# Wan 2.6 > Wan 2.6 is Alibaba's AI video model series, announced on 16 December 2025, that makes clips of up to 15 seconds from text, a start image or reference images and videos of a person, animal or object, with multi-shot storytelling and better audio sync than Wan 2.5. Its weights are closed. On Kenerate AI it costs 30 credits a second at 720p and 45 at 1080p — 150 credits for a 5-second 720p clip — and the Wan 2.6 image model makes stills for 9 credits. URL: https://kenerateai.com/models/alibaba/wan-2-6 Publisher: Kenerate AI (https://kenerateai.com) Last updated: 18 October 2026 ## Key facts - Official name: Wan 2.6 (Wan2.6 series) - API ID: alibaba/wan-2.6 - Maker: Alibaba (Tongyi Wanxiang) - Announced: 16 December 2025 - Weights: Closed (hosted only) - Clip length: 5, 10 or 15 s · reference 5 or 10 s - Resolution: 720p · 1080p - Aspect ratios: 16:9 · 9:16 - References: Up to 5 images and clips (max 3 clips) - On Kenerate: 30 · 45 credits a second ## Steps 1. Open the video studio — Go to /app/video and pick Wan 2.6 (the button on this page selects it). Video needs any one-time credit pack. 2. Choose a mode — Text to video for a prompt alone, image to video to start from a still, or reference to video to cast a character, pet or product from up to 5 images and clips. 3. Describe the shot — Say who or what is in frame, the action, the camera move and the light. For a sequence, describe each shot in order. Attach a voice or music file if the clip should follow it. 4. Pick length and resolution — 5, 10 or 15 seconds (5 or 10 for references), 720p to test, 1080p to finish. The credit cost shows before you generate. ## In depth ### What each Wan 2.6 clip costs Wan 2.6's price on Kenerate depends on mode, length and resolution: - 5 s at 720p — 150 credits. Testing a prompt, motion and timing. - 15 s at 720p — 450 credits. Full-length social clips. - 15 s at 1080p — 675 credits. The final render. - Reference to video, 5 s — 300 credits at 720p, 450 at 1080p (includes the fixed reference fee). ### Where Wan 2.6 sits in the Wan family Wan 2.1 (February 2025) and 2.2 (July 2025) are the open-weights releases. Wan 2.5 (September 2025) was the first hosted-only Wan and added synced audio. Wan 2.6 (December 2025) stretched clips to 15 seconds, added multi-shot storytelling and introduced reference to video, which Alibaba pitched as letting anyone star in a video [1]. Wan 2.7 followed with end frames and editing, and Wan 3.0 with 30-second clips and sound. On API platforms Wan 2.6 text to video runs at 1280×720 or 1920×1080, landscape or vertical, for 5, 10 or 15 seconds, with an optional audio input and negative prompt [2]. Kenerate runs the same alibaba/wan-2.6 model for text, image and reference to video plus video extend. ### Prompting Wan 2.6 For one shot, write subject, action, camera move, light and mood in that order. For a 10–15 second sequence, describe the shots in order ("Shot 1: … Shot 2: …") and keep the character description identical in each, so the model holds the look across cuts. With reference to video, name the subject the same way the references show it and spend the prompt on the new scene, not on re-describing the face or product. References: [1] Alibaba unveils Wan2.6 series, enabling everyone to star in videos — Alibaba Cloud: https://www.alibabacloud.com/blog/alibaba-unveils-wan2-6-series-enabling-everyone-to-star-in-videos_602742 [2] alibaba/wan-2.6 text-to-video — WaveSpeed: https://wavespeed.ai/models/alibaba/wan-2.6/text-to-video ## FAQ Q: What is Wan 2.6? A: Wan 2.6 is Alibaba's AI video model series, announced on 16 December 2025. It includes upgraded text-to-video and image-to-video models, a new reference-to-video model (Wan2.6-R2V) that puts a person, animal or object from your references into new scenes, and two image models. Clips run up to 15 seconds with multi-shot storytelling and improved audio-visual sync. Q: Is Wan 2.6 open source? A: No. Some reseller pages call it open, but only Wan 2.1 and Wan 2.2 have open weights under Apache 2.0. Wan 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 and 3.0 are hosted models available through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, wan.video and API platforms. You can't download Wan 2.6 for ComfyUI; you run it online, for example in Kenerate's video studio. Q: How much does Wan 2.6 cost on Kenerate? A: It's billed per second by resolution: 30 credits a second at 720p and 45 at 1080p. A 5-second clip costs 150 or 225 credits and a 15-second 1080p clip 675. Reference to video adds a fixed 150 credits at 720p or 225 at 1080p. Credits come in one-time packs that never expire, starting at $15 for 1,300 credits. Q: How long can Wan 2.6 videos be? A: Up to 15 seconds per clip: text and image to video take 5, 10 or 15 seconds, reference to video 5 or 10. To go longer, use video extend, which adds another 5, 10 or 15 seconds to an existing clip, or start a new clip from the last frame of the previous one. Q: What is Wan 2.6 reference to video? A: It's the mode Alibaba launched as Wan2.6-R2V. You give the model references of a subject — a person, a pet, a product, or several subjects — and a prompt, and it generates a new scene with that subject looking the same. On Kenerate you can attach up to 5 references per clip, mixing images and up to 3 short videos. Q: Does Wan 2.6 generate sound? A: Alibaba says Wan 2.6 improved audio-visual sync and audio-to-video generation. On Kenerate you can attach your own wav or mp3 track for the clip to follow; there's no sound on/off switch for Wan 2.6, so if you want sound written from the prompt alone, Wan 3.0 is the more predictable pick. Q: Can Wan 2.6 animate an image? A: Yes. Upload a start image in /app/video, choose 5, 10 or 15 seconds and describe the motion. Wan 2.6 keeps the image as the first frame, which is the most reliable way to keep a product, character or layout exactly as designed. It doesn't take an end frame; Wan 2.7 does. Q: Is Wan 2.6 free? A: Not on Kenerate's free plan: video needs a paid plan, which means buying any one-time credit pack. New accounts get starter credits for images on free-plan models such as Qwen Image 3.0. The Wan 2.6 image model costs 9 credits an image and is not a free-plan model either. Q: What is the Wan 2.6 image model? A: It's Alibaba's image model from the same release, listed in Kenerate's image studio as Wan 2.6. Alibaba highlights style control and more realistic portraits. On Kenerate it makes images up to 1440 px a side, supports a seed and edits with up to 3 reference images, for 9 credits per image and 10.5 per edit. The examples on this page are its real outputs. Q: Wan 2.6 vs Wan 2.5 vs Wan 2.7 — which should I use? A: Wan 2.6 is the pick for 15-second clips and for casting the same subject from references. Wan 2.5 is cheaper for drafts (480p at 15 credits a second, which 2.6 doesn't offer) but stops at 10 seconds. Wan 2.7 costs the same as 2.6 and adds end frames and video editing, and Wan 3.0 makes up to 30 seconds with generated sound. ## Related pages - Wan AI video generator: https://kenerateai.com/wan-ai-video-generator - Wan 2.5: https://kenerateai.com/models/alibaba/wan-2-5 - Wan 2.7: https://kenerateai.com/models/alibaba/wan-2-7 - Wan 3.0: https://kenerateai.com/wan-3-0 - Wan image models: https://kenerateai.com/model/wan - All AI video models: https://kenerateai.com/ai-video-models ## Sources - Alibaba unveils Wan2.6 series, enabling everyone to star in videos — Alibaba Cloud: https://www.alibabacloud.com/blog/alibaba-unveils-wan2-6-series-enabling-everyone-to-star-in-videos_602742 - alibaba/wan-2.6 text-to-video — WaveSpeed: https://wavespeed.ai/models/alibaba/wan-2.6/text-to-video