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Seedream 5.0 Lite Released 2026-01

ByteDance image
Price$0.035/image

Provider list prices: no platform markup, pay-as-you-go. These are official list prices. Logged-in customers may see effective prices including workspace discounts on /console/pricing.

Use Seedream 5.0 Lite in 30 seconds

OpenAI-compatible: swap the base_url, keep your SDK. POST /v1/images/generations

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://synthorai.io/v1",
    api_key="sk-syn-...",
)

resp = client.images.generate(
    model="seedream-5-0-260128",
    prompt="a watercolor lighthouse at dawn",
    size="1024x1024",
)
print(resp.data[0].b64_json[:80])

About Seedream 5.0 Lite

Enhanced reference consistency for professional scenarios
Streaming delivery with PNG or JPEG output
high-resolution results up to 4K

Seedream 5.0 belongs to ByteDance's Dola Seedream 5.0 generation on BytePlus ModelArk, which the official model catalog bills as a leading image generation model with enhanced reference consistency and improved generation quality for professional scenarios.

  • It handles text-to-image, single and multi-reference image-to-image, and batch image generation, with streaming delivery, selectable PNG or JPEG output, and high-resolution results up to 4K in the series.
  • Requests reach it on Synthorai through the platform's OpenAI-compatible API.

Specs & limits

Modalitiestext + image → image
Featuresvision
Image capabilities2K/3K/4K output, png/jpeg; text-to-image + single/multi-reference image editing; batch generation with reference + generated images <=15; 500 max IPM
NotableLite tier of the Seedream 5.0 family (alias seedream-5-0-lite-260128; version date 260128 encoded in the model id); a higher-end seedream-5-0-pro-260628 exists separately.

per ByteDance official docs ↗

FAQ

Is the Seedream 5.0 Lite API free to try?

Yes: new accounts get 10 trial calls and up to $1 in free credit, no card required. That's enough to try Seedream 5.0 Lite against your real workload before adding a payment method.

What is Seedream 5.0 Lite best at?

Enhanced reference consistency for professional scenarios, plus streaming delivery with PNG or JPEG output and high-resolution results up to 4K. See the About section for the full picture from the vendor's own release notes.

How much does Seedream 5.0 Lite cost?

Seedream 5.0 Lite costs $0.035 per generated image on Synthorai: pay-as-you-go, no platform markup, no subscription.

How do I generate images with the Seedream 5.0 Lite API?

POST to /v1/images/generations on Synthorai with model="seedream-5-0-260128". It follows the OpenAI images API shape, so no vendor SDK is needed.

How do I get access to Seedream 5.0 Lite?

Point your existing OpenAI SDK at base_url="https://synthorai.io/v1", set model="seedream-5-0-260128", and you're done. One API key covers every model on the gateway.

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