New video models: Wan 3, Seedance 2.5, Grok Imagine Lite

Three video models join Tchavi: Wan 3.0, Seedance 2.5 and Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite. Wan 3.0 is for clips with ambient sound on a small budget, Seedance 2.5 for scenes where someone speaks, and Grok Lite for quick drafts from an image.

In short

• Tchavi, an OpenAI-compatible AI API gateway you pay for with mobile money, adds wan-3, seedance-2.5 and grok-imagine-video-1.5-lite.
• Wan 3.0: 2 to 15 s, 480p to 1080p, audio always included.
• Seedance 2.5: 4 to 15 s, 480p and 720p, lip-synced dialogue, including in French.
• Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite: 1 to 15 s, 480p to 1080p, no audio setting.

Wan 3.0 (Alibaba)

Wan 3.0 generates video with sound: ambience and effects are included at no extra credits. Water, fabric and fast body movement are its strong point.

• Duration: 2 to 15 seconds.
• Resolutions: 480p, 720p, 1080p. Aspect ratios: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4.
• Inputs: a prompt, a first image, a negative_prompt, a seed.
• Limits: no last image; audio is always generated, with no off switch.

Seedance 2.5 (ByteDance)

Seedance 2.5 writes the soundtrack together with the picture: a line you put in quotation marks is spoken and lip-synced. I checked it on a line in French for the demo on its page.

• Duration: 4 to 15 seconds.
• Resolutions: 480p and 720p (no 1080p). Aspect ratios: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 21:9 and adaptive.
• Inputs: up to 9 reference images and 3 audio clips, first and last image, seed, generate_audio.
• Limit: reference videos are not accepted; Seedance 2.0 takes them.

Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite (xAI)

The fast, light version of Grok Imagine Video. It animates a poster or a photo: our 5-second demo at 720p rendered in 29 seconds.

• Duration: 1 to 15 seconds.
• Resolutions: 480p, 720p, 1080p. Aspect ratios: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 3:2, 2:3.
• Inputs: a prompt or a first image. No seed, last image or negative_prompt.
• Limits: each image you supply adds 22 credits; no audio switch (the clip in our test was almost silent).

Prices

Credits first, then KES at October 2026 rates (1 credit is about KES 0.076):

Audio is included in these prices: none of these models bills it separately. Example: 5 seconds of Wan 3.0 at 720p is 550 credits, about KES 42. With Grok Lite, 1080p costs almost five times 720p: run your tests at 720p.

These are public prices; some models are on discount right now, and each model page shows the price billed today. Wan 3.0 is one of them.

One call to try it

Video generation is asynchronous: you submit the job, then poll it.

curl -X POST https://tchavi.com/api/v1/videos/generations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TCHAVI_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "wan-3",
    "prompt": "Wide shot at sunset on Diani beach, a fisherman runs past a colourful wooden boat",
    "duration": 5,
    "resolution": "720p"
  }'

# Then, with the returned id:
curl https://tchavi.com/api/v1/jobs/JOB_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TCHAVI_API_KEY"

For Seedance 2.5, change model to seedance-2.5 and write the spoken line in quotation marks in the prompt. If a model does not take a parameter, the model page and the video documentation say so.

How to try them

• Watch the demos: Wan 3.0, Seedance 2.5, Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Lite. Each page shows the prompt that produced the video.
• Read the video generation documentation and the one on jobs.

FAQ

Which model should I pick for a first test?

Wan 3.0 at 480p or 720p, with audio included. If you want a scene with a spoken line, try Seedance 2.5.

Why does my clip from an image not have the aspect ratio I asked for?

With a first image, Wan 3.0 and Seedance 2.5 keep the image's framing: the aspect_ratio you send is ignored.

What happens if a job fails?

The credits charged are refunded automatically if the job fails.

create your account and top up KES 250

This article is part of the series "Building an AI product from Africa". Tchavi is an OpenAI-compatible AI API gateway: one key gives access to over 100 text, image, audio and video models, and you pay for it with mobile money, no bank card (countries and operators). More guides on the blog. Follow us: LinkedIn and X.