SkyReels V4: From No. 1 to No. 9 in Seven Months

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On March 18, 2026, Artificial Analysis named SkyReels V4, from Chinese company Skywork AI, the new leader in text-to-video with audio, ahead of Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1. Less than seven months later, the same model is No. 9. It has not got worse - eight newer models have overtaken it, all released since March. It is a clear example of how quickly video generators age, and why a ranking from last quarter can already be out of date. Read more about the model itself: SkyReels V4.

March: an unexpected leader

Skywork AI, a subsidiary of Chinese company Kunlun Tech, was known for open models for avatars and talking characters. On February 25, 2026, it published a report on SkyReels V4 - the first full video model with audio that can also edit footage: replacing objects and backgrounds, changing the time of day, and transferring motion from one video to a character in a photo. In the report, the model ranked No. 3 in the AA Arena, behind Veo 3.1 and a model from Grok. Three weeks later, when its API launched, it moved into first place for text-to-video with audio.

According to Skywork’s report, it also ranked No. 2 in text-to-video without audio, No. 4 in image-to-video with audio, and No. 7 without audio.

October: No. 9

Here is the current Artificial Analysis text-to-video table (version v2.0):

Source: Artificial Analysis AA-Video-T2V v2.0, October 11, 2026. In image-to-video, SkyReels V4 ranks 17th out of 36, with 1070 Elo.

Only two of the top nine models are from March: Seedance 2.0 and SkyReels V4. The other seven launched in July, August, and September.

Why the rankings change so quickly

• Release pace: In summer 2026, new video models near the top appeared every few weeks - MiniMax H3 in late July, FLUX 3 Video on August 4, Wan 3.0 in mid-August, Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 on August 27, and Utopai X on September 30.
• Fine-tuning open models: Two top-five models were built from the open MiniMax H3 base: H3 Max (fal.ai) and Utopai X (a film studio). New players no longer need to train everything from scratch.
• Relative rankings: Elo measures how often a model beats others. When stronger models enter the Arena, an older model loses points, even if it generates exactly what it did in March.
• Changes to the leaderboard: AA has reworked its rankings (text-to-video is now version v2.0), so scores from different months are not directly comparable - ranks are.

What SkyReels V4 still does well

A drop in the rankings does not mean the model is useless. SkyReels V4 still ranks ahead of Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1, the models it beat in March. Its strongest capability is not measured by the text-to-video and image-to-video tables at all: it can edit existing footage. In Skywork’s report, it replaces a bison with a moose in a selected area, changes the background behind a person to the Amalfi Coast, turns day into night, and transfers motion from one video to a character in a photo. I collected five examples with prompts in What SkyReels V4 Can Do.

The price has not changed: the official API costs $0.35 per second for 1080p ($21 per minute according to AA), while Fast at 480p starts at $0.08. That is roughly the same as Seedance 2.0 and more than Wan 3.0 ($12) or MiniMax H3 ($4.80) - models that now rank higher.

What to consider when choosing a video generator

• Check the ranking date. A comparison from three months ago may have a different leader and a different top five.
• Avoid an annual plan tied to one model. March’s leader is now in the middle of the pack; pay-per-second APIs and platforms offering multiple models give you more flexibility.
• Choose for the task, not the rank. SkyReels V4 can still make sense for editing footage. In my Polish-language tests, Wan 3.0 and FLUX 3 Video handled Polish dialogue better.

I track the current leaders using the same prompts in the Video Arena, and you can find a broader overview in the AI video generator rankings. For a comparison of models from the same March wave, see SkyReels V4 vs. Seedance 2.0 vs. Kling 3.0.

// read moreSkyReels V4: Benchmarks, API Pricing, and Getting StartedAI ToolsWhat SkyReels V4 Can Do: 8 Video Editing and Generation ExamplesAI ToolsSkyReels V4 vs Seedance 2.0 vs Kling 3.0: ComparisonBenchmarks