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AI image model comparison

Seedream 5.0 Pro vs Flux 2

Seedream 5.0 Pro ranks well ahead of Flux 2 on every Arena board we checked: text-to-image, text rendering, and image editing. Flux 2 is the open-weights pick from Black Forest Labs: it costs fewer Gems per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Basic plan, against the Pro plan for Seedream 5.0 Pro.

Try Seedream 5.0 ProTry Flux 2
  • A watchmaker's workbench by a rain-streaked window at dusk. Brass gears and tiny screws are scattered across a green leather mat, a loupe rests on an open pocket watch, tweezers stand in a small ceramic cup next to a tin of oil, and a gooseneck lamp casts a warm pool of light. City lights blur outside the window. 50mm photograph, shallow depth of field. 2K.
    Seedream 5.0 ProA watchmaker's workbench by a rain-streaked window at dusk. Brass gears and tiny screws are scattered across a green leather mat, a loupe rests on an open pocket watch, tweezers stand in a small ceramic cup next to a tin of oil, and a gooseneck lamp casts a warm pool of light. City lights blur outside the window. 50mm photograph, shallow depth of field. 2K.
  • Editorial product still life
    Flux 2Editorial product still life

Side by side

Prices, plans, resolutions, ratios, and reference limits are Mage's own, for the model compared. Makers, release dates, search grounding, and watermarks are what each maker publishes. Arena ranks come from its text-to-image and text-rendering and image-edit boards of November 7, 2026. Arena ranks each open-weights model as Arena runs it, not as Mage hosts it.

Seedream 5.0 ProFlux 2
Made byByteDance SourceBlack Forest Labs Source
Where it runsRun by ByteDance, reached through MageOpen weights, hosted on Mage's GPUs
ReleasedJuly 8, 2026 SourceNovember 25, 2025 Source
Price on Mage, from68 Gems ($0.068) per image40 Gems ($0.04) per image
Unlimited on Mage fromProBasic
Top resolution on Mage2K2K
Aspect ratios on Mage21:9, 16:9, 3:2, 5:4, 1:1, 4:5, 2:3, 9:16, 9:2121:9, 16:9, 3:2, 5:4, 1:1, 4:5, 2:3, 9:16, 9:21
Reference images on Mage, up to103
Search groundingNone documented SourceNone documented Source
Arena text-to-image#17 of 84 Source#40 of 84 Source
Arena text rendering#19 of 84 Source#33 of 84 Source
Arena image edit#14 of 63 Source#47 of 63 Source
WatermarkNone stated SourceA sample pixel-layer watermark in its reference code Source

Last checked November 2026

Which should you use?

Choose Seedream 5.0 Pro for

  • The higher-ranked images, text, and edits of the two on Arena
  • Up to 10 reference images, to put people, outfits, and places into one scene
  • Dense infographics and text-heavy posters, which ByteDance built it for

Choose Flux 2 for

  • Open-weights images from Black Forest Labs, with nothing to install
  • Long prompts with many conditions that all have to show
  • Unlimited images from the Basic plan

Image quality

In Arena's blind votes, where people pick the better of two images without seeing which model made them, Seedream 5.0 Pro ranks 17th of 84 for text-to-image and 14th of 63 for image editing. Flux 2 Dev, the version of Flux 2 that Mage runs, ranks 40th and 47th. None of these scores is marked preliminary.

ByteDance released Seedream 5.0 Pro on July 8, 2026 and built it for dense infographics, photographic realism down to skin texture, and edits that follow marks drawn on an image. Black Forest Labs released Flux 2 on November 25, 2025, with Flux 2 Dev as an open-weights model of the family.

Text in images

Arena's text-rendering board puts Seedream 5.0 Pro 19th and Flux 2 Dev 33rd. ByteDance says Seedream 5.0 Pro renders text natively in a dozen widely used languages, and Black Forest Labs says the Flux 2 family handles complex typography, infographics, and UI mockups with legible fine text.

Reference images

Seedream 5.0 Pro takes up to 10 reference images on Mage, enough to put a person, an outfit, and a place into one scene. Flux 2 takes up to 3, enough to edit one image or combine a few.

Resolution and shape

Both render up to 2K on Mage in the same 9 aspect ratios, from 9:21 to 21:9.

Price on Mage

Seedream 5.0 Pro starts at 68 Gems (about $0.068) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Pro plan. Flux 2 starts at 40 Gems (about $0.04) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Basic plan.

A little more clarity

Questions

Is Seedream 5.0 Pro better than Flux 2?
On Arena's leaderboards, yes: Seedream 5.0 Pro ranks ahead of Flux 2 Dev for text-to-image, text rendering, and image editing. Flux 2 is the pick when you want open-weights output, or unlimited images on the Basic plan.
Which one is open weights?
Flux 2. Black Forest Labs publishes the Flux 2 Dev weights on Hugging Face, and Mage runs them on its own GPUs, so there is nothing to install or rent. Seedream 5.0 Pro is closed: it runs on ByteDance's servers, reached through Mage.
Which costs less on Mage?
Flux 2 starts at 40 Gems (about $0.04) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Basic plan. Seedream 5.0 Pro starts at 68 Gems (about $0.068) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Pro plan.
Can I use both on Mage?
Yes. Both run in the same prompt box on Mage, on the same Gems and plans, and through the Mage API and the Mage MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT, so you can try a prompt on each and keep the better image.

Try Seedream 5.0 Pro and Flux 2 on one prompt

Run the same prompt on both in Mage's prompt box and keep the better image. New accounts get 300 free Gems.

Try Seedream 5.0 Pro