Hailuo vs Vidu: Which Is Better for Consistent AI Video?
Choose Hailuo for photorealistic people, expressive faces and camera moves that follow the prompt. Choose Vidu when several characters, props and settings must stay consistent in one clip, or for anime-style work. Both work in China and offer free credits.
| Hailuo | Vidu | |
|---|---|---|
| In one line | MiniMax's video generator with natural motion and expressions | Shengshu's video model, strong at keeping reference subjects consistent |
| Pricing | Free credits | Free credits available; subscriptions or credit packs unlock more usage |
| Access | Reachable from mainland China | Reachable from mainland China |
| Tags | Text-to-video · Image-to-video | Video · Image-to-video · Reference-to-video |
| Full review·Official site ↗ | Full review·Official site ↗ |
Pricing and features change often; check the official site before relying on them.
Key differences
Hailuo and Vidu are both directly usable in mainland China, both support text-to-video and image-to-video, and both handle Chinese prompts without trouble. Their basics are broadly comparable; what separates them is what each is betting on. Hailuo bets on convincing performances and obedient camera work. Vidu bets on getting everything you asked for into the frame, looking the way it should.
- Visual strengths: Hailuo renders human motion, facial expression and subtle movement naturally and sits among the leading Chinese video models; close-ups and emotional shots are its strong suit. Vidu’s photorealistic faces and complex motion still trail the top tier, with occasional limb distortion, but its anime-style output is stable.
- Consistency tools: Hailuo’s subject reference centres on people — supply one photo and the character stays close to it. Vidu’s reference-to-video accepts several images at once — a person, an object, a setting — and tries to place them together in one clip. When fixed props, products or locations matter, Vidu’s approach fits better.
- Control and ease of use: Hailuo responds reliably to push, pull, pan and tracking instructions and can expand short prompts automatically. Vidu offers first/last frame generation and effect templates that need almost no skill.
- Shared weaknesses: Short clips on both, so multi-shot stories need editing. References help but never fully solve consistency, and Vidu drifts more as references multiply or degrade. Hailuo’s free users face long peak-time queues; Vidu’s high-quality generations burn credits fast.
Choose Hailuo if
- Real-looking people are the focus, and expression and small gestures make or break the shot.
- Your prompt specifies camera movement and you want it followed, not improvised.
- You only need one character to look similar across a few shots.
- You are not confident with prompts and want automatic expansion to get a usable result.
Choose Vidu if
- One shot must contain a specific character, product and setting, all kept intact.
- You are making a short series or brand mascot content where fixed elements recur across clips.
- Your style leans anime rather than photorealism.
- You want effect templates for quick, playful social posts.
If you are in mainland China
Both are directly accessible and give free credits on signup, so the simplest approach is to run the same idea through each a few times. As a rough split, send realistic characters and emotional moments to Hailuo, and send multi-element scenes, recurring characters or products, and anime-style pieces to Vidu. If any reference image shows a real person, get their consent first, whichever platform you use.