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Wan 2.1 logo
Open Source Free Vertical 9:16

Wan 2.1

Alibaba's open-weights text/image-to-video; runs the 1.3B model on ~8GB VRAM.

#Free#Vertical 9:16#Open source
Visit Wan 2.1

About

Wan 2.1 is an open-source, self-hostable short-drama pipeline. Alibaba's open-weights text/image-to-video; runs the 1.3B model on ~8GB VRAM.

Our take — Wan 2.1 for short drama

Wan 2.1 is Alibaba's open-weights video family, and its 1.3B variant is the budget story of this list: the README cites 8.19GB VRAM for 5-second 480p clips — consumer-GPU territory. Our read for short drama: the realistic role is previz and I2V animation of styled keyframes, with the 14B model on rented GPUs when a shot must hold 720p. Apache 2.0 keeps commercial use simple.

Tradeoffs, from the README: the 1.3B model is explicitly less stable at 720p, FLF2V was trained mostly on Chinese text-video pairs (Chinese prompts recommended — arguably a feature for Chinese-market micro dramas), and the last update we saw is May 2025's VACE release, suggesting energy has moved to newer Wan generations. Versus HunyuanVideo it wins on accessibility; versus LTX-Video it trades speed for the VACE editing toolbox.

Best for

Teams wanting open-weights I2V on consumer GPUs, especially for Chinese-market drama with Chinese prompts.

Watch out

1.3B is unstable at 720p per the README, and this repo's last update we saw was May 2025 — newer Wan versions live elsewhere.

  • 1.3B runs in 8.19GB VRAM, per README
  • T2V, I2V, first-last-frame, VACE editing
  • Apache 2.0, ComfyUI and Diffusers integrated

Written by the DramaSo Tools editorial team, 2026-07 — an editorial read of the official site, not a hands-on score.

Popularity & traffic

GitHub stars ★ 16.5k Wan-Video/Wan2.1
Last commit 2026-03-05 repository activity

Stars and commit dates come from the public GitHub API, updated 2026-07-07.

CategoryOpen Source
PricingFree
Vertical 9:16Yes
Websitegithub.com

How short-drama creators use it

Technical teams self-host these to control cost and customize the script-to-video pipeline end to end.

FAQ

What is Wan 2.1?

Wan 2.1 is an open-source, self-hostable short-drama pipeline. Alibaba's open-weights text/image-to-video; runs the 1.3B model on ~8GB VRAM.

Is Wan 2.1 free?

Yes, Wan 2.1 is free to use.

Does Wan 2.1 support vertical 9:16?

Yes — Wan 2.1 supports vertical 9:16, which suits short-drama production.

What are the alternatives to Wan 2.1?

Alternatives include MoneyPrinterTurbo, ComfyUI, ShortGPT, AI Shorts Generator.

Alternatives to Wan 2.1

11 more open source tools

MoneyPrinterTurbo Topic to a finished vertical short: script, TTS, subtitles and stock footage. ComfyUI Node-based pipeline backbone for running open video models in custom workflows. ShortGPT Framework automating shorts end-to-end with 30+ language voiceover and captions. AI Shorts Generator Long to 9:16 shorts via LLM highlight detection, Whisper and auto vertical crop. HunyuanVideo Tencent's 13B+ open text-to-video with explicit 9:16 support. LTX-Video Lightricks' DiT text/image-to-video, real-time oriented (LTX-2 adds synced audio).

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