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Seedance 2.5 Flash: API Pricing, Video Modes and Turbo Comparison

Seedance 2.5 Flash is ByteDance’s hosted video model for quick 480p and 720p iterations. This guide uses WaveSpeed’s API routes and prices: generate 4–30-second clips from text, a start image or multimodal references, or edit an existing clip. Flash does not offer the 1080p and 4K outputs available on other Seedance 2.5 routes.

Content reviewed:

Seedance 2.5 Flash WaveSpeed rates: $0.12 or $0.24 per output second for text- and image-to-video, $0.075 or $0.15 per normalized second with reference videos, and $0.15 or $0.30 per source second for edits, with five-second 720p examples and a reroll budget.
Original diagram of the three documented WaveSpeed billing rules; reference clips count as at least two seconds and the edit rate covers input and output.

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When to use Seedance 2.5 Flash

  • Generate short social or ad concepts at 480p or 720p, then compare several takes before choosing a final shot.
  • Animate a still image with a defined start frame and optional end frame.
  • Use images, video and audio references to guide a new clip’s look, motion and sound.
  • Change a source video’s setting, style or subjects with a written edit instruction.

What Seedance 2.5 Flash does and where to call it

Seedance 2.5 Flash is a hosted video-generation model in ByteDance’s Seedance 2.5 family. On WaveSpeed, the text-to-video, image-to-video and reference-to-video routes generate 4–30-second clips at 480p or 720p. Native synchronized audio is on by default. The separate video-edit route takes a source clip and a text instruction; it uses the source duration for its edit price.

WaveSpeed exposes four REST endpoints for Flash. The model’s WaveSpeed route name is bytedance/seedance-2.5-flash; the text-to-video route used below adds /text-to-video. BytePlus ModelArk documents the official model ID as dreamina-seedance-2-5-flash-261115. That is a different provider’s identifier. ModelArk access requires the account to have model access and activation.

The limits below are specific to the WaveSpeed routes. Its text-to-video page allows up to 10 images, 5 reference videos and 5 reference audio clips (30 seconds of audio total). BytePlus’s official ComfyUI integration lists 30 images, 10 videos and 10 audio clips for Flash. Check the selected provider’s schema before moving a request between channels.

Choose Flash, Seedance 2.5 or Seedance 2.5 Turbo

On WaveSpeed, the three routes have different output ranges. Flash covers 480p and 720p. The separate 2.5 Turbo text route covers 720p and 1080p. The standard 2.5 route adds 4K. Turbo is not another name for Flash: at the same 720p output and five-second duration, the current WaveSpeed list is $1.00 for Turbo and $1.20 for Flash. Compare current channel quotes when you submit.

Use Flash when 480p is useful for lower-resolution iterations or its own reference/edit route fits the job. Choose Turbo when you need 1080p or want its currently lower 720p text-to-video list price. Choose standard 2.5 when you need the standard route’s 4K option. BytePlus’s official integration also lists Draft mode for standard 2.5 and says Flash has no Draft option.

The comparison is about published controls and channel prices, not a quality or speed test. Keep the same prompt, references, duration and resolution where the options overlap, then count every take you generate toward the project budget.

WaveSpeed text-to-video routeListed output and durationReference limits on that route720p, 5-second output-only price
Seedance 2.5 Flash480p or 720p; 4–30 seconds10 images, 5 videos, 5 audio clips$1.20
Seedance 2.5 Turbo720p or 1080p; 4–30 seconds30 images, 10 videos, 10 audio clips$1.00
Seedance 2.5480p, 720p, 1080p or 4K; 4–30 seconds30 images, 10 videos, 10 audio clips$1.80

Reference video and editing use separate billing rules

Text-to-video and image-to-video use the output-only rate in the table. If you include a reference video, WaveSpeed instead bills its normalized reference duration plus the selected output duration at the reference-video rate. Each reference clip counts as at least two seconds; a clip and the combined reference input can each total no more than 30 seconds, and the normalized input duration is rounded up to a whole second. Bind files in prompt order with tags such as @Image 1, @Video 1 and @Audio 1.

Video editing is priced against the source-video duration, rounded up to the next whole second, with a four-second minimum and a 30-second maximum. The listed rate includes both input and generated output. WaveSpeed uses the first 30 seconds of the source, and pads a source shorter than four seconds to four seconds.

WaveSpeed Flash task480p rate720p rateFive-second example at 720p
Text-to-video or image-to-video, output only$0.12 per output second$0.24 per output second5 output seconds = $1.20
Reference-to-video with reference videos$0.075 per normalized input or output second$0.15 per normalized input or output second5-second reference + 5-second output = $1.50
Video edit$0.15 per source second$0.30 per source second5-second source, including its output = $1.50

Budget the final clip and its rerolls

A five-second, 720p text-to-video result costs $1.20 at WaveSpeed’s listed output-only rate. If you keep one take out of three, budget $3.60 for that shot. A five-second reference video plus a five-second result costs $1.50 per candidate, or $4.50 for three candidates. These totals multiply the listed per-second rates by every attempt; they do not include any separate editing or post-production work.

For a batch of 20 five-second 720p shots, one output-only take per shot is $24. Three takes per shot are $72. If every shot uses a five-second reference video, the corresponding totals are $30 and $90. Use the reference-video rate only for requests that include video references; text-only and image-to-video routes use their own output-only rate.

720p five-second workloadOne candidate per shotThree candidates per shot
One text/image shot$1.20$3.60
One shot with a five-second video reference$1.50$4.50
20 text/image shots$24.00$72.00
20 shots with a five-second video reference each$30.00$90.00

Submit and retrieve a five-second clip

Create a WaveSpeed API key and keep it on your server as WAVESPEED_API_KEY. The request below submits one five-second 720p clip with generated audio. At the listed output-only rate, that is a $1.20 generation. The POST response contains a prediction ID; use it to poll the result endpoint until the task is complete, then read the output URL.

Submit a generation request once. If the connection fails after submission and you cannot tell whether the task was accepted, check the prediction history before sending another POST; a second submission can create another billed job. Polling the result endpoint is separate from creating a new generation.

Submit once, then poll the prediction ID
curl -X POST "https://api.wavespeed.ai/api/v3/bytedance/seedance-2.5-flash/text-to-video" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $WAVESPEED_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "A ceramic cup lands on a sunlit wooden table. Hold a close-up as a curl of steam rises. Soft room ambience, no music.",
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    "resolution": "720p",
    "duration": 5,
    "generate_audio": true,
    "output_format": "mp4"
  }'

curl "https://api.wavespeed.ai/api/v3/predictions/YOUR_PREDICTION_ID/result" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $WAVESPEED_API_KEY"

Before you use it

  • WaveSpeed Flash output tops out at 720p; use its separate Turbo or standard Seedance 2.5 route for 1080p work, and standard 2.5 for the listed 4K option.
  • The channel’s reference limits and prices do not automatically apply to BytePlus ModelArk or another API provider.
  • BytePlus ModelArk lists no Draft mode for Flash; the standard 2.5 model has the separate Draft workflow.

How to get started

Start with one five-second 720p shot. Keep a count of every candidate, then add the cost of reference videos or video edits using that route’s separate rate before planning a larger batch.

Sources

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Calculators