Seedance 2.5 vs Veo 3.1: Price per Second, Clip Length, Access

Pick Seedance 2.5 when the shot has to run long in one generation or lean on a large pile of references: it produces up to 30 seconds per generation and accepts up to 30 images, 10 videos and 10 audio clips. Pick Veo 3.1 when you need native 4k, sound generated by default, or a lower price per second: Veo 3.1 Fast costs $0.10 per second at 720p and Veo 3.1 Lite $0.05, against about $0.231 for Seedance 2.5. Veo makes clips of 4, 6 or 8 seconds, and its 7-second extension stops at 37 seconds in total.

Where you buy each one has changed since September. Seedance 2.5 is sold through BytePlus ModelArk, which is not available in the United States. Google shut down the Veo 3.1 preview models in the Gemini API on October 22, 2026, so developers now buy Veo 3.1 on Google Cloud, in the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI), at the same per-second prices as before; Google Flow still offers it on daily credits. Sora 2 is no longer a choice: OpenAI shut down the Sora 2 models and the Videos API on September 24, 2026.

Every figure on this page comes from the vendors' own documentation and price pages, dated where it appears, and none of it is a measured quality result. ByteDance's numbers for Seedance 2.5 are launch claims, and ByteDance itself acknowledges limits in physical plausibility and in scenes where several subjects interact. Before committing a budget, run your own prompt on both sides.

Clip length and extension

Clip length is the largest practical difference between the two families. ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 launch post describes up to 30 seconds per generation, multi-round extension and timestamp-level editing. BytePlus lists the model as dreamina-seedance-2-5-260628 with 4–30 second output.

Veo 3.1 is built around short clips. Google Cloud's Veo 3.1 model page lists 4, 6 or 8 seconds per generation, and a generation that uses reference images must be 8 seconds. Longer pieces come from extension, which Google Cloud's guide to extending videos describes as follows, as of November 12, 2026:

• Each extension adds 7 seconds.
• The input video must be 1 to 30 seconds long, so a result tops out at 37 seconds.
• Input and output can be 720p, 1080p or 4k, at 24 frames per second, in 16:9 or 9:16.
• Veo 3.1 and Veo 3.1 Fast can extend, and Veo 3.1 Lite can extend in preview.

Google does not publish what an extension costs on Google Cloud. The old Gemini API route let Veo extend a 720p clip up to 148 seconds, but that route closed with the October 22 shutdown. On Google Cloud, Veo's longest single result is 37 seconds against Seedance 2.5's 30 seconds, and the two get there differently: Seedance plans the whole take in one generation, while Veo builds it from an 8-second clip plus 7-second steps.

The chart shows the figures as of September 30, 2026; the text above has the current ones.

If the shot is a single 20-second camera move with dialogue, Seedance 2.5 is the only one of the two that can attempt it in one generation. If the piece runs well past 37 seconds, Veo has to be cut together from several clips, and Seedance's documentation describes multi-round extension without a maximum total, so test it before you plan around it.

References and character consistency

Seedance 2.5 accepts far more reference material than Veo 3.1: up to 30 images, 10 video clips and 10 audio clips in one request, according to ByteDance. That matters when a single shot has to hold a character, a product, a location and a camera move at once, because each can be shown instead of described. Of the two, Seedance 2.5 is also the only one whose documentation lets you steer a generation with an audio file.

Veo 3.1 takes reference images for style and content on the Standard and Fast models, but not on Lite, and using them fixes the clip at 8 seconds. Google's Veo guide sets the limit at three reference images. All three Veo 3.1 models can also generate between a first frame and a last frame that you supply, which helps when a character has to start and end in a fixed pose.

None of these features imports anything from Sora. Cameos, remixes and storyboards have no documented import path, so a recurring Sora character has to be rebuilt from reference images on whichever model you move to.

Resolution and audio

Veo 3.1 generates 720p, 1080p and 4k natively, and all three Veo 3.1 models generate native audio by default; those with-audio rates are the ones in the price table below, and Google Cloud also sells cheaper video-only output. Google Cloud's model page lists 4k for Veo 3.1 Standard only and 720p or 1080p for Fast and Lite, even though Google's price page carries a 4k rate for Fast.

BytePlus prices Seedance 2.5 at 480p, 720p and 1080p. A BytePlus blog item announces 4k for enterprise customers, but the public price table has no 4k row for 2.5, so 1080p is the ceiling you can buy today. Seedance 2.0 does have a public 4k price, covered in the price section below.

Price per second at the same resolution

Seedance 2.5 costs less than Veo 3.1 Standard at 720p and more at 1080p. BytePlus charges about 2.5 times as much for 1080p as for 720p, while Google charges the same Standard rate for both. Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1 Lite undercut Seedance 2.5 at every resolution they share.

The Veo rows are Google Cloud's with-audio prices from the Google Cloud generative AI pricing page as of November 5, 2026. They are the same numbers the Gemini API charged before Google closed Veo there, and video without audio costs less. The Seedance 2.5 row is from the BytePlus ModelArk pricing page as of November 12, 2026, and the Seedance 2.0 row from the same page as of October 22, 2026. The Kling row is from the Kling developer pricing page as of September 30, 2026, and the Sora 2 row shows its last list prices before the shutdown. All prices are in US dollars.

Three details change how you read the table:

• Seedance is billed in tokens. The per-second figures are BytePlus's own conversions from a 5-second, 16:9 example with no video input: $1.156 per clip at 720p and $2.843 at 1080p for Seedance 2.5. Adding a video reference raises the bill. BytePlus's 5-second 720p example costs $1.244–$4.838 depending on how long the input video is.
• Veo 3.1 Fast at 4k is listed but not promised. Google's price page shows $0.30 per second, while the Veo 3.1 model page lists Fast at 720p and 1080p only, so check that your project can render it before planning a 4k delivery on Fast.
• Kling's range depends on audio. The low end is Kling 3.0 without native audio and the high end is with it.

The chart shows the figures as of September 30, 2026; the table and text above have the current ones.

Seedance 2.0 is still sold next to 2.5 on BytePlus, and it is the cheaper Seedance and the only one with a public 4k price. The trade is length: 2.0 stops at 15 seconds per generation, half of 2.5's 30, and Seedance 2.0 Fast and 2.0 Mini cost less again at 480p and 720p. Against Veo 3.1, Seedance 2.0 undercuts Veo 3.1 Standard at 720p and 1080p, Veo 3.1 Fast is cheaper than both at those resolutions, and at 4k Veo 3.1 Standard's $0.60 per second is below Seedance 2.0's $0.78. For the full Seedance price ladder, including the 480p tier and the 2.0 family, see Seedance 2.5 API Pricing: Cost per Second at 480p, 720p, 1080p.

What a 30-second 1080p spot costs

Take a 30-second product spot delivered at 1080p. Seedance 2.5 can produce it as one generation: 30 s × $0.569 ≈ $17.07. On Veo, the spot you can price is four separate 8-second clips cut together, or 32 seconds of footage. Google Cloud can extend a 1080p Veo clip in 7-second steps, but because the extension price isn't published, it is left out of the table.

Multiply each figure by the number of attempts you expect to need. If one generation in three is usable, the Seedance spot costs about $51 and the Veo 3.1 Fast version about $11.50. The extra money buys continuity: one unbroken take instead of three cuts.

At 720p the order changes. Thirty seconds on Seedance 2.5 costs 30 × $0.231 ≈ $6.93, against 30 × $0.40 = $12.00 on Veo 3.1 Standard and 30 × $0.10 = $3.00 on Veo 3.1 Fast, made as three 8-second clips and one 6-second clip. Gemini Omni Flash, made as three 10-second clips, comes to 30 × $0.0695 ≈ $2.09. These are calculations from the list prices above as of November 12, 2026. For budgets that span several tools and subscriptions, how much an AI video generator costs per month and per clip covers the wider field.

Where to buy access: BytePlus for Seedance, Google Cloud for Veo

Seedance 2.5 is sold through BytePlus ModelArk. As of November 12, 2026, BytePlus asks for an account balance above USD 30, or a savings plan or Seedance 2.5 resource pack of at least that size, before it enables 2.5, and it states that BytePlus is not available in the United States. Mainland China access through Volcano Engine is a separate contract priced in yuan, and its terms are not the BytePlus terms.

Veo 3.1 is no longer reachable with a Gemini API key. Google shut down veo-3.1-generate-preview, veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview and veo-3.1-lite-generate-preview in the Gemini API on October 22, 2026, according to the notice at the top of Google's Veo guide for the Gemini API. Developers now call Veo on Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, formerly Vertex AI, where veo-3.1-generate-001 and veo-3.1-fast-generate-001 are generally available and veo-3.1-lite-generate-001 is in preview, in the us-central1 region. Code written for the Gemini API's Veo endpoint has to move with it. Veo 3 Price 2026: Cloud API Pricing, Flow Credits, Cost per Video has the full Cloud price list, including the video-only rows.

Every Veo output carries an invisible SynthID watermark that software can detect, and Veo 3.1 on Google Cloud also supports C2PA content credentials.

To try Veo without a Cloud project, Google Flow gives every account 50 credits a day, with or without a subscription, as of November 5, 2026. A Veo 3.1 Lite generation costs 10 credits, Fast 20 and Quality 100, and an 8-second Gemini Omni Flash clip at 720p costs 12. How to Create a Video with Nano Banana: Gemini Omni or Veo 3.1 walks through the consumer side.

Veo 3.1 or Gemini Omni Flash

Stay on Veo 3.1 when you need native 4k or your pipeline already runs on Google Cloud; for most other Google video jobs, Google's shutdown notice for Veo in the Gemini API points developers to Gemini Omni Flash, which costs less per second than Veo 3.1 Standard or Fast. Omni 1.2 Flash has been generally available since November 5, 2026, generates 3–15 seconds per clip with native audio, and costs $12 per 1M output tokens on the Gemini API, about $0.0695 per second at 720p; its 1080p and 4k are upsampled, so native 4k still means Veo. An Omni extension adds 3–10 seconds per turn, up to 30 seconds in total, and requests to gemini-omni-1.1-flash are routed to 1.2 from December 3, 2026, as Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash API: Model ID, Cost per Clip, 1.1 Routing explains. At list prices as of November 12, 2026, a 10-second 720p clip costs about $0.70 on Omni and $2.32 on Seedance 2.5, roughly 3.3 times as much; Gemini Omni vs Seedance 2.5: Pick by Job Type, 3.3× Cost Gap compares the two job by job.

Where Sora 2 and Kling 3.0 fit now

Sora 2 belongs in a comparison only as history. The Sora app and website closed on April 26, 2026, and the API followed on September 24. OpenAI's model page states that there is no one-to-one replacement API. Its last list prices were $0.10 per second for sora-2 at 720p, and $0.30, $0.50 and $0.70 per second for sora-2-pro as resolution rose. Those figures are useful as a baseline when you re-budget a pipeline that used to run on Sora: Veo 3.1 Fast costs the same $0.10 per second at 720p that sora-2 did. Sora 2 API shut down: what still works and what to switch to has the export and migration details, and the best Sora 2 alternatives for app clips and the video API compares replacements by use.

Kling 3.0 is a credible fourth option on price. At $0.084–$0.168 per second across 720p and 1080p as of September 30, 2026, it sits between Veo 3.1 Lite and Seedance 2.5, and it lists a 4k rate of $0.42 per second. Kuaishou's plans on that pricing page do not cover Kling 4.0.

How to choose between Seedance 2.5 and Veo 3.1

Decide on the constraint that cannot bend, then test the model it points to. Length and references point to Seedance; native 4k, sound generated by default and the lowest price per second point to Veo.

A first test is cheap on either side. A 5-second 480p trial of Seedance 2.5 costs 5 × $0.103 ≈ $0.51 on BytePlus, and a 4-second 720p Veo 3.1 Lite clip costs 4 × $0.05 = $0.20 on Google Cloud. Run the same prompt and the same references on the two finalists, and count how many attempts each needs before one is usable. The retry count moves the real cost more than the gap between list prices does.

Seedance vs Veo: other questions

Is Seedance better than Veo?

Neither wins outright. Seedance 2.5 generates up to 30 seconds at once and takes up to 30 image, 10 video and 10 audio references. Veo 3.1 generates 4-, 6- or 8-second clips but offers native 4k, native audio by default and, on Google Cloud, a 7-second extension that reaches up to 37 seconds. These are documented specifications as of November 12, 2026, not results of a side-by-side quality test.

Which is cheaper, Seedance 2.5 or Veo 3.1?

It depends on the Veo tier and the resolution. As of November 12, 2026, Seedance 2.5 costs about $0.231 per second at 720p and $0.569 at 1080p on BytePlus. As of November 5, 2026, Veo 3.1 on Google Cloud costs $0.40 at both resolutions on Standard, $0.10 and $0.12 on Fast, and $0.05 and $0.08 on Lite, with audio. Seedance 2.5 is cheaper than Veo Standard at 720p and more expensive than every Veo tier at 1080p.

Which one is better for long shots?

For a single continuous take, Seedance 2.5, because it produces up to 30 seconds in one generation. Veo 3.1 can go slightly longer, to 37 seconds, but only by extending a clip of 30 seconds or less by 7 seconds on Google Cloud, and Google doesn't publish what the extension costs.

Which keeps characters consistent?

Each model uses references to do it. Seedance 2.5 accepts the most, at up to 30 images plus video and audio clips. Veo 3.1 accepts reference images on Standard and Fast, up to three in Google's Veo guide, and none on Lite, and it can also hold a character between a first and a last frame you supply.

Do Seedance and Veo generate sound?

Veo 3.1 generates native audio by default on all three tiers, billed at the with-audio rates of $0.05–$0.60 per second on Google Cloud as of November 5, 2026, and Google Cloud also sells cheaper video-only output. Seedance 2.5 accepts up to 10 audio references to guide a generation, which Veo does not.

Is there a Veo 4?

Not in Google's documentation. As of November 12, 2026, Google's Veo documentation on the Gemini API and on Google Cloud lists no Veo 4. The current Veo models are Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1 Lite, and Google's other video model is Gemini Omni Flash.

Can I still use Sora 2?

No. OpenAI shut down the Sora 2 models and the Videos API on September 24, 2026, after closing the Sora app on April 26. A Microsoft Foundry preview deployment of sora-2 was scheduled to retire on October 15, 2026.