Seedream 5 Pro & Lite

Example prompts for Seedream 5

The same prompts are behind the “Try an example” button in the input box; each click loads the next one.

• Product shot

  Matte black ceramic mug on a pale linen surface, soft window light from the left, shallow depth of field, editorial product photography

• Portrait

  Close-up portrait of an older woman laughing, natural window light, film grain, 85mm lens, shallow depth of field

• Landscape

  Misty pine forest at dawn, low fog between the trunks, cold blue light, wide shot

Made with these models

Images generated on this site with the same models.

Why Seedream 5 on AI Image Tools

• The photorealistic tier

  Pro renders at 2K and holds skin, fabric and metal texture better than the cheaper tiers. It is the one to reach for when the image has to pass as a photograph.

• Good with type on a page

  Posters, packaging and signage with legible lettering are where it separates from the cheap tiers, including text in Chinese.

• Two tiers, one dropdown

  Draft on Lite at 7 credits, then rerun the prompt you like on Pro at 18. You are not locked into paying for the expensive tier while you are still exploring.

• Reads several reference images

  Unlike FLUX.1 Kontext it takes a list of images, so it is available in multi-image tools such as Virtual Try-On.

Every image model in one place

Pick any of these from the Model menu above; the price is shown before you generate. Each name links to what that model is good at. Compare every tier.

• Z-Image Turbo

  Alibaba · cheapest and fastest, text-to-image only

  1 credits per image

• Seedream 5 Pro · 1K

  ByteDance · same model as 2K at half the price

  9 credits per image

• GPT Image 2.5 Flare · 2K

  OpenAI · same price as Sunburst, tuned for speed and volume

  13 credits per image

• Qwen Image 3 · 2K

  Alibaba · strong at readable text inside the image

  6 credits per image

• Nano Banana

  Google Gemini 2.5 Flash · fastest, cheapest

  5 credits per image

• Nano Banana 2.1 · 1K

  Google · newest Nano Banana, sharper text, banner ratios

  10 credits per image

• Nano Banana 2.1 · 2K

  Google · same model at 2K

  15 credits per image

• Nano Banana 2.1 · 4K

  Google · for print or heavy cropping

  23 credits per image

• Ideogram V3 · Turbo

  Ideogram · text inside the image, fastest tier

  5 credits per image

• Ideogram V3 · Balanced

  Ideogram · text inside the image, posters and logos

  9 credits per image

• Ideogram V3 · Quality

  Ideogram · text inside the image, highest detail

  13 credits per image

• FLUX.1 Kontext

  Black Forest Labs · fastest, about 5s per image

  5 credits per image

• Seedream 5 Lite

  ByteDance · good at Chinese text and posters

  7 credits per image

• Seedream 5 Pro · 2K

  ByteDance · most photorealistic, highest detail

  18 credits per image

• GPT Image 2 · 2K

  OpenAI · good with text in images, half the price of 2.5

  7 credits per image

• GPT Image 2 · 4K

  OpenAI · for print or heavy cropping

  10 credits per image

• GPT Image 2.5 · 2K

  OpenAI · newest, better instruction following

  13 credits per image

• GPT Image 2.5 · 4K

  OpenAI · newest, highest resolution

  20 credits per image

Seedream 5 specifications

Model

Seedream 5 Lite and Seedream 5 Pro, ByteDance

Modes

Text to Image and Image to Image

Resolution

About 1K on Lite, 2K on Pro

Sizes

1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16. This family has no "auto" option, so "Same as input" resolves to the closest listed ratio

Output

PNG, saved to My Creations

Cost

7 credits on Lite, 18 on Pro

Time

About 50 seconds on an edit in our runs, slower than Kontext and faster than a busy Nano Banana

Free plan

10 credits on sign-in; free downloads carry a small watermark

How to use Seedream 5

1. Step 1

   Draft on Lite

   Seven credits a run. Get the composition and the wording of the prompt right here.

2. Step 2

   Switch to Pro for the keeper

   Same prompt, 18 credits, 2K out. Use it for the one or two images you will actually publish.

3. Step 3

   Upscale if it is going to print

   2K covers most screen work. For print, run the result through the Image Upscaler for twice the pixels.

How to write a prompt for Seedream 5

• Describe the material

  Brushed steel, raw linen, wet slate. Texture is where the Pro tier earns its credits.

• Put type in quotes

  Give the exact words and keep them short. Long paragraphs of text still come out garbled on every model here.

• Name the light

  Single hard light, overcast, golden hour from behind. Photorealism is mostly a lighting description.