Seedream AI Image Generator

Seedream is ByteDance's family of AI image models, made by its Seed research team. A single Seedream model both creates images from a written prompt and edits images you upload, so the same prompt box makes a new poster, moves a product into a new scene, changes an outfit in a portrait or turns a pencil sketch into a photo.

The family has grown fast. Seedream 4.0 made it popular in 2025, Seedream 4.5 added sharper detail and better small text at up to 4K, and the 5.0 generation arrived through 2026: Seedream 5.0 Lite first, then Seedream 5.0 Pro as the flagship and Seedream 5.0 Flash as its fast, low-cost version. ByteDance says the 5.0 Pro and Flash models render readable text in Chinese, English and 14 more languages. Seedream 5.5 followed in November 2026, tuned for more realistic skin, light and materials, clearer small text, and edits that hold steady over many rounds.

Mage runs all six on one account, next to the rest of its image, video and audio models. Mage is an independent creative platform, not part of ByteDance. What it adds is everything around the image: unlimited plans, saved characters that keep a face the same from image to image, apps for fixing and relighting what you made, and an API and MCP server for developers and AI assistants.

Seedream 5.5 is the newest model, released in November 2026. ByteDance tuned it for realism, with skin, light and materials closer to a real photograph and less gloss and overexposure, and for dense small text that stays readable. It also keeps the parts of an image you did not ask to change steady across a long run of edits. It renders at 1K or 2K, costs less than 5.0 Pro, and is the default Seedream model in the generator.

Seedream 5.0 Pro is the 5.0 flagship: the closest prompt following in the family, the best text rendering, and the strongest edits that combine several images. It renders at 1K or 2K, and it has a Prompt Optimizer with Standard, Fast and Off settings for prompts without input images. Seedream 5.0 Flash keeps the 5.0 text rendering and edits at a fraction of the price, so it is the model for drafts, variations and big batches, also at 1K or 2K.

Seedream 5.0 Lite renders larger, at 2K or 3K, and suits sharp single-subject stills. Seedream 4.5 is the one for 4K: it renders at 2K, 3K or 4K, and on Mage it is the Seedream model that works with Moodboards, which carry one look across a whole set. Seedream 4.0, the older all-rounder, covers every size from 1K to 4K at the lowest price of the full-size models.

A simple workflow covers most jobs: draft on 5.0 Flash, finish on 5.0 Pro, and switch to 4.5 when the final has to be 4K. The Seedream model page has samples, every setting, and a prompting guide with examples for each kind of image.

• Photoreal portraits and dense small print: Seedream 5.5
• Posters, thumbnails and packaging: Seedream 5.0 Pro
• Drafts and A/B variations: Seedream 5.0 Flash
• Prints and wallpapers at 4K: Seedream 4.5
• A set that shares one look: Seedream 4.5 with a Moodboard

Seedream reads a prompt like a brief, so write full sentences rather than a list of keywords. Start with what the image is and what it is for, such as a product photo for an online store or a poster for a summer concert. Then describe the subject, the action and the setting, and finish with the style, the light and the framing.

Be precise rather than ornate. "A red vintage bicycle leaning on a sunlit brick wall" gives Seedream more to work with than a stack of adjectives. In a busy scene, name every object and where it sits. ByteDance recommends keeping prompts under about 600 English words, and most strong prompts are between 30 and 120.

For text in the image, put the exact words in double quotes and say where they go and how they look: the title "NIGHT GARDEN" across the top in tall white serif capitals. Keep each line short. There is no negative prompt, so write what to leave out into the sentence, such as "no other text" or "no logos".

• Lead with the subject and the job
• Quote any text that should appear
• Describe light by direction and mood
• Write exclusions into the prompt

To edit, upload a photo and write the change as an instruction: add something, remove something, replace something, or change a color, material, light or style. Always say what must stay the same, for example "change the jacket to a red raincoat, keeping her face, pose and the background unchanged", and name the object you mean instead of writing "it".

Seedream takes up to 10 input images in one run on Mage. Refer to them by order, Image 1, Image 2 and so on, and say what to take from each: the person from Image 1, the jacket from Image 2, the train station from Image 3. When the same face or product comes back again and again, save it once as a Character or a Reference and call it by its @handle instead of uploading it every time.

For a pixel-level fix in one spot, such as a stray hand or a wrong letter, brush over it in Inpaint. To change the light of a finished image, open Relight, and to sharpen a keeper for print, run the Image Enhancer.

On a paid plan, a Seedream image runs without Gems when its resolution fits the plan. Pro, at $30 a month, covers every Seedream model at up to 2K, which includes everything Seedream 5.5, 5.0 Pro and 5.0 Flash render. Pro Plus, at $60 a month, adds unlimited 3K and 4K on Seedream 5.0 Lite, 4.5 and 4.0. Unlimited runs use the standard queue, and Fast mode spends Gems to put a run at the front.

Without a plan, Seedream runs on Gems: 24 at 1K or 42 at 2K on Seedream 5.5, which adds 9.6 Gems for each input image, 27 an image on Seedream 5.0 Flash, 45 on Seedream 4.0, 55 on 5.0 Lite, 60 on 4.5, and 68 at 1K or 135 at 2K on Seedream 5.0 Pro, which adds 4.5 Gems for each input image after the first. Gem packs start at $10 for 10,000 Gems, and every paid plan includes monthly Gems, 1,500 on Pro.

Compare what each plan covers on the membership page.

Developers call POST /v1/seedream/generate on the Mage API with one key and one Gem balance for every Mage model, and pick the Seedream version with its model id, such as seedream-5.5 or seedream-5.0-pro. The Mage API page covers keys and prices. Connect the Mage MCP server, and Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants can make Seedream images for you in the chat when you ask for Seedream by name, paid in Gems from your Mage account. The Claude AI image generator page shows how to set it up.

Seedream on Mage runs with a strict content filter. Before an image is made, Mage checks your prompt and the first image you attach. When a request falls outside the filter, the run stops before anything is generated, your Gems come back, and a notice explains why and suggests other models on Mage that can take the request.

The filter suits work that will be shown to clients, brands and the public: product shots, ads, thumbnails, posters, portraits and illustration. Seedream is run by ByteDance, so ByteDance's terms apply to what it makes, alongside Mage's own content rules.