Seedance 2.5 Pricing Runs 52% Above Seedance 2.0 on the API

ByteDance's Seed team launched Seedance 2.5 on July 31, 2026, and the API that followed carries a clear price tag: on BytePlus ModelArk, ByteDance's international cloud, every second of Seedance 2.5 video costs about half again as much as the same second from Seedance 2.0. The new model buys that premium with longer shots, a larger reference budget and draft previews, while the older 2.0 family, including its Fast and Mini tiers, stays on sale beside it.

For anyone choosing between them, the useful question is less "how much is Seedance 2.5" than "what does each extra capability cost compared with the model it replaces." Tech Forum pulled the published rates from ByteDance's own developer documentation and from Runway, which resells the model through its developer API, to answer it.

What Seedance 2.5 changes over Seedance 2.0

The Seedance 2.5 launch post from ByteDance Seed frames the release around one-take storytelling. A single generation now runs up to 30 seconds with synchronized audio, and the model can organize several connected shots inside that clip. The BytePlus Seedance 2.5 tutorial lists the specification changes against the 2.0 series:

• Length. Maximum output rises from 15 seconds to 30 seconds per generation, with multi-round extension on top.
• References. One request accepts up to 50 assets (30 images, 10 video clips and 10 audio clips), up from 15 (9 images, 3 videos and 3 audio clips). Seedance 2.5 also accepts audio-only references, which the 2.0 models reject without an image or video alongside.
• Draft mode. Seedance 2.5 can render a 480p preview and then reuse that task to produce the final 1080p take. None of the three 2.0 models offer drafts.
• Output. 2.5 delivers 1080p at 10-bit color and adds a MOV output format for editing work, plus native support for 11 languages.

One specification moves the other way. According to the Seedance 2.0 series tutorial, Seedance 2.0 can output 4K at 10-bit color. Seedance 2.5 tops out at 1080p, and the Fast and Mini tiers stop at 720p.

Seedance 2.5 pricing on the BytePlus API

ModelArk bills Seedance by token, and its pricing page publishes the formula: tokens equal input video duration plus output duration, multiplied by width, height and frame rate, divided by 1,024. The per-million-token rates for requests without video input are:

• Seedance 2.5: $10.70 at 480p and 720p, $11.70 at 1080p
• Seedance 2.0: $7.00 at 480p and 720p, $7.70 at 1080p, $4.00 at 4K
• Seedance 2.0 Fast: $5.60 (480p and 720p only)
• Seedance 2.0 Mini: $3.50 (480p and 720p only)

BytePlus also prints worked examples for a five-second 16:9 clip. Seedance 2.5 costs $0.514 at 480p, $1.156 at 720p and $2.843 at 1080p. The same clip from Seedance 2.0 costs $0.35, $0.76 and $1.87. Those figures match the formula at 24 frames per second, which is how the per-second numbers below were derived. Failed generations, including those blocked by moderation, are not charged, and requests that include an input video carry minimum token charges.

Seedance 2.5 pricing on Runway

Runway resells the whole family through its developer API and lists every tier on its model catalog. Credits cost $0.01 each, and the Runway API pricing page sets these per-second rates:

• Seedance 2.5: 20 credits at 480p, 30 at 720p, 68 at 1080p, plus a charge per second of any input or reference video. Reference images and audio are free, with an 80-credit minimum per generation.
• Seedance 2.0: 14 credits at 480p, 30 at 720p, 40 at 1080p, 150 at 4K.
• Seedance 2.0 Fast: 11 credits at 480p, 24 at 720p.
• Seedance 2.0 Mini: 7 credits at 480p, 15 at 720p.

Runway applies Seedance 2.5's draft mode the same way ByteDance does: the preview bills at the 480p rate, and the 1080p enhancement bills separately at the 1080p rate.

The two price lists side by side

Across the three resolutions both models support, ModelArk charges 52% to 53% more per second for Seedance 2.5 than for Seedance 2.0. Runway's premium is uneven: 43% at 480p, 70% at 1080p, and zero at 720p, where both models cost 30 credits per second.

Method: per-second prices for a 16:9 clip with no input video, taken from each provider's pricing page on October 28, 2026. ModelArk figures are the published token rates applied to BytePlus's formula at 24 frames per second; Runway figures are credits per second at $0.01 per credit. The comparison covers the four Seedance models both providers list.

Model	Max length	Max resolution	Max references	ModelArk 720p ($/s)	Runway 720p ($/s)	ModelArk 1080p ($/s)	Runway 1080p ($/s)
Seedance 2.5	30 s	1080p	50	0.231	0.30	0.569	0.68
Seedance 2.0	15 s	4K	15	0.152	0.30	0.374	0.40
Seedance 2.0 Fast	15 s	720p	15	0.121	0.24	not offered	not offered
Seedance 2.0 Mini	15 s	720p	15	0.076	0.15	not offered	not offered

Source: BytePlus ModelArk and Runway API pricing pages, checked October 28, 2026. ModelArk per-second values computed from published token rates at 24 fps, 16:9, no input video.

Two patterns stand out. ModelArk is the cheaper route for every model at every resolution in the table: Runway charges between 7% more (Seedance 2.0 at 1080p) and 98% more (Seedance 2.0 Fast and Mini at 720p). And Runway's flat 720p rate removes the premium for Seedance 2.5 entirely at that resolution, so a developer already on Runway pays nothing extra per second to move a 720p workload from 2.0 to 2.5.

What a full-length clip costs

The per-second premium understates the bill for the clips Seedance 2.5 was built for, because the maximum clip is now twice as long. A full 30-second 1080p generation on ModelArk works out to about $17.06 under BytePlus's formula. The longest 1080p clip Seedance 2.0 can make, 15 seconds, costs about $5.61. On Runway the same pair costs $20.40 and $6.00.

At 720p the numbers are gentler: roughly $6.94 for a 30-second Seedance 2.5 clip on ModelArk and $9.00 on Runway. Draft mode is the main lever for keeping full-length work affordable, since a 30-second 480p preview costs about $3.08 on ModelArk and lets a creator reject a bad take before paying the 1080p rate.

Where you can use Seedance 2.5

There are three kinds of access, and each prices the model differently.

ByteDance's own apps. At launch, ByteDance rolled the model out in Jimeng AI and Doubao Pro, both under Video Generation. Both are ByteDance's Chinese-market consumer apps.

Developer APIs. BytePlus ModelArk serves the model as dreamina-seedance-2-5-260628. BytePlus recommends an account balance or AI Savings Plan of at least $30 before activating the Seedance models. Runway exposes the same model as seedance2_5.

Creator platforms. Subscription platforms license the model and fold its cost into a membership. OiiOii, an AI animation platform, offers the Seedance 2.5 video generation model to members, with clips of 4 to 30 seconds in one continuous shot, 1080p output, up to 50 reference inputs across images, audio and video, and area editing of a selected region. Its plans start at a $16 monthly equivalent on quarterly billing, which suits creators who want the model without managing API keys or token math.

Which Seedance model to pick

• Seedance 2.5 when a scene has to hold together for more than 15 seconds, or when a project depends on many reference assets or audio-only references.
• Seedance 2.0 when the deliverable needs 4K, which 2.5 does not offer.
• Seedance 2.0 Fast for 720p work where speed matters more than peak quality, at about half of 2.5's ModelArk rate.
• Seedance 2.0 Mini for high-volume drafts and social clips, at roughly a third of 2.5's ModelArk price per 720p second.

ByteDance has kept all four models on sale, so the choice is a straight trade between capability and cost. For short clips, the older tiers remain the cheaper tool. For half-minute scenes, Seedance 2.5 is the only model in the family that can make them in one take.

Cover image generated for Tech Forum.