Is Seedance free? What the free options include

Seedance can be tried for free inside ByteDance's own creative apps, within their credit limits, but it has no free tier through an API. Dreamina, ByteDance's AI creation platform, has a free option with credits that can be spent on its tools. The Seedance API, which apps and scripts call, is paid per second of video on every model: Seedance 2.0, Seedance 2.0 Fast, Seedance 2.0 Mini and Seedance 2.5. On SeedRouter, every new account starts with a small free balance; at current rates it covers one short test clip on Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p.

Everything below comes from ByteDance's own pages, checked on September 25, 2026. Free allowances change often, so check the linked pages before you rely on a detail.

Can you use Seedance 2.0 for free?

You can try it. Dreamina's pricing page answers the question directly: "Yes. Dreamina offers a free option that lets you explore its AI creation tools with available credits," and describes the free option as "suitable for trying out Dreamina". The pricing page does not publish how many credits the free option includes or how many seconds of Seedance video they buy.

Dreamina's own Seedance 2.0 landing page goes further and says you can try the model "using free daily credits". Treat that as a marketing summary rather than a fixed allowance: it gives no number, and paid plans are what Dreamina sells for regular use.

Where does ByteDance offer Seedance?

CapCut says Seedance 2.0 reached paid CapCut users in stages, starting with several Southeast Asian and Latin American markets, and that on April 7, 2026 "We have expanded Dreamina Seedance 2.0 to the US." Availability in these apps depends on the country and the plan, so what you see may differ.

Is there a free Seedance API?

Not as a free tier. Every Seedance model is billed per second of generated video, and the unit is the video token: the longer and larger the clip, the more tokens it has. ByteDance's own ModelArk pricing page states the same rule: "You are only charged for successfully generated videos."

SeedRouter gives every new account a small free balance to test with; the pricing page lists the amount. After that, you buy prepaid credits once and each finished video is charged at the current rate. Three things keep the cost down while you test:

• Failed tasks are free. A task that ends failed or expired, including one stopped by content filtering or by a media file that breaks a limit, costs nothing.
• Credits never expire. A small top-up lasts until you use it; there is no subscription.
• Spend the free balance on Mini. Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p has the lowest price per second. At current rates, a minimum 4-second clip on any other model or resolution costs more than the free balance.

The Seedance API pricing guide shows the live price per second for every model and resolution.

What is the cheapest way to try Seedance through the API?

Use Seedance 2.0 Mini at 480p with a short duration. Mini has the lowest price per second in the Seedance family and takes the same prompt, frames and references as Seedance 2.0, so a prompt tested on Mini moves to a larger model unchanged except for model and resolution. The Seedance 2.0 vs Fast vs Mini guide explains when to move up.

You can also try a prompt in the Seedance 2.0 Mini playground before writing any code; it is billed like an API call, and a failed run is not charged.

What about "free unlimited" Seedance sites?

Searches for free or unlimited Seedance turn up many third-party sites, apps and Hugging Face spaces. ByteDance has not published Seedance weights: there is no Seedance repository under its GitHub or Hugging Face organizations, so every Seedance video is rendered by a paid service somewhere. A site that offers unlimited free Seedance video is paying for it some other way, or is not running Seedance at all. Read its terms before you upload your own images, and be wary of anything that asks you to download an app or an APK to get "free" access.

Frequently asked questions

Is Seedance 2.5 free?

Not through an API. ByteDance rolled Seedance 2.5 out in Jimeng AI and Doubao Pro first, and Dreamina offers it too; whether a free allowance covers it depends on the app and the plan at the time. On the API it is the highest-priced Seedance model per second.

Is Seedance 2.0 Mini free?

Not free, but it is the cheapest Seedance model per second, so it is where the free balance on a new SeedRouter account goes furthest: at current rates, one short 480p clip. Its low rate is why it is the usual choice for drafts and tests.

Can I run Seedance locally for free?

No. Seedance is a closed ByteDance model with no downloadable weights, so it cannot run on your own machine. Repositories that claim to be "Seedance" are third-party wrappers around a paid service.

Is Seedance 2.0 available in the USA?

In ByteDance's apps, yes: CapCut announced the US expansion of Dreamina Seedance 2.0 on April 7, 2026. Through the SeedRouter API, one key reaches all four Seedance models.

Start with one short clip

For personal clips, Dreamina's free option may be all you need to try the model. For video inside your own product, create an API key, add a small balance on the billing page, and follow the Seedance API guide to send your first request.