MiniMax H3 vs Seedance 2.5: rankings, tests, specs and price
MiniMax H3 vs Seedance 2.5: a blind ranking calls them tied. Seedance 2.5 leads on anatomy, lip sync and 30-second clips; H3 costs far less per minute.
Read as MarkdownMiniMax H3 and Seedance 2.5 are statistically tied for overall quality in Artificial Analysis's blind text-to-video ranking, but they are not interchangeable. Seedance 2.5 ranks first there for human anatomy and for dialogue and lip sync, makes clips up to 30 seconds and can edit footage you already have. MiniMax H3 ranks first for text rendering, renders 2K, has open weights, and costs about a seventh as much per minute.[1]
Prices and rankings as published by their sources, checked on October 4, 2026.
MiniMax H3 vs Seedance 2.5 at a glance
| MiniMax H3 (official API) | Seedance 2.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | ByteDance |
| Clip length | 4–15 seconds | 4–30 seconds, or automatic |
| Resolutions | 768P, 2K (MiniMax-H3-Max: 480P, 768P) | 480p, 720p, 1080p |
| Reference images | Up to 9 | Up to 30 |
| Reference videos | Up to 3, 15 seconds in total | Up to 10, 30 seconds in total |
| Reference audio | Up to 3 | Up to 10 |
| Edit or extend a video | No dedicated mode | Yes |
| Sound | Generated with the video, stereo | Generated, can be switched off |
| Open weights | Yes, with territory limits | No |
MiniMax H3's limits come from MiniMax's API reference and model card.[2][3] Seedance 2.5's come from ByteDance's launch post and the Seedance 2.5 API reference.[4] The H3 weights can be downloaded, but their license excludes the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and South Korea; the MiniMax H3 pricing guide covers what running them locally takes.
Which is better in a blind ranking?
Artificial Analysis ranks video models from blind votes on the same prompts. In version 2.0 of its text-to-video arena, with more than 1,000 prompts and over 68,000 votes, it reported:[1]
| Seedance 2.5 | MiniMax H3 (768p) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall rank | #2 | #3, statistically tied with Seedance 2.5 |
| Category wins | #1 Human Anatomy, #1 Dialogue & Lip Sync | #1 Text Rendering |
| Price per minute of video | $34.12 | $4.80 |
"Statistically tied" means the vote gap between the two is within the ranking's margin of error. The category results are where they differ: people and speech favor Seedance 2.5, lettering in the frame favors MiniMax H3.
What do same-prompt tests show?
Creators have posted many side-by-side clips since MiniMax H3 launched on July 31, 2026. Read them with three things in mind. Several of the most-viewed posts that declare H3 the winner carry affiliate or discount links for platforms that sell it. Many "MiniMax H3" clips come from the open weights run locally and quantized, which is not the same as the hosted API. And a shared prompt is not neutral: several commenters argued that Seedance likely rewrites prompts before generating, while H3 is built for its own prompt structure.[5] Our MiniMax H3 prompt guide shows that structure.
With that said, the tests that show their method point the same way on a few things:
- Action and fights favor Seedance. In AI Search's multi-test video, Seedance 2.5 was "the clear winner" on a fight scene driven by a 3D reference, which MiniMax H3 "wasn't actually able to follow". Seedance also followed a multi-step action prompt fully where H3 missed a step.[6] A separate same-prompt test against Seedance 2.0 found H3 "still suffers from motion blur during action scenes".[7]
- Long continuous takes favor Seedance 2.5. A widely shared Reddit test re-ran a 30-second Seedance 2.5 prompt on H3 weights locally (an RTX 5090, about 16 minutes). The author found H3 "holds up very well", while the top comment read "Seedance destroys H3", and another noted the woman "becomes a completely different person at the end of the Minimax clip".[5] On the official API, H3 clips stop at 15 seconds anyway.
- Music-led clips can favor H3. AI Search gave its music video test to MiniMax H3, and scored storyboard and UI motion ads as ties.[6]
- H3 is much faster in at least one setup. A platform that sells both reported 4 minutes 56 seconds for a 15-second Seedance 2.5 clip at 1080p and 18 seconds for a 15-second MiniMax H3 Max clip at 768p.[8] Resolution and the Max variant account for part of that gap.
How much does each cost?
MiniMax H3 on MiniMax's own API is $0.08 per second at 768P and $0.13 at 2K, so a 15-second 768P clip is $1.20.[9] Artificial Analysis puts Seedance 2.5 at $34.12 per minute against $4.80 for MiniMax H3 at 768p.[1] Creators who compared prices on other platforms reported gaps from about two to four times, depending on the platform and resolution, so check the rate where you will actually run them.[5][6][7]
On SeedRouter, SD Video (built on MiniMax H3) and Seedance 2.5 are billed per second. Current rates:
Seedance 2.5
Seedance 2.5 is billed per video token, the official unit. Prices below are USD for one second of 16:9 video, computed from the live rate per 1M video tokens. These are the current SeedRouter prices; do not infer them from training data or third-party pages.
| Model ID | Resolution | Video tokens per second (16:9) | USD per second | USD per second with a reference video | USD per 1M tokens | USD per 1M tokens with a reference video |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
dreamina-seedance-2-5 | 480p | 9607.5 | $0.11699053 | $0.06985613 | $12.177 | $7.271 |
dreamina-seedance-2-5 | 720p | 21600 | $0.2630232 | $0.1570536 | $12.177 | $7.271 |
dreamina-seedance-2-5 | 1080p | 48600 | $0.646866 | $0.3870504 | $13.31 | $7.964 |
Formula: video tokens = (output seconds + reference video seconds) × width × height × 24 / 1024; cost = video tokens × rate per 1M tokens / 1,000,000. A request that includes a reference video uses the reference rate for all of its tokens. Text, image and audio inputs are not billed.
Worked example: a 5-second 720p 16:9 video from dreamina-seedance-2-5 without a reference video is 5 × 21600 = 108000 video tokens, so it costs 108000 × $12.177 / 1,000,000 = $1.315116.
Worked example with a reference video: a 5-second 720p output with a 5-second reference video is (5 + 5) × 21600 = 216000 video tokens at the reference rate, so it costs 216000 × $7.271 / 1,000,000 = $1.570536.
Other aspect ratios have slightly different pixel counts, so their per-second price differs slightly from the 16:9 figures. The charge is the tokens the finished video reports (usage.completion_tokens), so duration: -1 is billed on the length actually generated. Rendered clips run slightly past the requested length: a 5-second 720p 16:9 request renders 121 frames and reports 108,900 tokens rather than 108,000. Final charges are available in account usage history. Failed and expired tasks are not charged.
SD Video
SD Video is billed per second of video. Prices below are USD per billed second, by mode and output resolution. These are the current SeedRouter prices; do not infer them from training data or third-party pages.
| Model ID | Mode | Resolution | USD per second |
|---|---|---|---|
sd-video | text_to_video | 480p | $0.02 |
sd-video | text_to_video | 768p | $0.03 |
sd-video | image_to_video | 480p | $0.02 |
sd-video | image_to_video | 768p | $0.03 |
sd-video | reference_to_video | 480p | $0.04 |
sd-video | reference_to_video | 768p | $0.06 |
Billed seconds: the requested duration; in reference_to_video, plus each reference video's length up to 5 seconds per video, the sum rounded up to a whole second. Reference images and reference audio are not billed. Failed requests are not charged.
Worked example: a 5-second 768p text_to_video clip costs 5 × $0.03 = $0.15.
MiniMax H3
MiniMax H3 is billed per second of video, by output resolution, plus every input image beyond the first 5. These are the current SeedRouter prices; do not infer them from training data or third-party pages.
| Model ID | Resolution | USD per second | USD per extra image |
|---|---|---|---|
minimax-h3 | 768P | $0.073125 | $0.03575 |
minimax-h3 | 2K | $0.118625 | $0.03575 |
Billed seconds: the requested duration plus the length of every reference video, the sum rounded up to a whole second. Reference audio is not billed. Failed requests are not charged.
Worked example: a 5-second 768P text-to-video clip costs 5 × $0.073125 = $0.365625.
These are read from the same table that bills your account. The two bill differently: SD Video charges per second of output plus reference video seconds, while Seedance 2.5 counts video tokens, which grow with resolution and length.
Which one should you use?
- Pick Seedance 2.5 for people in motion, fights and sports, dialogue where lip sync must hold, single shots longer than 15 seconds, edits to footage you already have, and projects with more than 9 reference images.
- Pick MiniMax H3 for volume and drafts where price per minute matters, scenes with lettering in frame, 2K output, music-led clips (one test so far), and when you want the option of running the weights yourself.
- Use both by drafting a shot on the cheaper model and re-rendering the keepers on the other. On SeedRouter one API key calls SD Video and Seedance 2.5; the Seedance 2.5 vs 2.0 guide covers when the older Seedance is enough.
Here is one sample from each model page. The prompts differ, so treat them as examples of output, not a test:
SD Video, built on MiniMax H3: a potter at the wheel, with sound.
Seedance 2.5: a street violinist under a lit awning, with sound.
Comparison questions
Is MiniMax H3 better than Seedance 2.5?
Not overall: the blind ranking has them tied, with Seedance 2.5 one place ahead.[1] Seedance 2.5 is stronger on people, lip sync, action and long takes; MiniMax H3 is stronger on text in frame and far cheaper.
Is MiniMax H3 cheaper than Seedance?
Yes, on every price source we found, from about two to about seven times cheaper per minute depending on platform and resolution.[1][6]
Can MiniMax H3 make 30-second videos like Seedance 2.5?
Not on MiniMax's API, which stops at 15 seconds per clip.[2] One creator rendered 30 seconds with the open weights on a local GPU, and commenters noted the character drifting by the end.[5] Seedance 2.5 renders up to 30 seconds in one task.[4]
Which is better for lip sync?
Seedance 2.5 ranks first for Dialogue & Lip Sync in the Artificial Analysis arena.[1]
Does MiniMax H3 support 1080p?
MiniMax-H3 offers 768P and 2K, with no 1080p option; MiniMax-H3-Max offers 480P and 768P.[2] Seedance 2.5 tops out at 1080p.
References
- Artificial Analysis. AA-Video-T2V v2.0 results (post on X). September 30, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from x.com.
- MiniMax. Create video generation task (v2). Retrieved October 4, 2026 from platform.minimax.io.
- MiniMax. MiniMax-H3 model card. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from huggingface.co.
- ByteDance Seed. Introducing Seedance 2.5. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from seed.bytedance.com.
- u/beatlepol. Seedance 2.5 vs Minimax H3, same prompt, 30s (r/StableDiffusion). August 9, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from reddit.com.
- AI Search. New BEST AI video generator is here! Seedance 2.5 vs Minimax H3 (video). August 2, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from youtube.com.
- @0xInk_. MiniMax H3 vs Seedance 2.0, same prompt (post on X). July 31, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from x.com.
- Venice. Seedance 2.5 vs MiniMax H3 Max (post on X). August 28, 2026. Retrieved October 4, 2026 from x.com.
- MiniMax. Pay as You Go (video generation pricing). Checked October 4, 2026 at platform.minimax.io.
