TL;DR
- ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 comes in three tiers on HiAPI, all billed per image: Flash $0.025 flat, Lite $0.035 flat (2K and 4K cost the same), and Pro $0.05 at 1K / $0.10 at 2K ($0.06 at 1K for editing).
- Every tier edits with reference images at the same price as generating: Flash up to 10, Lite up to 14, Pro up to 10.
- $10 buys 400 Flash images, about 285 Lite images, or 200 Pro images at 1K. All three are live on HiAPI: open the Seedream 5.0 Flash model page to generate in the browser. New accounts get 200 free credits.
Price table
| Tier | Model id | Per image | Resolution | Reference images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash | seedream-5.0-flash (generate and edit) | $0.025 | 1K, 1.5K, 2K or a custom size, same price | Up to 10 |
| Lite | seedream-5.0-lite/text-to-image, /image-to-image | $0.035 | 2K or 4K, same price | Up to 14 |
| Pro text-to-image | seedream-5.0-pro/text-to-image | $0.05 at 1K, $0.10 at 2K | 1K, 2K | — |
| Pro image-to-image | seedream-5.0-pro/image-to-image | $0.06 at 1K, $0.10 at 2K | 1K, 2K | Up to 10 |
Live HiAPI prices, checked October 16, 2026.
Two things stand out. Lite charges the same for 4K as for 2K, which makes it the cheapest 4K on the platform. And Pro's editor costs the same as its generator at 2K ($0.10), one cent more at 1K.
What each tier produces
Flash, $0.025, 1536×1024:
A minimalist studio still life of a small orange paper sculpture shaped like
a lightning bolt, standing on pale lavender stone beside a frosted glass
sphere, soft directional lighting, precise folded edges, wide editorial
composition, no letters, no text.
Generate with this prompt → (size 1536x1024)
seedream-5.0-flash, 1536×1024, $0.025.
Lite, $0.035, 3:4 poster with Chinese and English copy:
A hand-painted museum poster for a bronze-age exhibition, featuring an ancient
Chinese bronze ding vessel as the centerpiece, elegant Chinese calligraphy
title 青铜时代 at the top with smaller English subtitle BRONZE AGE below it,
cinematic composition, dramatic directional lighting, rich cohesive color
grade of aged gold and deep teal, ultra-detailed, premium commercial finish,
subtle film grain
Generate with this prompt → (3:4, 2K)
seedream-5.0-lite/text-to-image, 3:4, 2K, $0.035.
Pro, $0.05 at 1K, a neon sign with exact lettering:
A neon-lit night market street in a rainy cyberpunk city, a glowing
storefront sign reads "SEEDREAM 5 PRO" in crisp lettering, cinematic
composition, dramatic directional lighting, rich cohesive color grade,
ultra-detailed, premium commercial finish, subtle film grain, shallow depth
of field, high dynamic range
Generate with this prompt → (16:9, 1K)
seedream-5.0-pro/text-to-image, 16:9, 1K, $0.05.
Which tier to choose
- Volume, drafts, custom sizes: Flash. $0.025 covers 1K to 2K and any size from 921,600 to 4,624,220 pixels, and the same id edits with up to 10 references.
- Cheap 4K, text-heavy posters, lots of references: Lite. 4K costs the same $0.035 as 2K, and the editor takes up to 14 images.
- Sharpest detail and the most reliable lettering: Pro. $0.05 at 1K; render 2K ($0.10) only for the keeper.
- Editing: all three tiers edit at generation price. For edits where the untouched areas must stay pixel-stable, Lite's editor is built for that.
Monthly budget
| Images per month | Flash | Lite (2K or 4K) | Pro 1K | Pro 2K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $25 | $35 | $50 | $100 |
| 10,000 | $250 | $350 | $500 | $1,000 |
Seedream 5.0 vs other image APIs on HiAPI
| Model | Per image | Highest tier |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Flash | $0.025 | 2K |
| Seedream 5.0 Lite | $0.035 | 4K at the same price |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | $0.05 / $0.10 | 2K |
| Seedream 4.5 | $0.045 | 2K, 4K |
| Nano Banana 2.1 | $0.022 / $0.036 / $0.058 | 4K |
| GPT Image 2 | $0.03 / $0.04 / $0.06 | 4K |
| Qwen Image 3.0 Standard | $0.0358 flat | 2K |
For 4K on a budget, Lite at $0.035 undercuts every 4K tier in this table. Same-prompt comparisons with Pro are in GPT Image 2.5 vs Seedream 5.0 Pro.
FAQ
Does resolution change the price?
Only on Pro ($0.05 at 1K, $0.10 at 2K). Flash and Lite are flat across their sizes.
Do reference images cost extra?
No. Flash (up to 10), Lite (up to 14) and Pro (up to 10) all edit at the same per-image price.
Which tier does 4K?
Lite, at $0.035. Flash tops out at 2K and Pro at 2K.
Am I charged for failed tasks?
No. You pay only for images that generate successfully.
All entries run on POST /v1/tasks. Flash takes prompt, optional image (one URL or up to 10) and size; Lite and Pro take prompt, aspect_ratio, resolution and, on the editors, image_urls. Code is in the Seedream 5.0 Flash guide and the Seedream 5.0 Pro text-to-image guide. Or copy the still-life prompt and generate your first Flash image.
