Comparison · Images
Seedream 5.0 Pro vs Nano Banana Pro
Seedream 5.0 Pro vs Nano Banana Pro: similar at 1K, but Nano Banana Pro is cheaper at 2K and 4K, faster and safer with accents. Where Seedream still wins.
What each one accepts
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | Nano Banana Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | ByteDance | |
| Type | Image | Image |
| Modes | text-to-image image-to-image | text-to-image image-to-image |
| Released | 2026-07 | 2025-11 |
| Resolutions | 1K, 1.5K, 2K | 1K, 2K, 4K |
| Aspect ratios | 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16, 2:3, 3:2, 21:9 | 1:1, 2:3, 3:2, 3:4, 4:3, 4:5, 5:4, 9:16, 16:9, 21:9 |
| Reference images | up to 10 | up to 14 |
| Prompt length | up to 32,000 chars | up to 32,000 chars |
Rates and clip costs
| Model | Variant | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 1K | $0.0783 / image |
| 2K | $0.157 / image | |
| Nano Banana Pro | 1K | $0.07 / image |
| 2K | $0.07 / image | |
| 4K | $0.075 / image |
Charged from a prepaid USD balance, no taxes added. A failed generation is $0.
At 1K the bill is almost identical. Above that Nano Banana Pro pulls ahead on both price and resolution: its 4K image costs less than a 2K image from Seedream 5.0 Pro. It also averaged higher in my ranking and ran more than twice as fast. Seedream earns a place for the way it lights portraits and reportage and for attractive lettering, with one warning: in languages like Polish it may put accents on letters that should not have them.
When to pick Seedream 5.0 Pro
- People photographed in soft natural side light, or a street scene that should feel documentary.
- A poster or book cover with an English title where the type style matters.
- A key visual made from up to 10 product photos.
- A 1.5K image billed at the 1K rate, for the ratios where that applies.
When to pick Nano Banana Pro
- Anything at 2K or 4K, where it is clearly the cheaper choice.
- Text in Polish or another language with diacritics.
- Edits that pull together more than 10 photos.
- An Instagram feed post in 4:5.
Differences you will notice
- Price. At 1K Seedream 5.0 Pro (from $0.0783 per image) costs about 5% more than Nano Banana Pro (from $0.07 per image). At 2K Seedream is about 2.1x Nano Banana Pro at 2K and about 1.9x its 4K. Nano Banana Pro bills 1K and 2K the same.
- Seedream's pixel billing. Its 1.5K tier costs the 1K rate at 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 3:2 and 2:3, and the 2K rate at 4:3, 3:4 and 21:9. Each reference after the first adds a small fee.
- Resolution and formats. Seedream: 1K, 1.5K, 2K and 8 ratios from 21:9 to 9:16. Nano Banana Pro: 1K, 2K, 4K, the same ratios plus 4:5 and 5:4.
- Speed and score. On the same five prompts at 1K, Nano Banana Pro scored 9.0/10 and averaged 18.6 s; Seedream scored 8.5/10 and averaged 45.6 s (24 to 87 s). Both got 9/10 on the portrait with a coffee mug.
- Design focus. ByteDance pitches Seedream 5.0 Pro at posters and covers with text. Nano Banana Pro is Google's Gemini 3 Pro Image, aimed at generating and editing from many inputs (up to 14 references against Seedream's 10). Both take 32,000-character prompts and return one image.
How to decide
- 2K, 4K, many references or accented text: Nano Banana Pro.
- Portrait and reportage mood, English poster type: Seedream 5.0 Pro.
Both wrote a Polish shop sign correctly in the ranking, but in a separate typography test Seedream made at least 4 errors by adding unneeded diacritics, even though its letterforms looked the nicest. For more on lettering read text in AI images, and for a wider field see Midjourney alternatives with an API. Tiers on /pricing.
Questions
What is the largest file I can get from Seedream 5.0 Pro?
2K is its top tier. For 4K go to Nano Banana Pro, which at that size still costs less than Seedream at 2K.
Is there a smart default resolution in Nano Banana Pro?
2K. It costs the same as 1K, so you get the extra detail for free.
What if an image is rejected after rendering?
The task counts as failed, nothing is charged and the held amount goes back to your balance.
Samples from the makers
Seedream 5.0 Pro
Nano Banana Pro
These clips and images come from the vendors, not from my runs.