Best free CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternatives

Looking for a free alternative to CogVideoX (Zhipu)? Here are 9 ai video generation worth trying — 9 with a free tier. CogVideoX (Zhipu) itself is free.

ToolCogVideoX (Zhipu) (you searched)Genmo (Mochi 1)Meta VibesHunyuanVideo (Tencent)
Pricingfreefreefreefree
Best forOpen text-to-video and image-to-video models (2B under Apache-2.0, 5B under CogVideoX license)Fully open-source text-to-video model (Mochi 1) with downloadable weightsText-to-video and image-to-video generation with a remix feedOpen-weights text-to-video and image-to-video models from Tencent
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CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternatives — straight answers

What is the best free alternative to CogVideoX (Zhipu)?

Genmo (Mochi 1) is the closest free alternative to CogVideoX (Zhipu): same AI Video Generation sub-category, and it is free. Fully open-source text-to-video model (Mochi 1) with downloadable weights

Are there free CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternatives?

Yes — 9 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: Genmo (Mochi 1), Meta Vibes, HunyuanVideo (Tencent), HunyuanVideo 1.5, LTX-2 (Lightricks). None of them are paid-only.

Is CogVideoX (Zhipu) free?

CogVideoX (Zhipu) is free. There is no paid plan attached to it in the catalog.

How were these CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternatives chosen?

They are the other tools in AI Video Generation, then the rest of Content & Media Generation, ordered free tiers first and capped at 9. There is no sponsorship and no paid placement in that ordering — only the pricing tier decides.

All CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternatives

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Genmo (Mochi 1)

AI Video Generation
free

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Fully open-source text-to-video model (Mochi 1) with downloadable weights.

  • Fully open-source text-to-video model (Mochi 1) with downloadable weights
  • Runnable locally / self-hostable, no vendor lock-in
  • Free browser playground for quick testing

Meta Vibes

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Text-to-video and image-to-video generation with a remix feed.

  • Text-to-video and image-to-video generation with a remix feed
  • Free inside the Meta AI app and meta.ai
  • Share AI clips to Instagram and Facebook
  • Standalone Vibes app in limited test markets

HunyuanVideo (Tencent)

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Open-weights text-to-video and image-to-video models from Tencent.

  • Open-weights text-to-video and image-to-video models from Tencent
  • Runs locally with ComfyUI or diffusers on high-VRAM GPUs
  • Also available through Tencent's Hunyuan apps
  • Community LoRAs widely available

HunyuanVideo 1.5

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — 8.3B-parameter open text-to-video and image-to-video model.

  • 8.3B-parameter open text-to-video and image-to-video model
  • Runs on consumer GPUs; fp8 inference added Dec 2025
  • Free weights on GitHub and Hugging Face

LTX-2 (Lightricks)

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Open DiT audio-video model generating synchronized sound and video in one pass.

  • Open DiT audio-video model generating synchronized sound and video in one pass
  • Native 4K up to 50 fps, multi-keyframe conditioning, LoRA fine-tuning
  • Repo under Apache-2.0 (LTX-Video lineage); runs locally and in ComfyUI

SkyReels V2

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Open-source autoregressive diffusion-forcing model for long video (up to 60s).

  • Open-source autoregressive diffusion-forcing model for long video (up to 60s)
  • Text-to-video, image-to-video and video extension in 1.3B, 5B and 14B sizes
  • 540P/720P; playground at skyreels.ai

Kandinsky 5.0

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — MIT-licensed family: Video Pro (19B), Video Lite (2B) and Image Lite (6B).

  • MIT-licensed family: Video Pro (19B), Video Lite (2B) and Image Lite (6B)
  • Video Pro ranked top open-source text-to-video on LMArena (Dec 2025)
  • ComfyUI and Diffusers integrations

MAGI-1 (Sand AI)

AI Video Generation
freeNew

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Apache-2.0 autoregressive video model generating chunk by chunk for text, image and video-to-video.

  • Apache-2.0 autoregressive video model generating chunk by chunk for text, image and video-to-video
  • Chunk-wise prompting for controllable long videos
  • MAGI-1.1 weights released June 2026; web interface at magi.sand.ai

Google Veo (Flow)

AI Video Generation
freemium

✦ WhyA CogVideoX (Zhipu) alternative — Veo 3.1 video generation with native synchronized audio.

  • Veo 3.1 video generation with native synchronized audio
  • Free daily credits for signed-in Google users, no card needed
  • Flow also covers image generation (ImageFX and Whisk merged in)
  • Scene builder and camera controls for multi-shot storytelling

CogVideoX (Zhipu) head-to-head