Comparison · Video
Wan 3.0 vs Seedance 2.5
Wan 3.0 vs Seedance 2.5: both make 30 s clips with sound, but Wan is about 3-4x cheaper and adds 2K and 4K. Seedance edits video and takes 30 references.
What each one accepts
| 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 | built in, can be turned off | built in, can be turned off |
| Prompt length | up to 20,000 chars | up to 20,000 chars |
Rates and clip costs
| 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 | $1.41 / s | $7.07 | $14.14 |
Charged from a prepaid USD balance, no taxes added. A failed generation is $0.
Both of these can deliver a 30-second clip with sound in one generation. Wan 3.0 does it for several times less per second and also offers 2K and 4K. Seedance 2.5 is the one to pay for when you edit or extend footage you already have, need more than 10 reference images, or want a 21:9 frame. Spoken Polish also went better in Wan in my test.
When to pick Wan 3.0
- Long ads of 20-30 s, where each second shows on the bill.
- A 2K or 4K deliverable for YouTube or a big screen.
- Turning a presentation, a PDF report or a product URL into video.
- Lines in smaller languages such as Polish, checked by ear before use.
When to pick Seedance 2.5
- Footage that stops too soon, or a section of a recording you want replaced.
- A music video keeping one performer consistent from a dozen photos.
- Wide 21:9 framing.
- Reference sets with 6 or more clips or sound files.
- Real people in references, with their consent.
Differences you will notice
- Price. Wan 3.0 costs from $0.0777 per second at 1080P, Seedance 2.5 from $0.261 per second at 720p. Compared tier by tier, Seedance runs about 3.4x Wan at 480p, 3.8x at 720p and 3.3x at 1080p. Even Wan's 4K second is cheaper than Seedance's 720p second.
- Resolution. Wan: 480P, 720P, 1080P, 2K, 4K (default 1080P). Seedance 2.5: 480p, 720p, 1080p (default 720p). Length: 2-30 s in Wan, 4-30 s in Seedance.
- References. Seedance: 30 images, 10 clips, 10 sound files at most. Wan: 10 images, 5 clips, 5 sound clips, where each clip lasts 1-15 s and all of them together 15 s.
- Special inputs. Seedance can rework or lengthen existing footage. Wan can instead build a clip from a pdf, docx, pptx or xlsx of up to 50 pages, or from a public web page.
- Formats and shared fields. Seedance has 7 ratios including 21:9; Wan has 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4 and
adaptive. Both: sound on by default with no price change, 20,000-character prompts, first and last frame,seed,duration: -1.
How to decide
When the brief is simply a half-minute scene, Wan is my first try, because retries at three to four times the rate add up fast. Move to Seedance 2.5 only for editing, very large reference sets or 21:9. Two billing details: with duration: -1 Wan always charges 30 s, whereas Seedance reserves 30 s and then charges what it actually rendered. Seedance also sets a minimum of roughly 5/3 of the clip length whenever you pass in a reference video. Both bill the seconds of reference clips.
In my ranking, run through another API, both earned 8.0 for the coffee shot. On a hard Polish sentence Wan missed 2 of 12 words (7.5) and Seedance 2.5 missed 7 (5.0), giving overall scores of 7.75 and 6.5. Each needed roughly 2.5-3 minutes per 5 s clip, and Wan slipped unrequested music into the coffee scene. Read the Seedance 2.5 guide and the AI video API comparison.
Questions
Can Wan 3.0 add seconds to a clip I already have?
No. It takes clips as references, but extending or editing footage is Seedance 2.5's job.
Where do I get 4K out of these two?
Only in Wan 3.0, which also has 2K. Seedance 2.5 ends at 1080p.
Is Seedance 2.5 ever the cheaper option?
Not at matching resolutions. It costs 3 to 4 times more per second at every shared tier.
Samples from the makers
Wan 3.0
Seedance 2.5
These clips and images come from the vendors, not from my runs.