Seedance 1.5 Pro vs Seedance 2: Which ByteDance Model to Pick

Seedance 1.5 Pro is the cheap, permissive workhorse — 4 to 14 second clips up to 1080p, billed at 0.75 to 3 credits per second — while Seedance 2 is ByteDance’s flagship, adding a 4K tier, a 15 second ceiling and single-second control across four resolutions, at roughly 13 to 40 times the credit cost. If your delivery ceiling is 1080p, 1.5 Pro wins on price by an enormous margin. If you need genuine 4K or the extra reference-media modes, Seedance 2 is the only one of the two that does it.

The two models in one paragraph each

Seedance 1.5 Pro is the generation ByteDance shipped before Seedance 2. On VdoBloom it accepts text prompts and starting images, renders any whole-second length from 4 to 14 seconds, offers 480p, 720p and 1080p, and covers six aspect ratios including cinema-wide 21:9. It can also generate native audio in the same pass, which doubles its per-second rate. It carries the Seedance family’s HOT content label — the most flexible filtering tier in the family.

Seedance 2 is the newer flagship. It keeps the six aspect ratios and adds a seventh option, adaptive, plus a fourth resolution tier at 4K and a duration ladder that runs 4 to 15 seconds in one-second steps. It takes three mutually exclusive input modes: prompt only, first frame plus optional last frame, or multimodal references (images, video and audio). Its content label is MODERATE — a step stricter than 1.5 Pro.

Specs side by side

Spec	Seedance 1.5 Pro	Seedance 2
Durations	4–14s, every second (11 options)	4–15s, every second (12 options)
Resolutions	480p, 720p, 1080p	480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K
Aspect ratios	16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 21:9	Same six, plus adaptive
Input modes	Text to video, image to video	Text, first/last frame, multimodal references
Native audio	Optional, doubles the per-second rate	On by default, no surcharge
Content label	HOT (most flexible in the family)	MODERATE
Cheapest real run	3 credits (480p, 4s)	31 credits (480p, 4s)

What each one actually costs

One credit is $0.05 at the Lite subscription rate ($15 for 300 credits), so the dollar column below is directly comparable. Seedance 1.5 Pro is billed per second: 0.75 credits per second at 480p, 1.5 at 720p, 3.0 at 1080p, doubled when you switch native audio on. Seedance 2 is billed from a per-duration table.

Setting	Seedance 1.5 Pro	Seedance 2	Cost gap
480p, 4s	3 credits ($0.15)	31 credits ($1.55)	10x
720p, 8s	12 credits ($0.60)	131 credits ($6.55)	11x
1080p, 5s	15 credits ($0.75)	203 credits ($10.15)	13.5x
1080p, 12s	36 credits ($1.80)	486 credits ($24.30)	13.5x
1080p, 14s	42 credits ($2.10)	567 credits ($28.35)	13.5x
1080p, 8s with audio	48 credits ($2.40)	325 credits ($16.25), audio included	6.8x
4K, 10s	Not available	827 credits ($41.35)	—
4K, 10s with a reference video	Not available	509 credits ($25.45)	—

Two things in that table deserve a second look. First, the gap is not a rounding difference — it reflects two genuinely different provider price points, and VdoBloom passes both through at its normal margin. Second, Seedance 2’s 4K tier is cheaper when you supply a reference video than when you generate from text or a still, because the upstream provider bills the with-video path at a lower rate. If you already have footage to drive the shot, 4K drops from 827 credits to 509 for the same ten seconds.

Prompting: the practical differences

Prompts transfer between the two models more cleanly than the version numbers suggest, because they share a family lineage and the same framing vocabulary. What changes is how much each model gives you for elaboration.

On Seedance 1.5 Pro, write short and concrete. Subject, one action, one camera move, one lighting note. Because a 720p 8 second draft costs 12 credits, the sane workflow is to run four or five prompt variants and pick, rather than to write one long prompt and hope. Use 480p for motion tests at 0.75 credits per second — a 6 second test is 5 credits.

On Seedance 2, the prompt is worth more care because the render is worth more money. Draft the composition somewhere cheap first: Seedance 2 Mini and Seedance 2 Fast share Seedance 2’s exact duration ladder and all six aspect ratios, so a shot proven at 480p in a 21:9 frame re-renders in the same frame at 4K without recomposing. Only then spend the flagship credits.

Both models are reached from Text to Video and Image to Video; Seedance 2 also appears on the Seedance Effects tab, where curated presets supply the prompt for you. If you animate a photograph of a real person, you must have that person’s consent before you generate or publish the clip.

A worked example

Say you need a 12 second 1080p product loop in 9:16 for a paid social test, and you expect roughly six attempts before the motion is right.

On Seedance 1.5 Pro: six attempts at 36 credits is 216 credits, about $10.80. That fits inside a single Lite month with credits to spare.

On Seedance 2: six attempts at 486 credits is 2,916 credits, about $145.80. The sensible version of that run is five drafts on Seedance 2 Mini at 480p (34 credits each, 170 total) and one flagship 1080p keeper at 486 — 656 credits, about $32.80, a fifth of the brute-force cost.

That is the whole decision in miniature. When 1080p is genuinely enough, 1.5 Pro does the job for pocket change. When you need the flagship, never iterate on it directly.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Seedance 1.5 Pro for social and web delivery at 1080p or below, for high-volume iteration, for optional audio you only pay for when you want it, and whenever a concept keeps getting refused by stricter models — its HOT label is the most permissive in the Seedance family.

Pick Seedance 2 when the output will be viewed large or graded (4K), when you need the extra second of length, when you want to drive a shot with reference video or audio rather than a prompt, or when adaptive framing from a source image matters. New accounts get 10 free credits with no card, which covers a 1.5 Pro test but not Seedance 2’s 31 credit floor — see pricing for packs that never expire.

Frequently asked questions

Is Seedance 2 simply better than Seedance 1.5 Pro?

No. It is higher-ceiling, not strictly better. Seedance 2 adds 4K, an extra second of duration, adaptive framing and reference-media inputs. Seedance 1.5 Pro is roughly thirteen times cheaper at 1080p and carries the more flexible HOT content label, so for a lot of real work it is the better choice.

Which one is cheaper for a 10 second 1080p clip?

Seedance 1.5 Pro, by a wide margin: 30 credits ($1.50) against Seedance 2’s 405 credits ($20.25). At 480p the same 10 seconds is 8 credits on 1.5 Pro and 76 on Seedance 2.

Do both models generate sound?

Yes, but differently. Seedance 1.5 Pro treats audio as an option that doubles the per-second rate, so a 1080p 8 second clip goes from 24 to 48 credits. Seedance 2 generates audio by default with no separate surcharge.

Can I use the same prompt on both?

Usually, yes. The two share a family prompt vocabulary and identical aspect ratios, so compositions carry across. Expect Seedance 2 to hold complex multi-element scenes together better, and expect its stricter MODERATE filter to refuse some prompts 1.5 Pro would accept.

How long can each clip be?

Seedance 1.5 Pro runs 4 to 14 seconds; Seedance 2 runs 4 to 15. Both are selectable in single-second steps, so you generate the exact insert length an edit needs instead of trimming. If you need longer than 15 seconds in one take, neither is the answer — Seedance 2.5 reaches 30.