# Cheapest Seedance 2.5 API: price per second compared (Nov 2026)

Updated 2 Nov 2026

## Short answer

The cheapest Seedance 2.5 API price on VidLab is $0.088 per second at 480p, $0.21 at 720p and $0.52 at 1080p. Against Higgsfield that is 33% to 40% lower for the same settings. A 10 second clip at 720p is $2.10 here and $3.43 there. You pay only for clips that succeed.

## Seedance 2.5 API price per second, compared

Seedance 2.5 is billed per second of video. The model takes 4 to 30 seconds per clip, in 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1, and its page on VidLab is [Seedance 2.5](/vidlab-api/models/seedance-2.5). This table puts VidLab next to the other platforms that publish a Seedance 2.5 price, for text to video and image to video.

| Seedance 2.5, per second of video | 480p | 720p | 1080p |
| - | - | - | - |
| VidLab | $0.088 | $0.21 | $0.52 |
| Sume | $0.1028 | $0.2312 | $0.5686 |
| Sunra | $0.1028 | $0.231 | n/a |
| Kie | $0.14 | $0.315 | $0.79 |
| Higgsfield | $0.147 | $0.343 | $0.784 |
| Fal | $0.2205 | $0.473 | $1.164 |
| VidLab saves vs the highest | 60% | 55% | 55% |

## What a clip costs

Multiply the price by the seconds. A 10 second clip:

| 10 second clip | VidLab | Higgsfield |
| - | - | - |
| 480p | $0.88 | $1.47 |
| 720p | $2.10 | $3.43 |
| 1080p | $5.20 | $7.84 |

You do not need to do this by hand. `POST /v1/estimate` returns the exact price of a call before you make it. It is free and needs no key. For every resolution and mode on one page, see [Seedance 2.5 price per second](/blog/seedance-2-5-price-per-second).

## Seedance 2.5 with a reference video

A call with a `video` input is priced at the reference-video rate: $0.06 at 480p, $0.15 at 720p and $0.34 at 1080p per second. The full breakdown is in [Cheap Seedance 2.5 API with reference video](/blog/cheap-seedance-2-5-api-reference-video).

## Why per-second comparisons go wrong

Three things make two Seedance 2.5 prices look closer or further apart than they are.

- **Credits are not dollars.** Higgsfield prices in credits, and a credit costs less on bigger plans.
- **Resolution is part of the price.** A per-second price quoted without a resolution is not a price. Compare 720p with 720p.
- **Input seconds.** Some sellers charge for the seconds of a reference video you send as well as the seconds they make. Check whether the price you are comparing counts them.

[How to compare per-second pricing](/blog/cheapest-ai-video-generation-api) goes through the full list.

## Call it

Estimate first, then start the generation with a price cap and an idempotency key. The key is read from the environment and never typed into the command.

```bash
curl -s -X POST https://vidlab.ai/v1/estimate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"seedance-2.5","input":{"resolution":"720p","duration":10}}'

curl -s -X POST https://vidlab.ai/v1/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VIDLAB_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -d '{"model":"seedance-2.5","input":{"prompt":"A slow push-in on a perfume bottle on wet black stone","resolution":"720p","duration":10,"aspect_ratio":"9:16"},"max_price_usd":2.10}'
```

Poll `GET /v1/generations/{id}` until the status is `succeeded` or `failed`. A failed generation is not charged. The [quickstart](/vidlab-api/docs/quickstart) has the whole loop in cURL, Node and Python.

## FAQ

### What is the cheapest Seedance 2.5 API?

On the platforms compared above, VidLab has the lowest public price at 480p, 720p and 1080p: $0.088, $0.21 and $0.52 per second.

### How much does a 10 second Seedance 2.5 clip cost?

At 720p it costs $2.10 on VidLab. At 1080p it costs $5.20 and at 480p $0.88.

### Is a failed generation charged?

No. The price is held on your wallet when the job starts and released if the job fails, including content blocks and timeouts. Only a success is charged, once.

### Do I need a subscription?

No. The API is prepaid: you add credit to your wallet and each successful generation is charged its price. See [wallet and billing](/vidlab-api/docs/billing).

### Can an AI agent call Seedance 2.5 for me?

Yes. [Use Seedance 2.5 and Nano Banana from Claude, Cursor or Codex](/blog/vidlab-mcp-claude-cursor-codex) with the VidLab MCP, or give your agent the [skill file](/vidlab-api/SKILL.md).