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Wan collection

Wan API Family

Use one EvoLink API to access the full Wan family from Alibaba Tongyi Wanxiang. Compare Wan 2.6 cinematic video, Wan 2.5 daily workhorse video, and Wan Image text-to-image on the same account, and pick the right route for your workflow.

3 family routesUnified API accessVideo and image in one family

Latest cinematic video

Wan 2.6 is the latest cinematic tier for multi-shot storytelling, reference video (r2v), and campaign-level output.

Daily workhorse video

Wan 2.5 is the daily workhorse tier with audio output supported on current routes and predictable per-second cost for content volume.

Text-to-image and image editing

Wan Image covers text-to-image and image-to-image fusion on the same Wan family account, for batch creative workflows.

Compare the Wan routes

This page answers one practical question: which Wan route should own this workflow on EvoLink?

RouteBest forAudioReference controlSpeed / variantEntry pricing
Wan 2.6

Latest cinematic

Cinematic multi-shot video, reference-video identity continuity, brand campaigns.Audio output alongside video on current routesText, image, and reference video (wan2.6-r2v)Standard tier plus Wan 2.6 Flash for faster i2v and r2v iteration$0.0708/s
Wan 2.5

Workhorse tier

Daily UGC, social feeds, SaaS video features, content volume with predictable unit cost.Audio output supported on current routesText and image inputs (no reference video at this tier)Single standard tier, no Flash variant$0.0708/s
Wan Image

Image family sibling

Text-to-image creation and image-to-image fusion for batch creative workflows.Image modality, not applicableText prompts and multi-image fusion inputsTask-based async image generation$0.0208/image

Which Wan model should you choose?

Treat the Wan family as three different operating modes, not three interchangeable pages.

Choose Wan 2.6 if

Cinematic multi-shot storytelling or reference video matters

Pick the latest cinematic tier when your brief is closer to a brand campaign than a daily UGC clip. Wan 2.6 is also the only Wan tier with reference video (wan2.6-r2v) for carrying a character's appearance across episodes, and Wan 2.6 Flash variants are available for faster image-to-video and reference-video iteration.

Choose Wan 2.5 if

You need a daily content workhorse with audio output

Pick the workhorse tier when predictability and sustainable unit cost matter more than peak quality. Wan 2.5 is the right default for UGC pipelines, social schedules, and SaaS video features where per-second cost has to stay defensible to finance at high volume.

Choose Wan Image if

You need text-to-image or image-to-image editing

Pick Wan Image when the workload is image generation, not video. It covers text-to-image creation and image-to-image fusion on the same Wan family account, and is a good default for campaign banners, product shots, and batch creative refreshes.

Explore each family route

Use the family page as a decision hub, then move into the route page that owns pricing, playground access, and model-level details.

Latest cinematic

Wan 2.6

Cinematic multi-shot video, reference-video identity continuity, brand campaigns.

Quality
Up to 15 second multi-shot, 1080p cinematic (2–15s text/image, 2–10s reference)
Audio
Audio output alongside video on current routes
Pricing
$0.0708/s
Workhorse tier

Wan 2.5

Daily UGC, social feeds, SaaS video features, content volume with predictable unit cost.

Quality
5 or 10 second short-form
Audio
Audio output supported on current routes
Pricing
$0.0708/s
Image family sibling

Wan Image

Text-to-image creation and image-to-image fusion for batch creative workflows.

Quality
Configurable within model limits, up to 1280x1280
Audio
Image modality, not applicable
Pricing
$0.0208/image

Pricing summary

This family page summarizes the pricing shape of the Wan lineup. The route pages own exact live pricing, and the dedicated Wan API pricing guide owns the full price breakdown. The short version: Wan 2.5 and the standard Wan 2.6 tiers share a predictable per-second video rate, Wan 2.6 Flash runs lower for image-to-video and reference-video iteration, Wan 2.6 reference video has its own input-plus-output duration logic, and Wan Image is billed per image rather than per second.

Wan 2.6

$0.0708/s

Latest cinematic tier. Standard per-second rate, plus Wan 2.6 Flash variants and separate reference-video billing logic.

Wan 2.5

$0.0708/s

Daily workhorse tier. Same standard per-second rate, tuned for 5 or 10 second social-style clips with audio output on current routes.

Wan Image

$0.0208/image

Image generation. Billed per image, not per second. Multi-image fusion costs the same as single-image generation.

Related Wan guides

The family page routes users to the right next question, not try to own every Wan intent itself.

Wan API Family FAQ

Everything you need to know about the product and billing.

The Wan API family is EvoLink's grouped access surface for Alibaba Tongyi Wanxiang's Wan video and image models: Wan 2.6 for cinematic multi-shot video, Wan 2.5 for the daily video workhorse tier, and Wan Image for text-to-image and image-to-image. The family page helps developers compare routes and choose the right one without switching providers.
Start with Wan 2.5 if your workflow is daily content volume, UGC, or a SaaS video feature where predictable per-second cost matters. Start with Wan 2.6 if your workflow is brand campaigns, multi-shot narrative storytelling, or anything that needs reference video to carry character identity across episodes. Start with Wan Image if the workload is image generation rather than video.
Not in a simple newer-is-better sense. Wan 2.6 is the latest cinematic tier with multi-shot storytelling and reference video; Wan 2.5 is the workhorse tier optimized for daily content volume. Most production teams use both. For a detailed decision, see the Wan 2.5 vs Wan 2.6 guide.
Wan 2.5 and the standard Wan 2.6 tiers share the same predictable per-second video rate on EvoLink, and Wan 2.6 Flash runs lower than the standard Wan 2.6 rate for image-to-video and reference-video iteration. Wan Image is billed per image, not per second. For exact numbers, see the Wan API pricing guide.
Yes. EvoLink groups the Wan routes under one account and API key. You can call Wan 2.5, Wan 2.6, Wan 2.6 Flash variants, and Wan Image from the same integration, which keeps auth, billing, and async task patterns consistent across the family.
Alibaba open-sourced earlier Wan releases such as Wan 2.1, while Wan 2.5 and Wan 2.6 are documented as API-accessible models on Alibaba's DashScope and Model Studio. As of April 2026, we have not found an official Alibaba source confirming Wan 2.5 or Wan 2.6 themselves as open source. For the most current status, check Alibaba's official announcements.

Where this page fits

Use this page to compare the Wan routes and choose a direction. Use the individual route pages for model-level pricing, playground access, and implementation details. Use the Wan blog guides for pricing, comparison, and production integration intent.