Quick verdict
Seedance 2.5, narrowly. It takes the one category the public data actually decides — output specs — with 30 s[1] per generation against 15 s[2] and 50[1] reference inputs against 12[3]. Everything else is closer than the version numbers suggest: the LMArena scores overlap, neither model has a public per-second API price, and Seedance 2.0 keeps one concrete advantage, a 4K creation option in Dreamina[4] where 2.5's only official resolution figure is 480p / 720p[5].
- Pricing Depends
- Output specs Seedance 2.5
- Features Tie
- Access Tie
- Public leaderboards Tie
Category winners are computed from the sourced rows in the tables below; “Depends” means there was not enough comparable public data to call it.
Summary
ByteDance Seed launched Seedance 2.0 on 2026-02-12[2] and followed with Seedance 2.5 on 2026-07-31[1]. Both are live today: Seedance 2.0 runs globally in Dreamina with an API on BytePlus ModelArk[3], and the Seedance 2.5 API is fully available to ModelArk clients[5]. The newer model did not retire the older one, and the spec sheets explain why.
The genuine upgrade is scale within a single pass. Seedance 2.5 generates up to 30 s[1] in one take and accepts up to 30 images, 10 video clips and 10 audio clips as reference material in that pass[1], plus timestamp-level editing of the result. Seedance 2.0 makes 15 s[2] multi-shot clips and takes up to 12 references — 9 images, 3 videos, 3 audio clips[3]. Resolution runs the other way: Dreamina sells Seedance 2.0 with a 4K creation option[4] and a frame-rate option up to 60 fps[3], while the only official Seedance 2.5 figure is 480p / 720p on the BytePlus ModelArk plan cards[5].
The leaderboards refuse to separate them. On LMArena text-to-video, Seedance 2.0 scores 1479[6] (ranked #5[6]) to Seedance 2.5's 1474[7] (ranked #7[7]); on image-to-video the order flips, 1477[8] against 1475[9]. Both gaps sit inside the boards' confidence intervals, so they are statistical ties. Pricing is equally murky on both sides: ByteDance publishes no per-second API rate for either model, only promotional Dreamina figures — $0.035 per generated second at 720p for Seedance 2.5 as a first-month Basic price[10], and $0.016 per second for Seedance 2.0 Pro during a 90%-off campaign dated 2026-09-23 to 2026-10-09[11].
Snapshot
| Spec | Seedance 2.5 | Seedance 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Generally available — API fully available to clients on BytePlus ModelArk; live in Jimeng Web and Doubao Pro[5] | Generally available (live globally via Dreamina; API on BytePlus ModelArk)[3] |
| Developer | ByteDance Seed[1] | ByteDance (Seed)[6] |
| Released | 2026-07-31[1] | 2026-02-12 (Seedance 2.0)[2] |
| Lowest API price (per second, with audio) | No public data | No public data |
| Cheapest paid consumer plan | No public data | $1.50/mo (Dreamina Basic (first month, 90% off promo))[11] |
| Free tier | No public data | Free daily credits on Dreamina (amount not stated on fetched pages)[11] |
| Max length, single generation | 30 s[1] | 15 s (Seedance 2.0)[2] |
| Max resolution | 480p / 720p (BytePlus ModelArk plans)[5] | 4K creation options[4] |
| Native audio | Yes[1] | Yes (Seedance 2.0)[2] |
| Image-to-video | Yes[1] | Yes (Dreamina)[3] |
| Public API | Yes (BytePlus ModelArk)[5] | Yes (BytePlus ModelArk)[12] |
Pricing
Depends — not enough comparable public data| Metric | Seedance 2.5 | Seedance 2.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| API price, 720p with audio (per second) | No public data | No public data | — |
| API price, 1080p with audio (per second) | No public data | No public data | — |
| API price, 4K (per second) | No public data | No public data | — |
| API billing basis | No public data | No public data | — |
| Cheapest paid consumer plan | No public data | $1.50/mo (Dreamina Basic (first month, 90% off promo))[11] | — |
| Consumer plan ladder | No public data | Dreamina subscription with 90%-off first month (Basic, $1.50 US first month); promo per-second rates at 720p: Seedance 2.0 Pro $0.016/s, Fast/Mini $0.008/s; Super annual (40% off first year): Pro $0.086/s, Fast/Mini $0.041/s[11] | — |
| In-app cost per second | Dreamina app: $0.035 per generated second at 720p (Basic plan, first-month promotional price); $0.047 per second (Super annual, first-year price)[10] | No public data | — |
| Free tier | No public data | Free daily credits on Dreamina (amount not stated on fetched pages)[11] | — |
Seedance 2.5 leads 0 rows, Seedance 2.0 leads 0, 0 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Output specs
Winner: Seedance 2.5| Metric | Seedance 2.5 | Seedance 2.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max length, single generation | 30 s[1] | 15 s (Seedance 2.0)[2] | Seedance 2.5 |
| Max length with extensions | No public data | No public data | — |
| Max output resolution | 720p (BytePlus ModelArk plans)[5] | 2160p (4K) (4K (Dreamina))[4] | Seedance 2.0 |
| Frame rate | No public data | 60 fps (Dreamina)[3] | — |
| Aspect ratios | No public data | No public data | — |
| Max reference inputs per generation | 50 (images + video + audio)[1] | 12 (Dreamina)[3] | Seedance 2.5 |
Seedance 2.5 leads 2 rows, Seedance 2.0 leads 1, 0 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Features
Tie| Metric | Seedance 2.5 | Seedance 2.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native audio | Yes[1] | Yes (Seedance 2.0)[2] | Tie |
| Lip-sync | No public data | Yes (Dreamina)[3] | — |
| Text-to-video | Yes[1] | Yes (Seedance 2.0)[12] | Tie |
| Image-to-video | Yes[1] | Yes (Dreamina)[3] | Tie |
| First / last frame control | No public data | No public data | — |
| Multi-shot in one generation | Yes[1] | Yes (Seedance 2.0)[2] | Tie |
| Video editing | Yes (timestamp-level)[1] | Yes (Seedance 2.0)[2] | Tie |
| Video extension | Yes (multi-round)[1] | Yes (Seedance 2.0)[2] | Tie |
Seedance 2.5 leads 0 rows, Seedance 2.0 leads 0, 6 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Access
Tie| Metric | Seedance 2.5 | Seedance 2.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Generally available — API fully available to clients on BytePlus ModelArk; live in Jimeng Web and Doubao Pro[5] | Generally available (live globally via Dreamina; API on BytePlus ModelArk)[3] | — |
| Public API | Yes (BytePlus ModelArk)[5] | Yes (BytePlus ModelArk)[12] | Tie |
| Where to use it | Jimeng and Doubao apps; Dreamina (international consumer app); API on BytePlus ModelArk[1] | Dreamina (dreamina.capcut.com) consumer app/web; Dola app; BytePlus ModelArk API and Playground[12] | — |
| Regional limits | No public data | No public data | — |
| Release date | 2026-07-31[1] | 2026-02-12 (Seedance 2.0)[2] | — |
Seedance 2.5 leads 0 rows, Seedance 2.0 leads 0, 1 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
Public leaderboards
Tie| Metric | Seedance 2.5 | Seedance 2.0 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena text-to-video score | 1474 ±9 (dreamina-seedance-2.5-720p)[7] | 1479 ±8 (dreamina-seedance-2.0-720p)[6] | Tie |
| LMArena text-to-video rank (of 48) | #7 (dreamina-seedance-2.5-720p)[7] | #5 (dreamina-seedance-2.0-720p)[6] | — |
| LMArena image-to-video score | 1477 ±7 (dreamina-seedance-2.5-720p)[8] | 1475 ±7 (dreamina-seedance-2.0-720p)[9] | Tie |
| LMArena image-to-video rank (of 48) | #4 (dreamina-seedance-2.5-720p)[8] | #5 (dreamina-seedance-2.0-720p)[9] | — |
| VGI-Bench overall score | No public data | No public data | — |
Seedance 2.5 leads 0 rows, Seedance 2.0 leads 0, 2 tied; rows marked — have no comparable data or no objective “better”.
How rows are judged: a lower price, a longer clip, a higher resolution or frame rate, more reference inputs and a supported feature win. Prices of a discontinued product are shown as historical and cannot win. LMArena scores are human-preference ratings (board snapshot dated 2026-09-21, read 2026-10-07); scores whose ± intervals overlap count as a tie. VGI-Bench is a research benchmark of visual reasoning. A row marked — has no comparable data.
Where each model leads
Where Seedance 2.5 leads
A whole scene from one generation. A continuous 30 s take with multiple logically connected shots, steered by up to 30 images, 10 videos and 10 audio clips of reference material, then adjusted with timestamp-level editing instead of a full regeneration[1]. You can try Seedance 2.5 on AIContentDrop without a BytePlus account.
Where Seedance 2.0 leads
Resolution headroom and a known workflow. Dreamina lists 4K creation options for Seedance 2.0[4], frame rates up to 60 fps[3] and lip-synced audio[3], and its arena.ai text-to-video entry still scores 1479[6], a statistical tie with its successor. If you prompt it in a structured format, our Seedance 2.0 JSON prompt guide documents the patterns that hold up.
To run the same brief through both generations on one credit balance, AIContentDrop's model library covers Seedance 2.5, Minimax H3, Kling 3.0, Veo 3.1, Sora 2, Seedance 2.0, Wan 3.0, Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, ChatGPT Image 2.0 and many more. Sora 2 can no longer be generated, because OpenAI shut the Sora API down on 2026-09-24 (see our Sora status page). Per-model credit rates start at $19/mo — $14/mo billed annually — with 10 free credits to test[13].
Which should you choose?
Frequently asked questions
Is Seedance 2.5 better than Seedance 2.0?
On output specs, yes: 30 s[1] per generation against 15 s[2], and 50[1] reference inputs against 12[3]. On measured quality the public boards are a statistical tie, and Seedance 2.0 still offers a 4K option in Dreamina that 2.5 does not publish[4].
Which Seedance outputs higher resolution?
On published figures, Seedance 2.0: Dreamina lists 4K creation options for it[4]. For Seedance 2.5, the only official resolution figure is 480p / 720p on the BytePlus ModelArk plan cards[5], so there is no public data showing 2.5 above 720p.
What do Seedance 2.5 and Seedance 2.0 cost?
ByteDance publishes no per-second API price for either model on a page we could read. Its own Dreamina app lists promotional rates instead: $0.035 per generated second at 720p for Seedance 2.5 (a first-month Basic price)[10], and $0.016 per second at 720p for Seedance 2.0 Pro during a 90%-off campaign[11].
Evidence
Only official sources are cited: vendor pages, and leaderboard publishers for their own rankings. Anything we could not find on such a page is shown as “No public data”.
- Introducing Seedance 2.5 — One-Take Creation, Flexible Referencing — ByteDance Seed. seed.bytedance.com/en/blog/one-take-creation-flexible-referencing-i…. Checked 2026-10-06
- ByteDance Seed blog — Seedance 2.0 Official Launch — ByteDance Seed. seed.bytedance.com/en/blog/seedance-2-0-official-launch. Checked 2026-10-07
- Dreamina (CapCut) — Official Seedance 2.0 tool page — Dreamina / CapCut (ByteDance). dreamina.capcut.com/tools/seedance-2-0. Checked 2026-10-07
- Dreamina (CapCut) — Seedance Price 2026: 2.5 & 2.0 — Dreamina / CapCut (ByteDance). dreamina.capcut.com/seedance/seedance-price. Checked 2026-10-07
- Dreamina-seedance-2.5 API Now Fully Available to Clients — BytePlus (ByteDance). www.byteplus.com/en/product/seedance. Checked 2026-10-06
- Arena (arena.ai) — Text-to-Video Leaderboard — arena.ai. arena.ai/leaderboard/text-to-video. Checked 2026-10-07
- Text-to-Video Arena leaderboard — LMArena (arena.ai). arena.ai/leaderboard/text-to-video. Checked 2026-10-06
- Image-to-Video Arena leaderboard — LMArena (arena.ai). arena.ai/leaderboard/image-to-video. Checked 2026-10-06
- Arena (arena.ai) — Image-to-Video Leaderboard — arena.ai. arena.ai/leaderboard/image-to-video. Checked 2026-10-07
- Seedance 2.5 pricing (Dreamina) — Dreamina (ByteDance / CapCut). dreamina.capcut.com/seedance/seedance-2-5-pricing-2026. Checked 2026-10-06
- Dreamina (CapCut) — Seedance 2.0 Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits & Costs — Dreamina / CapCut (ByteDance). dreamina.capcut.com/seedance/seedance-2-0-pricing. Checked 2026-10-07
- ByteDance Seed — Seedance 2.0 model page — ByteDance Seed. seed.bytedance.com/en/seedance2_0. Checked 2026-10-07
- AIContentDrop — Pricing — AIContentDrop. aicontentdrop.com/pricing. Checked 2026-10-07