Comparison · Video models
Wan 3.0 vs Seedance 2.5
Wan 3.0 or Seedance 2.5? Both make up to 30 s with audio, but Wan adds 2K and 4K at roughly 3-4x lower cost per second. Differences, prices and my tests.
Specs side by side
| Wan 3.0 | Seedance 2.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Alibaba | ByteDance |
| Type | Video | Video |
| Modes | text-to-video image-to-video first-last-frame reference-to-video | text-to-video image-to-video first-last-frame reference-to-video video-edit |
| Released | 2026-08 | 2026-07 |
| Duration | 2-30 s or auto (-1) | 4-30 s or auto (-1) |
| Resolutions | 480p, 720p, 1080p, 2K, 4K | 480p, 720p, 1080p |
| Aspect ratios | adaptive, 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4 | 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 21:9, adaptive |
| Reference images | up to 10 | up to 30 |
| Reference videos | up to 5 | up to 10 |
| Frames | first and last frame | first and last frame |
| Audio | native audio, on/off switch | native audio, on/off switch |
| Prompt length | up to 20,000 chars | up to 20,000 chars |
Price per unit and per clip
| Model | Variant | Rate | 5 s clip | 10 s clip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wan 3.0 | 480p | $0.0777 / s | $0.388 | $0.777 |
| 720p | $0.155 / s | $0.777 | $1.55 | |
| 1080p | $0.311 / s | $1.55 | $3.11 | |
| 2K | $0.453 / s | $2.27 | $4.53 | |
| 4K | $0.521 / s | $2.61 | $5.21 | |
| Seedance 2.5 | 480p | $0.261 / s | $1.30 | $2.61 |
| 720p | $0.587 / s | $2.94 | $5.87 | |
| 1080p | $1.02 / s | $5.08 | $10.16 |
Prices exclude taxes and are charged from your prepaid USD balance. Failed generations cost nothing.
Wan 3.0 and Seedance 2.5 both generate a clip of up to 30 seconds in one pass, with audio. Wan 3.0 is several times cheaper per second and adds 2K and 4K. Pick Seedance 2.5 when you need to edit or extend existing footage, use more than 10 reference images, or shoot in 21:9. In my test Wan also did better with spoken Polish.
Key differences
- Resolution. Wan 3.0 offers 480P, 720P, 1080P, 2K and 4K (default 1080P). Seedance 2.5 offers 480p, 720p and 1080p (default 720p).
- Length. Wan 2-30 s, Seedance 4-30 s.
- References. Seedance takes up to 30 images, 10 clips and 10 audio tracks, and real people are allowed in references (with their consent). Wan takes up to 10 images, 5 clips and 5 audio clips (each 1-15 s, 15 s in total).
- Editing. Seedance 2.5 edits and extends finished video. Wan instead can build a clip from a document (pdf, docx, pptx, xlsx, up to 50 pages) or a public web page.
- Aspect ratios. Seedance has 7, including 21:9. Wan has 6 (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4 and
adaptive), no 21:9. - Shared. Audio on by default with no effect on the rate, prompts up to 20,000 characters, first and last frame,
seed,duration: -1.
When to pick Wan 3.0
- A 20-30 s ad or scene when every second counts.
- A 2K or 4K clip for YouTube or a large screen.
- A video built from a slide deck, a report or a product page URL.
- Spoken lines in a less common language, though you should still check the result.
When to pick Seedance 2.5
- Extending a clip that ends too early, or changing part of a recording.
- A music video with the same performer across shots, built from a dozen photos.
- Wide 21:9 shots.
- Projects that need more than 5 reference clips or audio tracks.
Cost in practice
At matching tiers Seedance 2.5 costs about 3.4 times as much per second at 480p, about 3.8 times at 720p and about 3.3 times at 1080p. Wan at 4K costs less per second than Seedance 2.5 at 720p. With 30-second clips and the usual retries, that gap adds up fast. Two traps: in Wan duration: -1 is billed as 30 s, while in Seedance the 30 s hold for that setting is settled to the delivered length. In both, reference clip seconds are added to the bill, and Seedance also applies a floor of about 5/3 of the output length when a reference video is used. Rates: from $0.0777 per second (1080P) and from $0.261 per second (720p); every tier is on /pricing.
In my video ranking (Polish blog, run on another provider) both scored 8.0/10 on the coffee shot. Speech made the difference: Wan got 2 of 12 words wrong in a hard Polish sentence (7.5/10 for that clip), Seedance 2.5 got 7 of 12 wrong (5.0/10). Overall: Wan 7.75, Seedance 2.5 6.5. Both took roughly 2.5-3 minutes for a 5-second clip, and Wan added music to the coffee shot that I had not asked for. More on Seedance: Seedance 2.5 API guide; wider overview: AI video API comparison.
FAQ
Wan 3.0 or Seedance 2.5: which is better for long clips?
Both make 30 s in one pass. Wan is several times cheaper and has 4K; Seedance has more references and edits finished video. For a plain 30-second scene I start with Wan.
Which handles speech better?
In my Polish test, Wan 3.0: 2 wrong words out of 12, versus 7 out of 12 for Seedance 2.5. Neither was flawless, so I always listen to the line before using it.
Does Seedance 2.5 do 4K?
No, the maximum is 1080p. 2K and 4K are on Wan 3.0.
Can Wan 3.0 extend my finished video?
There is no such mode. Wan accepts clips as references, but editing and extending existing footage is a Seedance 2.5 feature.
Vendor examples
Wan 3.0
Seedance 2.5
Official examples from the model vendors, not our generations.