One unit settles most of this question. ByteDance quotes Seedance in yuan per million tokens, and the rate moves on two things only: the resolution of the video you get back, and whether the material you send in contains video. Nothing on the vendor pricing pages is priced per clip.
What Seedance actually bills by
Every Seedance model on Volcengine Ark shares one billing shape. Online inference is quoted in 元/百万token, yuan per million tokens. Offline inference, the cheaper batch column beside it, reads 暂不支持 for Seedance 2.5 and the 2.0 variants, so there is no discounted batch route. The Seedance API guide covers the request side of the same calls.
Two multipliers split each model into rows. Output resolution comes first: 480p and 720p share a rate, 1080p has its own, and the 2.0 series adds 4k. Then whether the input contains video, since a request carrying reference video costs less per token than one carrying only text and images. That reads as a discount for material the model does not have to invent.
One sentence matters more than either multiplier: 仅对成功生成的视频计费。因审核等原因导致生成失败的，不收取费用。
The published rate table
Rates are yuan per million tokens for online inference, from the Volcengine Ark pricing page.
| Model | Output resolution | Input without video | Input with video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seedance 2.5 | 480p, 720p | 70.00 | 42.00 |
| Seedance 2.5 | 1080p | 77.00 | 46.00 |
| Seedance 2.0 | 480p, 720p | 46.00 | 28.00 |
| Seedance 2.0 | 1080p | 51.00 | 31.00 |
| Seedance 2.0 | 4k | 26.00 | 16.00 |
| Seedance 2.0 fast | 480p, 720p | 37.00 | 22.00 |
| Seedance 2.0 mini | 480p, 720p | 23.00 | 14.00 |
Two rows surprise people. On Seedance 2.0 the 4k row is the cheapest cell in the table, under both its 480p row and its 1080p row. And 1080p on Seedance 2.5 is the most expensive. The parameter comparison gives the same treatment to the non-price limits.
The two formulas the vendor publishes
price = token unit price × token usage
token usage = (input video seconds + output video seconds)
× output width × output height × output frame rate ÷ 1024Both lines are quoted from the pricing page, the 视频价格估算公式 and the token 用量估算公式. The second needs four inputs, one of which is frame rate, and no page consulted here publishes a frame rate for Seedance 2.5. Every figure below therefore names the value it substitutes rather than presenting it as a vendor parameter.
Worked example: costing two clips
Both clips use the same model ID, doubao-seedance-2-5-260628. The substituted frame rate is 24 in each calculation, which is an assumption for the arithmetic and not a published Seedance 2.5 specification. Writing the prompt is the other half of the job, and the prompt guide covers how the vendor wants it written.
Case one: a 30-second 720p clip, no video in
Thirty seconds of output and no reference video, so the input-video term is zero and the rate row is the 480p, 720p row with no video input, 70.00 per million tokens.
{
"model": "doubao-seedance-2-5-260628",
"content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "<prompt>" }],
"ratio": "16:9",
"duration": 30,
"generate_audio": true
}token usage = (0 + 30) × 1280 × 720 × 24 ÷ 1024 = 648,000 tokens, so the cost is 648,000 ÷ 1,000,000 × 70.00 = 45.36 元. At a frame rate of 30 the same clip becomes 810,000 tokens and 56.70 元, which is why the substituted value is written out rather than hidden.
Case two: the same output at 1080p, with a 10-second reference video
Same 30 seconds of output, but the request now carries ten seconds of reference video and asks for 1080p. The input-video term stops being zero and the rate row changes with it.
token usage = (10 + 30) × 1920 × 1080 × 24 ÷ 1024 = 1,944,000 tokens, so 1.944 × 46.00 = 89.42 元 at list, or 1.944 × 33.12 = 64.39 元 inside the 1080p promotion. The bill lands above case one at any frame rate, and the only way back down is a different rate row.
When the limited-time discount ends
Two windows are open and one closes almost immediately. Seedance 2.5 at 1080p runs at 7.2 折 from 2026-08-14 14:00 to 2026-09-17 14:00 Beijing time, roughly a day out from the date this page was checked. Seedance 2.0 fast at 7.5 折 and 2.0 mini at 4 折 run from 2026-08-07 14:00 to 2026-10-07 14:00. Seedance 2.5 at 480p and 720p sits outside the promotion entirely.
Three rules decide whether a discount reaches your bill. Only postpaid usage qualifies, because a resource package is prepaid and does not stack with the promotion. The discount lands at billing time, so usage billed after the window returns to list. And a savings plan deducts the lowest of three figures: the model discount, the plan built-in discount, or a contract discount.
Activation thresholds, packages and deduction order
ByteDance will not open a Seedance 2.5 model instance until one of three thresholds is met: an account balance of 200 元, a savings plan bought at 200 元 or above, or a model package bought at 200 元 or above with quota left. That figure is a gate rather than a rate.
| Package | Quota | List price | Purchase minimum | Validity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seedance 2.5 | 5 million tokens | 210 元 | none | 90 days |
| Seedance 2.5 | 10 million tokens | 420 元 | none | 90 days |
| Seedance 2.5 | 100 million tokens | 4,200 元 | none | 90 days |
| Seedance 2.0 | 1 million tokens | 28 元 | 7 | 90 days |
| Seedance 2.0 fast | 1 million tokens | 22 元 | 9 | 90 days |
| Seedance 2.0 mini | 10 million tokens | 140 元 | 2 | 90 days |
Charges are deducted package first, then savings plan, then account balance. A package offsets only the model it was bought for, voids leftover tokens at 90 days, and refunds in full only within seven days and unused. While a model instance stays open, up to 200 元 of the balance cannot be withdrawn.
Why other pages quote different numbers
Search results for this query are dominated by sites that resell access to Seedance rather than run it. Two examples, quoted as their own pricing and not as Volcengine rates: seedanceapi.org publishes 1 USD = 100 credits with per-asset credit tables at 5, 10 and 15 seconds, and seedance.tv advertises subscription plans from $28 a month. Neither converts to a per-million-token rate. Reading either as the model price is how a budget misses by an order of magnitude.
What the vendor has not published
Four gaps are worth naming rather than filling. There is no free allowance on any page consulted, since the activation page states a 200 元 threshold and stops there. Seedance 2.5 has no published frame rate, the input the token formula leans on hardest. There is no per-clip price, because billing runs per token. And consumer credit pricing on 即梦 AI and 豆包专业版 appears nowhere. Reference-video input constraints sit on the separate task-creation page that the how-to-use guide points at.
Frequently asked questions
What does one Seedance 2.5 clip cost? Three things decide it at once. A 30-second 720p clip with no video input is 648,000 tokens at 24 frames per second, which is 45.36 元. The same clip at 1080p with a ten-second reference video is 1,944,000 tokens and 89.42 元.
What is the unit price? 70.00 per million tokens at 480p and 720p without video input, 42.00 with it, 77.00 at 1080p without video input and 46.00 with it, all for online inference.
Is there a free allowance? The vendor has published none. The activation page lists three thresholds and no free tier.
Does the promotion change the 480p and 720p rate? No. The Seedance 2.5 discount covers 1080p only, and the 480p and 720p rows hold at list.
Billing for Seedance reduces to a rate row, a duration, a resolution and one substituted frame rate. Get those four right and the estimate is arithmetic. Get the unit wrong and no amount of searching fixes it.