xAI’s Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Tops AI Video Leaderboard at 86% Less Than Sora
xAI has moved Grok Imagine Video 1.5 to full general availability, and the model has done something its competitors will find hard to ignore. It now sits at the top of the Image-to-Video Arena leaderboard with an Elo score of around 1,330, a position it claimed even before its wide public release, through a Preview build that beat competitors in blind user voting.
xAI released Grok Imagine Video 1.5 on June 17, 2026, announcing it with native synchronized audio, sharper physics, and faster generation times. By the afternoon, the announcement had accumulated over 268,000 views on X.
The timing lands at an inflection point in the AI video market. OpenAI shut down the Sora 2 standalone app in April 2026, leaving creators looking for alternatives. Grok Imagine Video 1.5 is stepping into that gap with a pricing structure that makes the comparison difficult to dismiss. At $4.20 per minute for 720p output, it is 86% less expensive than Sora 2 Pro’s $30 per minute rate and also undercuts Google Veo’s pricing.
The underlying engine powering Grok Imagine Video 1.5 is Aurora, an autoregressive system that generates each video frame sequentially, conditioning each new frame on all prior frames. This sequential processing is what produces the stable camera movements and consistent subject positioning the model is known for.
The update notably improves generation speed, with fast mode producing a 6-second 720p clip in 25 seconds, down from over 40 seconds in the previous version. xAI also reports improvements in motion physics and object detail, ensuring elements like hair, fabric, and moving objects maintain consistency rather than dissolving mid-frame.
One standout feature separating Grok Imagine Video 1.5 from its rivals is audio. Native audio is where Grok 1.5 stands alone in this group. No other model generates synchronized sound in the same generation pass as video. Every other model requires a separate audio step or a separate tool entirely.
xAI also rolled out Agent Mode for Grok Imagine, repositioning the tool from a simple image generator to a full creative workspace capable of taking a project from initial idea through to a finished video. A developer-focused Grok Build beta with a command-line interface launched alongside the video update.
There is one trade-off worth noting. Grok Imagine Video 1.5’s maximum resolution is currently capped at 720p, while several competitors provide 1080p options. xAI has indicated plans for a Pro Mode featuring higher resolution, though no official release date has been announced.
Grok Imagine Video 1.5 is available now through grok.com, X.com, and the iOS and Android apps. The free web tier works without an X Premium subscription. SuperGrok, at $30 per month, unlocks higher generation limits. API pricing runs $0.08 per second for 480p and $4.20 per minute for 720p.
