Video Model Comparison

In this blog, I'm going to compare 5 different video models available on BudgetPixel using the same start image and prompt for each model. The start image came from a fun partial emoji prompt inspired by @CaylaCatz and it resulted in this adorable image: My initial plan was a simple prompt and let AI do the work, but the resulting video was not what I hoped. I turned to ChatGPT to help me write a prompt: "Create a short, cute spooky animation of the trio riding through their whimsical Halloween town at night. The black cat rolls forward on a skateboard while holding the purple stitched balloon, the little skeleton rides a tiny bike in the center, and the red devil rides a scooter beside them. They move smoothly down the cobblestone street toward the camera with playful, gentle motion. Keep the mood adorable, charming, and spooky-cute — not scary. Let the balloon bob lightly, the cat’s tail sway, the scooter and bike wheels turn naturally, and the characters bounce subtly as they ride. In the background, soft ghosts drift, lanterns glow, neon signs shine, and the colorful haunted town feels lively and magical. Use a smooth forward-travel feel with a gentle tracking camera, preserving the glossy cute 3D look, vibrant colors, expressive faces, and overall composition. Prioritize keeping the original image quality and the cute spooky style intact. Negative: horror, gore, scary tone, distorted faces, extra limbs, messy motion, style drift, blurry details, chaotic camera movement, losing the cute spooky look." First up was PixVerse V6 (720p 5 second video costs 350 credits) Overall, Pixverse had decent animation. The devil pedaling the scooter is a little tough to watch but otherwise the animation is smooth. The model is good at retaining the detail of the start image and filling in the town in a way that makes sense when they ride. The biggest shortcoming with PixVerse is the sound is pretty lackluster. Next up, Grok Imagine (720p 5 second video costs 500 credits) I use this model a lot. Typically, I give this model a relatively simple prompt and let it do its thing. In this case, I gave it the same prompt for consistency. We still have the issue with the motion of the devil on the scooter. He's almost running after an initial promising push off. Otherwise, the character's motions are fluid and they seem to interact with each other. The music is nice though not my first choice. I also like the ghosts in the background. The town as they move definitely loses some detail, but the style is at least consistent. Next up is Kling 3.0 Pro (1080p 5 second video costs 850 credits) We get some more motion, the characters seem to be having fun and the music is lively. Mild improvement in the devil's movements. The focus is clearly on the main character's though as the surrounding town loses detail and the fun extra elements. Moving on to HappyHorse 1.0 ( 720p 5 second video costs 850 credits) Overall, the motion is pretty boring and the sound underwhelming. The devil still can't ride a scooter. The background town feels like it belongs with some details. However, I just can't get over the minimal motion and the boring sound for such a pricey model. Last, Seedance 2.0 (450p 5 second video 500 credits) Note this model is available higher quality but I dropped to lowest possible to keep the cost down. The devil can ride a scooter! I was being to think the prompt was wrong. The music is rather cute. The big difference here is the characters ride towards the camera that is stationary, even though the prompt called for camera movement. This does allow for the town to maintain its detail, but if the video was longer, it would be an issue. Overall, the video model you chose is going to come down to your priorities. What matters most to you? Cost, motion, sound, adherence to prompt, background details, camera motion, and quality can all factor in. Watching all the videos back while creating this blog, my top choice would be Kling 3.0 Pro with SeeDance 2.0 coming in second and Grok third. The other two failed to impress me at all this round. Thank you for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts and comments below. If you enjoyed this, please be sure to clap (up to 20x).