OpenAI is officially shutting down Sora

Remember the jaw-dropping Sora demos that set the internet on fire? OpenAI is officially pulling the plug.

Web apps go first, API lingers until fall

According to OpenAI's discontinuation notice, the Sora web and mobile app experiences will be discontinued on April 26, 2026. Developers building on the Sora API get a bit more breathing room, with that service scheduled to shut down on September 24, 2026.

If you have videos stored on the platform, you will need to visit the sunset page to download your creations. Once the final export window closes, all data associated with Sora will be permanently deleted. OpenAI noted that any unused ChatGPT or Sora credits can still be applied toward Codex.

On social media, the team behind the official app simply posted a brief goodbye message to wrap up its run.

Why it matters

Building mind-blowing video models is one thing; footing the massive compute bill to run them is another. We think this move is a clear admission that standalone video generation remains wildly expensive and notoriously hard to monetize at scale, even for OpenAI.

For creators, the practical advice is simple: export your archives immediately before they vanish for good. For the broader industry, it is a stark reminder that viral attention cannot save a product if the underlying unit economics do not work out.