Doubao API: key, price and how to call it
"Doubao" is ByteDance's model family, and people searching for the Doubao API usually want one of three things: the Doubao chat models, Seedream for images (the model behind Doubao's image generation), or Seedance for video. All three are sold officially through Volcano Engine Ark. This page answers the questions people actually ask about it, in that order: how to get a key, what it costs, whether there is a way without a Volcano Engine account, what to put as the API address, and which model to use.
How do I get a Doubao API key?
On the official side there are four steps. 1. Register a Volcano Engine account and complete real-name verification; Volcano Engine requires it before you can buy any product or service. 2. Open the Ark console, go to API Key management and create a key; copy it, because it is a secret and belongs on your server, not in front-end code. 3. Enable each model you want under activation management. 4. Top up and call the model.
Seedance video models have an extra gate. Seedance 2.5, 2.0, 2.0 fast and 2.0 mini can only be enabled when the account has at least ¥200 of available balance, a savings plan of ¥200 or more, or a Seedance resource pack with quota left. While they are enabled, up to ¥200 of your balance cannot be withdrawn.
The key itself costs nothing; you pay for what you call. On apimodels.app there is no per-model activation and no balance gate: you sign up, create one key in the console, top up from $10 by card, Alipay or USDT, and the same key works for every Seedream and Seedance model on the site.
How much does the Doubao API cost?
Officially, image models are priced per output image and video models per million video tokens; Volcano Engine's pricing page was last updated on 3 November 2026. A video's token count depends on resolution, length and whether you send an input video, so the per-second cost is not fixed; Ark provides a calculator for it.
| Official (Ark) | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 pro | ¥0.30, or ¥0.60 above 2.61 MP | per output image |
| Seedream 5.0 lite | ¥0.22 | per output image |
| Seedream 5.0 flash | ¥0.12 | per output image |
| Seedream 4.5 | ¥0.25 | per output image |
| Seedance 2.5 (480p / 720p) | ¥70 without input video, ¥42 with | per million video tokens |
| Seedance 2.0 (480p / 720p) | ¥46 without input video, ¥28 with | per million video tokens |
| Seedance 2.0 fast | ¥37 / ¥22 | per million video tokens |
| Seedance 2.0 mini | ¥23 / ¥14 | per million video tokens |
Doubao Seedream and Seedance on apimodels.app: model ids and prices
Here images are priced per image and videos per second of output, so the cost of a request is known before you send it. Failed requests, including ones blocked by content review, are not charged.
| Model | Model id | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.5 | doubao-seedream-5-5 | 1K / 1.5K $0.03, 2K $0.05 per image; +$0.01 per reference image |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | doubao-seedream-5-0-pro | 1K $0.03, 2K $0.06 per image |
| Seedream 5.0 Flash | doubao-seedream-5-0-flash | $0.03 per image (1K / 2K) |
| Seedream 5.0 Lite | doubao-seedream-5-0-260128 | $0.055 per image (2K / 4K) |
| Seedream 4.5 | doubao-seedream-4-5-251128 | $0.05 per image |
| Seedance 2.5 | seedance-2.5 | 480p $0.120/s, 720p $0.270/s |
| Seedance 2.0 | seedance-2.0 | 480p $0.092/s, 720p $0.197/s, 1080p $0.492/s |
| Seedance 2.0 Fast | seedance-2.0-fast | 480p $0.071/s, 720p $0.153/s |
| Seedance 2.0 Mini | seedance-2.0-mini | 480p $0.044/s, 720p $0.095/s |
Can I call Doubao models without a Volcano Engine account?
Yes, for Seedream and Seedance. On apimodels.app you need an email sign-up and a top-up from $10; there is no Volcano Engine account, no per-model activation and no ¥200 balance gate for Seedance. What you get for that: one key for all the Doubao image and video models above, plus GPT Image, Gemini, Kling, Veo and the rest of the catalogue; failed requests not charged; a callback_url webhook for long video jobs; and a per-request billing record for every call.
Popular models run on more than one upstream channel here, so if the primary one errors or times out, the request is retried on a backup automatically. Not every request succeeds: content review can refuse a prompt or an image, and those requests return the reason and cost nothing.
What do I put as the API address?
For Volcano Engine Ark, the base URL is https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3, used with your Ark API key. For apimodels.app it is https://api.apimodels.app/v1 with your apimodels.app key: images go to POST /v1/images/generations and videos to POST /v1/video/generations, with the model id from the table above. Both calls return a taskId that you poll, or you pass a callback_url.
Which Doubao model generates images, and which one should I use?
Doubao's image generation is the Seedream family, and its video generation is Seedance. For images: Seedream 5.5 is the newest, with edits that change only what you ask, native transparent PNGs and layer splitting; Seedream 5.0 Pro is for pointed edits marked with coordinates, boxes or hand-drawn marks, and for dense multilingual text; Seedream 5.0 Flash is the fast, low-cost option for volume. Seedream 5.5 and 5.0 Pro both accept up to 10 reference images, not only text.
For video: Seedance 2.5 does long clips, 4 to 30 seconds in one pass, plus video editing and extension, at 480p and 720p; Seedance 2.0 adds 1080p; Seedance 2.0 Fast and Mini have lower per-second prices and suit drafts and batch generation.
What about the Doubao chat models?
The Doubao chat models are not available on apimodels.app. Call them on Volcano Engine Ark: the API is OpenAI-compatible, so you set base_url to https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3 and use your Ark key.
Inicio rápido
cURL
# Doubao Seedream on apimodels.app: create returns a taskId, then poll
curl -X POST https://api.apimodels.app/v1/images/generations \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $APIMODELS_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "model": "doubao-seedream-5-0-pro", "prompt": "a ceramic coffee mug on a walnut desk, morning light", "resolution": "1K", "aspect_ratio": "16:9" }'
# Doubao Seedance: 5 seconds at 480p
curl -X POST https://api.apimodels.app/v1/video/generations \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $APIMODELS_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "model": "seedance-2.0-mini", "prompt": "steam rising from the mug as sunlight moves across the desk", "resolution": "480p", "duration": 5 }'
# Poll either one: GET /v1/images/generations?task_id=... or /v1/video/generations?task_id=...Python
import os, time, requests
B = "https://api.apimodels.app/v1"
H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['APIMODELS_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post(f"{B}/images/generations", headers=H, json={
"model": "doubao-seedream-5-0-pro",
"prompt": "a ceramic coffee mug on a walnut desk, morning light",
"resolution": "1K", "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
})
task_id = r.json()["data"]["taskId"]
while True:
d = requests.get(f"{B}/images/generations", headers=H, params={"task_id": task_id}).json()["data"]
if d["state"] in ("completed", "failed"):
print(d.get("resultUrls") or d.get("failMsg")); break
time.sleep(3)Preguntas frecuentes
Is the Doubao API key free?
Creating the key is free on both Volcano Engine Ark and apimodels.app; you pay for the calls you make. On Ark, Seedance video models additionally need ¥200 of available balance (or a qualifying plan or pack) before they can be enabled.
Do I need real-name verification to use the Doubao API?
On Volcano Engine, yes: an account must be verified before it can buy any product or service. On apimodels.app you sign up with an email and can call Seedream and Seedance without a Volcano Engine account.
Which model is behind Doubao image generation?
The Seedream family. The latest is Seedream 5.5 (doubao-seedream-5-5); Seedream 5.0 Pro, 5.0 Flash, 5.0 Lite and 4.5 are also available through the API.
Do Seedream images from the API carry a watermark?
Not on apimodels.app: Seedream 5.5, 5.0 Pro and 5.0 Lite return images without a watermark. The watermark setting in the Doubao app is separate from the API.
Can I call the Doubao chat models on apimodels.app?
No. Only the Doubao image (Seedream) and video (Seedance) models are available here. For the chat models, use Volcano Engine Ark with base_url https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3.
Relacionado
- Doubao Seedream 5.5 API
- Doubao Seedream 5.0 Pro API
- Seedance 2.5 API
- Seedance API pricing, compared
- Blocked by the content safety policy: what to do
