Seedance API Pricing: 2.5 vs 2.0 vs Fast vs Mini, and Which to Use

Short answer: use Seedance 2.5 when one take has to run longer than 15 seconds or needs more than 9 reference images. Use Seedance 2.0 when you need 1080p or 4K at up to 15 seconds. Use Seedance 2.0 Mini for drafts and high-volume short clips, and 2.0 Fast when you want a step up from Mini without paying for the full model. On PicX a 5-second 720p clip costs 250 credits on Mini, 345 on Fast, 575 on 2.0 and 875 on 2.5.

ByteDance's Seedance family now comes in four tiers you can call through one API. They share a prompt style and the same kinds of input, so switching between them is a change to model and nothing else. They differ in four things: maximum length, maximum resolution, reference budget and price.

The four tiers side by side

Model pages: 2.0 Mini, 2.0 Fast, 2.0, 2.5. Seedance 1.0 Pro is still on the list at 17 cr/s at 720p. It's the cheapest way to get the Seedance look, but it's a generation behind on motion and has no native audio, so we leave it out of the decision below.

What a clip costs

Credits per clip with sound on (sound is free on every Seedance tier), and the dollar cost on the Studio plan ($0.0037 a credit). On the $5 pack, multiply the dollars by 2.7.

Two things are easy to miss in that table. First, 2.5 at 720p costs 52% more per second than 2.0, and at 1080p 54% more. You're paying for length and references, so if your shot fits in 15 seconds with 9 references, 2.0 does the same job for less. Second, on 2.0, 1080p is 2.5x the 720p price and 4K is 5x. Seedance's 720p holds up well when viewed on a phone, so render 1080p only for what will be seen on a big screen.

Which tier to use

Use Seedance 2.5 if:

• one continuous take has to run 16–30 seconds, such as a walk-and-talk or a product reveal that ends on a logo;
• you need more than 9 reference images, or want to steer the shot with reference video clips (up to 10, 30 seconds combined);
• 1080p is enough and you don't need 4K.

Use Seedance 2.0 if:

• the shot fits in 15 seconds;
• you need 4K, which is only on 2.0;
• it's the final render of a shot you drafted on Mini or Fast.

Use Seedance 2.0 Fast if:

• you're still testing the prompt, the camera move and the opening seconds, and Mini's drafts aren't close enough to the final look to judge them;
• you need a quicker turnaround than the full model.

Use Seedance 2.0 Mini if:

• you're making many short clips for social, where 720p is the delivery size;
• you're drafting: on Mini, a 480p take costs 22% of the same take at 720p on 2.0.

A common pipeline: write the prompt against Mini at 480p, check two or three takes, then render the one that worked on 2.0 at 720p or 1080p. Moving between tiers needs no change to the prompt, only to model. The full cost math for that pipeline is in how to cut AI video API costs.

Calling Seedance through the API

Look the model id up by name from the public catalog, so your code never hard-codes it:

MODEL=$(curl -s "https://api.picxstudio.com/v1/models?type=video" \
  | jq -r '.models[] | select(.name == "Seedance 2.0 Mini") | .id')

curl -X POST https://api.picxstudio.com/v1/videos/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PICX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"model\": \"$MODEL\",
    \"prompt\": \"handheld close-up, a barista pours latte art, steam, soft morning light\",
    \"duration\": 5,
    \"resolution\": \"480p\",
    \"aspect_ratio\": \"9:16\"
  }"

For the final render, look up "Seedance 2.0" instead and set resolution to 720p. For a 30-second take, use "Seedance 2.5" and set duration up to 30. Seedance 2.0 is also the API's default video model, so a request with no model runs on it at full price, which is worth knowing before you put a loop in production. Modes, webhooks and polling are in the Generate Video reference.

Billing: credits, not tokens

Token-based Seedance pricing makes the cost of a clip depend on its exact width, height and frame rate. PicX turns that into one number per second for each resolution, so the cost is known before you submit, and the API returns it on the job (credits_used). If a job fails, the credits come back automatically.

FAQ

How much does Seedance 2.0 cost per second?

On PicX, 53 credits a second at 480p, 115 at 720p, 285 at 1080p and 580 at 4K, with audio included. A 5-second 720p clip is 575 credits, $2.12 on the Studio plan.

How much does Seedance 2.5 cost?

78 credits a second at 480p, 175 at 720p and 440 at 1080p. A 5-second 720p clip is 875 credits ($3.22 on the Studio plan), and a 30-second 720p take is 5,250.

What's the difference between Seedance 2.5 and 2.0?

2.5 runs up to 30 seconds in one take and accepts up to 30 reference images plus 10 reference videos. 2.0 stops at 15 seconds and 9 reference images but is the only tier with 4K. 2.5 costs about 52% more per second at 720p.

Is Seedance 2.0 Mini good enough for final videos?

For short social clips delivered at 720p, often yes. It takes the same inputs as 2.0, including frames and references, at 50 credits a second at 720p, and there's no 1080p or 4K.

Does Seedance charge extra for audio?

No. On every Seedance tier on PicX, sound on and sound off cost the same.