & Beauty "Origami Butterflies"
What This Tests:
Visual Composition: Does the explosion create pleasing shapes, colors, and movement patterns?
Cinematic Quality: Would this look good in a high-budget film or premium commercial?
Color Harmony: Are the explosion colors, lighting, and effects aesthetically pleasing?
Artistic Value: Does it have that "screenshot-worthy" quality that makes people pause and appreciate it?
Prompt: Animate a serene scene where a woman in a flowing white dress stands confidently against a glass backdrop. Vibrant origami birds cascade gently out of her head. The origami swallows swirl around her in slow, graceful movements, like a school of birds would do in nature in beautiful patterns together. They fly into a spiral around her and then away all at once. Add soft lighting that highlights her features.
I have used this prompt also for a creative project before, but had used it for image-to-video generation. Since Sora 2 doesn't offer this type yet, I've asked Sora 2 and Veo 3 to create this scene from scratch.
Sora 2 Test Result Scene 2
I expected more from Open AI's Sora 2 for this request. The scene is not as beautiful as the prompt would suggest, the origami birds look very simple and have difficulty with the graceful movements, even pausing at a point. I would have preferred no camera movement, but instead a nice delivery of the overall scene. I like the background music, but from a beauty perspective, the output is rather disappointing.
My rating for Sora 2 for Aesthetic Appeal & Beauty: 2/5
Veo 3 Test Result Scene 2
Veo 3 manages this prompt much better, it focuses on the birds and their movements and only slightly zooms in, which works great in this case. The birds, the woman and background look perfect and the background music is slightly magical. The only critizism I have is that the they don't fly up but down in the end.
My rating for Veo 3 for Aesthetic Appeal & Beauty: 4/5
Interesting to see that both tools generated a black woman, which is a great sign of the AI software becoming less biased.
Scene 3: Motion Handling "A cyborg/human encounter"
Prompt: Animate a warm handshake between a humanoid robot and a woman in slow motion, emphasizing the connection. The robot's LED lights softly glow in sync with movements, while the woman's expression shows joy and curiosity. Into the background the milky way appears and moves from the right side of the frame behind them to the left side all the way through pretty fast, this is supposed to show how time stopped when the two protagonists met.
I know I said that I would always use the first generation, but since both tools couldn't manage to make the milky way move, I decided to drop the audio part in which they originally greeted each other. I was hoping that this way the models could easily focus on this.
Sora 2 Test Result Scene 3
I think this scene is pretty nice, even though the milky way is not exactly moving (it's rather zooming in). And although they are not even shaking hands, I'm kind of fond of this video because I love her emotion, expression and the lighting. If we ignore the background sounds and the unprompted comment from the lady, of course. But yeah, it did miss the mark on the motion part, therefore I could only sqeeze out 2 of 5 points for Sora 2 here.
My rating for Sora 2 for Motion: 2/5
Veo 3 Test Result Scene 3
Similar with Veo 3: even though there is some movement (camera and handshake), it's only half of what I had requested. Rather than making the milky way move, it opens up in the background. I think the camera perspective works well and I like the look and feel of the video overall. As long as I ignore the funny sound effects. But because Veo 3 at least made the handshake move, it gets a slightly better rating than Sora 2.
My rating for Veo 3 for Motion: 3/5
Test Results Summary Sora 2 vs. Veo 3
Scene 1 - Prompt Coherence & Realism (Nun Breakdancing):
Sora 2: 5/5 - Nailed the downrock moves, perfect crowd and atmosphere
Veo 3: 2/5 - Morphed legs, unrealistic windmill movements, robotic crowd
Scene 2 - Aesthetic Appeal & Beauty (Origami Butterflies):
Sora 2: 2/5 - Simple birds, choppy movement, unnecessary camera work
Veo 3: 4/5 - Beautiful focus on birds, perfect woman and background, magical feel
Scene 3 - Motion Handling (Cyborg Handshake):
Sora 2: 2/5 - Great emotion but no handshake, milky way zooms instead of moves
Veo 3: 3/5 - Actual handshake movement, good camera work, milky way opens up
Final Scores: Sora 2: 9/15, Veo 3: 9/15 - It's a dead tie!
When to Use Which Tool
Choose Sora 2 for:
Complex action sequences requiring realistic physics
Human emotions and expressions (excels at capturing awe, joy)
Scenes with detailed character interactions
Projects where audio generation is desired by default
Social media content (mobile-first approach)
Choose Veo 3 for:
Aesthetic, artistic scenes requiring visual beauty
Projects needing careful camera work and composition
Cinematic quality over raw realism
Professional productions with higher resolution needs (4K capability)
When you want more control over audio vs. just background music
Neither tool is definitively better - they're complementary. Sora 2 brings that "holy sh*t, that looks real" factor, while Veo 3 delivers that "damn, that's beautiful" cinematography. Pick based on whether your project needs raw realism or artistic flair.
My Personal Takeaways and Tips for using Sora 2 vs. Veo 3
Unusual perspectives & camera movements: In none of my prompts did I specify the perspective, because I wanted to see what the cutting-edge AI tools would create by themselves. Sometimes they worked great, like in the example of Veo 3's cyborg and human encounter. For Sora 2's Origami birds I would have wished for focusing on the main mission instead of the camera movement. So, if you want dynamic shots with minimal prompt specification, Sora 2 is your best bet.
Sora 2 also tends to add unprompted audio conversations. When accessing Sora 2 via Artlist, the audio generation is set by default, so if you only want music or sound effects, you should specify this in your prompt.
I love how Sora is depicting the human emotion of awe in test 3, with the lady who is meeting a cyborg. The dancing nun is pretty incredible, given that none of the other tools I tested were able to generate the legs dancing properly.
