MiniMax H3 vs Seedance 2.0

What each one accepts

Rates and clip costs

Charged from a prepaid USD balance, no taxes added. A failed generation is $0.

If you want sharp 2K footage with sound and care about the bill, MiniMax H3 is the safer start: its 2K second is cheaper than a 720p second of Seedance 2.0. Seedance 2.0 earns its place when the job needs 4K, very cheap 480p tests, a silent clip or a real person's face from references. On inputs the two are close siblings, so the choice comes down to resolution and cost.

When to pick MiniMax H3

• You need a 2560x1440 shot for YouTube or a landing page and the budget is tight.
• The scene has dialogue written only in the prompt, with no starting image.
• You build a character from several photos and give it a voice from a recording, since reference audio adds nothing to the cost.
• The edit calls for a wide 21:9 frame, for example in a trailer or music video.
• The dialogue is in a language other than English: in my test a difficult Polish sentence came out with a single mistake at the start.

When to pick Seedance 2.0

• The client asks for 4K or 1080p in standard dimensions.
• You want to try ten ideas at 480p before paying for a final render.
• You plan to lay your own music under the picture and need a clip with no audio (generate_audio: false).
• The video should show a real person from reference media, with that person's consent.
• Your prompt runs past 7,000 characters, or you want the model to choose the length itself (duration: -1).

Differences you will notice

• Price. MiniMax H3 at 2K costs from $0.161 per second, Seedance 2.0 at 720p costs from $0.157 per second. Seedance at 720p comes out about 1.3x the H3 2K rate, at 1080p about 3.2x and at 4K about 6.6x. At 480p Seedance and H3 at 768P land at nearly the same rate.
• Resolution. H3 offers two tiers: 768P (1344x768) and 2K. Seedance 2.0 offers four: 480p, 720p, 1080p and 4K.
• Sound. Every H3 clip carries a native stereo track that you shape in the prompt, and there is no switch to turn it off. Seedance adds speech, effects and music by default but can render silence. Audio does not change the rate in either.
• Length and prompt. Both run 4-15 s; the default is 6 s in H3 and 5 s in Seedance. The prompt limit is 7,000 characters in H3 and 20,000 in Seedance.
• Inputs. Both take a first and last frame plus up to 9 images, 3 clips and 3 audio files. Seconds of reference video are billed in both, and H3 also bills images six through nine. Both have 7 aspect ratios including 21:9 and adaptive; in H3 a text-only clip needs a ratio set, while a start image dictates it.

How to decide

• Up to 2K and you want sound in every take: MiniMax H3.
• 4K, 480p drafts, silence or a real person: Seedance 2.0.
• Not sure: price a few combinations in the AI cost calculator before you commit.

With duration: -1 Seedance holds funds as if the clip were 15 s long. For more on H3 see the MiniMax H3 (Hailuo) guide, and for the newer ByteDance model read MiniMax H3 vs Seedance 2.5. Every rate sits on /pricing.

Questions

Is 4K worth it in Seedance 2.0 compared with 2K in H3?

Only if the delivery spec demands it. A 4K second in Seedance 2.0 costs roughly 6.6 times a 2K second in H3, so for web and social video 2K is usually enough.

How do I get a silent clip out of MiniMax H3?

You cannot switch the track off at generation time. Mute it in your editor, or generate in Seedance 2.0 with audio disabled.

Did you score both models side by side?

No. H3 got 7.25/10 in my September 28 test, with a weaker coffee shot (6.5), but full Seedance 2.0 was not part of that run, so I do not compare the scores directly.

Samples from the makers

These clips and images come from the vendors, not from my runs.