Is this the official model or a degraded clone?

Official relay via licensed cloud vendors, not reverse-engineered. We open-sourced our model-verification tool (probe.cocodot.co) — test any relay with it, including us.

Why can cocodot discount when official channels do not?

We buy at channel volume rates and pass 3 points through. The 97% claim is against the published list price — verify it against Volcano Engine's own pricing page.

Minimum top-up? Does balance expire?

No minimum, and balance never expires. Start with a few dollars, verify one 480p clip end to end, then scale.

Am I charged for failed generations?

No. Billing settles only on success.

Seedance 2.5Updated 2026-08

Seedance 2.5 API: 3% Below List Price, Pay-as-you-go, No Prepaid Pack (2026)

Official Seedance 2.5 channels never discount and BytePlus requires a $30.10 non-refundable prepaid pack. cocodot bills the same model at 97% of list price, pay-as-you-go via Alipay or card. A 5-second 480p video runs about $0.46.

TL;DR: Seedance 2.5 is ByteDance's flagship video-generation model (native 30-second clips, multi-reference input, local editing). Official API channels charge full list price — never discounted — and BytePlus additionally requires a minimum $30.10 prepaid pack that is non-refundable and expires in 90 days, plus KYC. cocodot serves the same model at **97% of the official list price**, metered per token: 480p/720p text-to-video at ¥67.9 per million tokens (list ¥70), 1080p at ¥74.69 (list ¥77), and reference-video input is cheaper still (from ¥40.74). **A 5-second 480p clip costs about ¥3.26 (~$0.46)**; our own measured 4-second 480p run consumed 38,830 tokens ≈ ¥2.6. No minimum top-up, balance never expires, Alipay or card. The $0.5 signup credit does not apply to video (per-clip cost is far above a text call) — a small top-up is needed.

Why teams want the Seedance 2.5 API

Seedance 2.5 is the current flagship for AI short-drama and ad-creative pipelines: native 30-second generation, multi-reference input (image/audio/video), local editing. The consumer apps (Jimeng/Dreamina) are subscription + credits — fine for hobbyists, nowhere near enough for production volume. Production teams need metered API access.

The real friction in official channels

Volcano Engine (China) bills at full list price and never discounts. BytePlus (international) adds a minimum $30.10 prepaid resource pack — non-refundable, expires in 90 days — plus KYC review. Before you have generated a single test clip, you have already committed money and paperwork.

cocodot: 97% of list, metered, no gate

We buy Seedance capacity at channel rates and pass part of the margin on: **every tier at 97% of official list price** (table above). No prepaid pack, no minimum top-up, balance never expires. Top up with Alipay or card. Note: the $0.5 signup credit is API-text only — video needs a real balance.

What a clip actually costs: the token formula

Seedance bills per token: **tokens = width x height x fps x seconds / 1024** (24fps). Examples: 5s 480p ~ 48k tokens ~ ¥3.26; 5s 720p ~ 108k tokens ~ ¥7.33; 5s 1080p ~ 243k tokens ~ ¥18.15. Our measured 4-second 480p run consumed 38,830 tokens (1% off the formula) — about ¥2.6 at our rate. You can verify the whole pipeline for under a dollar before scaling.

Three steps: submit, poll, download

Generation is async. 1) Submit: POST https://cocodot.co/api/ai/video/generations with model "seedance-2.5", resolution 480p/720p/1080p, and a content array holding your text prompt (plus optional image/video references); returns a task id. 2) Poll: GET /api/ai/video/generations/{id} until status is SUCCEEDED; the response carries the video URL (upstream links expire — save promptly). 3) Billing: you are charged only when a task succeeds; failures cost nothing, and the unit price is locked at submission time.

480p or 1080p: an honest cost note

Real short-drama workflows draw 8-15 generations per usable shot. Do the volume drafting at 480p (~¥3.26 per clip, metered, unlimited), then re-render selected shots at 1080p for final cut. Drafting everything at 1080p burns money on any channel — that is a workflow issue, not a vendor issue.

Seedance 2.5: cocodot (97% of list) vs official list price, per million tokens

Tier	Official list	cocodot	~Cost per 5s clip
480p/720p text-to-video	¥70	¥67.9	¥3.26 (480p) / ¥7.33 (720p)
1080p text-to-video	¥77	¥74.69	¥18.15
480p/720p with reference video	¥42	¥40.74	¥1.96 (480p)
1080p with reference video	¥46	¥44.62	¥10.84