Seedream 5.0 Pro vs GPT Image 2: Same-Prompt Test and Price

GPT Image 2.5 Flare matched GPT Image 2 in all six tests at the same token rates and the same 31 s median. It is the newer of the two, so start new projects there.

The price row uses the vendor's own rate: $0.045 per Seedream image at BytePlus, and OpenAI's token rates times the 6,240 output tokens we measured at quality high. All three are on OmniaKey: Seedream 5.0 Pro, GPT Image 2 and GPT Image 2.5 Flare.

How we tested

• Models and IDs: Seedream 5.0 Pro (Dola-Seedream-5.0-pro), GPT Image 2 (gpt-image-2) and GPT Image 2.5 Flare (gpt-image-2.5-flare). ByteDance's own ID on BytePlus ModelArk is dola-seedream-5-0-pro-260628.
• October 16, 2026, through OmniaKey's media API, with the GPT models at quality high and Seedream at its defaults.
• Sizes, the same for all three in each test: 1536×1024 for the photo, infographic and product shot, 1024×1536 for the poster and portrait, 1024×1024 for the mug edit.
• One run per test, two for the poster and the infographic: 24 images, all shown.
• The two edit inputs came from a fourth model, Google's original Nano Banana (gemini-2.5-flash-image), so no model edited its own picture.
• The prompts are the same six as our Nano Banana 2.1 vs Pro test.
• Time is submit to finished image, including queue and network.
• We judged at full size: each requested word letter by letter, anything added, light, copy space, the logo and the person's listed details.
• OmniaKey sells API access to all three models, so we ran the tests through it. Every price here is the vendor's own rate, not ours.
• Sources: ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 Pro post, BytePlus ModelArk pricing, OpenAI's changelog, pricing page and image generation guide, all checked October 16, 2026.

This is one or two runs per test, so treat the images as examples rather than a benchmark.

Six tests, same prompts

Test 1: Photoreal scene (3:2)

This test checks a believable photo, dust in the light, soft shelves and no text.

Prompt:

A candid photorealistic photograph of a young ceramicist trimming a bowl on a potter's wheel in a sunlit studio. Clay dust floats in the light, her hands and the spinning bowl are in sharp focus, and shelves of drying pots behind her fall into soft blur. 50mm lens look, warm natural colours, no text anywhere in the image.

• Seedream 5.0 Pro (38 s): a believable sunlit photo with soft shelves and the only dust in the light. The bowl stands upright with a tool at its rim, plus the corner label.
• GPT Image 2 (40 s): a believable sunlit photo, soft shelves, no visible dust. She trims an upside-down bowl with a loop tool, as potters do, hands in clay.
• GPT Image 2.5 (43 s): same as GPT Image 2: upside-down bowl, loop tool, clay on her hands, no dust.

Verdict: Tie. Seedream is the only one with dust in the light, and the GPT pair showed the trim the way potters do it.

Test 2: Poster text (2:3)

This test checks every requested word, anything extra, and whether the poster looks finished.

Prompt:

A minimalist poster for a coffee festival. Large bold headline: "BREW DAY". Below it, smaller: "Saturday 14 November · 10:00–18:00". Footer line: "Free tasting · Riverside Hall". Warm cream background, one hand-drawn coffee cup illustration, clean grid layout, high-end print design.

The first run is the image at the top.

• Seedream 5.0 Pro (63 s and 63 s): every word right in both runs, nothing added. Run 1's cup is a flat brown shape, run 2 a sketched cup with beans and target-like marks, and the headline changed style.
• GPT Image 2 (30 s and 31 s): every word right in both runs, nothing added: an ink-sketch cup with latte art, thin rules and a thin frame, the same look twice.
• GPT Image 2.5 (30 s and 32 s): every word right in both runs, nothing added, with a sketched cup and bean ornaments. Run 2 adds a frame. Zoomed in, run 1 has a tiny stray tick above the E of BREW.

Verdict: Tie on the words: six posters, every word right, nothing added. For a finished print look, GPT Image 2 or 2.5, with the hand-drawn cup in half the time.

Test 3: Infographic with numbers (3:2)

This test checks exact words and numbers, four steps in a row and nothing extra.

Prompt:

A clean infographic titled "How to brew pour-over coffee" with four numbered steps in a row: 1. Rinse the filter 2. Add 18 g of coffee 3. Pour 300 ml of water in slow circles 4. Wait 3 minutes. A simple flat icon above each step, white background, dark brown text.

• Seedream 5.0 Pro (56 s and 48 s): title and all four steps right in both runs, including 18 g, 300 ml and 3 minutes. Run 1 added a dripper icon and numbered each step twice.
• GPT Image 2 (28 s and 34 s): everything right in both runs. Run 1 numbered each step twice, run 2 adds arrows between the steps.
• GPT Image 2.5 (33 s and 31 s): everything right in both runs, with dashes on both sides of the title in run 1.

Verdict: Tie. Every title, step, number and unit was right in all six images, and only layout choices differ.

Test 4: Product shot with copy space (3:2)

This test checks the engraved word, the light direction and room for ad copy.

Prompt:

Studio product photograph of a frosted glass perfume bottle with a brushed brass cap and the small engraved word "ELARA" on the front, standing on a pale travertine block. Soft light from the right, a gentle shadow falling to the left, clean warm-beige background, empty space on the left third of the frame for ad copy. Real photograph, no props.

• Seedream 5.0 Pro (43 s): ELARA looks engraved as asked, and the brass cap is stepped. The bottle sits near the middle, the travertine runs into the left third, and there is little room for copy. The light comes from the right.
• GPT Image 2 (30 s): ELARA is printed in small dark letters, not engraved. The bottle sits on the right on pitted travertine, light from the right, the left half empty for copy.
• GPT Image 2.5 (30 s): same as GPT Image 2, with printed ELARA, the bottle on the right and an empty left side.

Verdict: GPT Image 2 and 2.5 for ads, because they left the left third empty. Seedream alone engraved ELARA, so pick it when the detail matters more than the layout.

Test 5: Edit a product photo, keep the product (1:1)

This test checks whether the product survives a background change, with all three editing the same photo from a fourth model.

Prompt:

Place this exact mug on a wooden cafe table next to a rain-streaked window, with warm evening light and a blurred street behind it. Change only the setting and lighting. Keep the mug's shape, matte white glaze, the blue koi logo and the word "KOI" exactly as they are.

• Seedream 5.0 Pro (87 s): the rain-streaked window and evening street as asked, with the koi turned dark navy and the fish redrawn while KOI stayed. It added a coaster and a spoon, the mug sits small in the frame, and the corner label is there.
• GPT Image 2 (43 s): the koi logo and KOI look the same as the source, same bright blue, with warm bokeh and the mug large on a wooden table.
• GPT Image 2.5 (35 s): the logo and KOI look the same as the source, plus coffee in the mug, a plant and a napkin holder.

Verdict: GPT Image 2 and 2.5. Both kept the logo and word as they were, and Seedream's darker redraw would not pass for a product shot.

Test 6: Same person, new scene (2:3)

This test checks a person's face and small details in a new scene, using the same reference photo from a fourth model.

Prompt:

Show the man from the reference image cooking in a busy restaurant kitchen at night, wearing a white chef's jacket and laughing with a colleague off-frame. Keep the same face, short black hair, trimmed beard, the small scar over his left eyebrow and the thin round silver glasses. Medium shot, photorealistic.

• Seedream 5.0 Pro (39 s): kept the glasses, hair, beard and the mark, laughing toward someone off-frame. He stands by the stove with flames behind him but is not cooking, with the corner label.
• GPT Image 2 (34 s): kept the glasses, hair, beard and the mark, cooking with tongs over a flaming pan. The colleague is partly in frame at the right edge.
• GPT Image 2.5 (33 s): kept the glasses, hair, beard and the mark, cooking with a pan and a black apron, the colleague and other cooks behind him.

Verdict: Tie on likeness: all three kept every listed detail. GPT Image 2 and 2.5 show him cooking as asked, while Seedream kept the colleague off-frame.

Results by test

Price and speed

OpenAI's token rates and BytePlus's per-image price, checked October 16, 2026 on the OpenAI pricing page and BytePlus's pricing page, give this:

Seedream is priced per image: $0.045 up to 2.61 million pixels covers every image in our test, and the first reference image is free. GPT Image 2 and 2.5 bill per token: $5 per million text input, $8 per million image input and $30 per million image output. Our new images reported 6,240 output tokens and 68 to 76 text input tokens, about $0.188 each, so 100 cost about $18.76.

At the quality we tested, one GPT image costs about 4.2 times a Seedream image. OpenAI's own table lists $0.165 at our sizes, which would make the gap 3.7 times and 100 images $16.50. Its medium setting is listed at $0.041, about Seedream's price; our tests ran at high. Batch processing halves OpenAI's rates.

New images took a median 52 s on Seedream against 31 s on both GPT models, about 1.7 times as long, and edits took 63 s against 38 s and 34 s. ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 Pro docs recommend fast mode, or Seedream 5.0 Flash, when speed matters, and we used the default mode.

The "AI generated" label on Seedream images

Every Seedream image came back with an “AI generated” label in the bottom-right corner, faint on light backgrounds and clear on dark ones, as the crops show. OmniaKey's image docs list parameters.watermark, and we left it at its default.

To publish without it, set "watermark": false in parameters, as the docs describe.

GPT Image 2 or GPT Image 2.5?

OpenAI released GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst and GPT Image 2.5 Flare on September 8, 2026, for generation and editing, at the same token rates as GPT Image 2. At OpenAI, 2.5 adds the xhigh and max quality settings. On OmniaKey, gpt-image-2.5-flare takes low, medium and high. OpenAI positions Sunburst for precise edits and Flare for fast, everyday images.

Flare matched GPT Image 2 in all six tests, at the same 31 s median and the same 6,240 output tokens for new images. The mug edit differed, at 4,160 output tokens against 6,500, which is why it cost $0.14 against $0.21. Start new projects on 2.5 Flare. For edit-heavy work, OpenAI points to GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst. Our GPT Image 2.5 vs GPT Image 2 comparison covers the launch details.

Pros and cons

Seedream 5.0 Pro

• Pros: lowest price at $0.045 per image; only model that drew the dust and engraved ELARA; kept the person's details; all four of its text images right.
• Cons: 52 s median for new images; corner label by default; redrew the koi logo and changed its poster style.

GPT Image 2

• Pros: left third free for copy at $0.19; kept the koi logo and word exactly; same poster look twice; 31 s median.
• Cons: printed ELARA; missed the dust; the mug edit cost $0.21, the most of the three.

GPT Image 2.5

• Pros: matched GPT Image 2 in all six tests at the same speed; cheaper mug edit at $0.14; kept the logo and the person's details.
• Cons: printed ELARA and missed the dust; $0.19 per new image; xhigh and max only at OpenAI, not on OmniaKey.

Which one for which job

Run the same test through one API

This request creates the poster at 1024×1536 with Seedream and leaves the label off:

curl https://api.omniakey.com/v1/media/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OMNIAKEY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: brew-day-poster-001" \
  -d '{
    "model": "Dola-Seedream-5.0-pro",
    "type": "image",
    "operation": "generate",
    "input": {"prompt": "A minimalist poster for a coffee festival. Large bold headline: BREW DAY. Warm cream background, one hand-drawn coffee cup, clean grid layout."},
    "parameters": {"size": "1024x1536", "watermark": false}
  }'

1. The reply is 202 with a task id.
2. Every few seconds, fetch https://api.omniakey.com/v1/media/tasks/{id} until status is succeeded.
3. Download the image from assets[0].url.

For GPT Image 2, set model to gpt-image-2, quality to high and size to 1024x1536. For GPT Image 2.5 Flare, use gpt-image-2.5-flare with the same settings. To edit, set operation to edit and send the source photo in input.images as URLs or Base64 data URLs on Seedream, while the GPT models take input.image with Base64 data and mime_type.

Open the Seedream 5.0 Pro, GPT Image 2 and GPT Image 2.5 Flare model pages to start a run, and the image API docs for every parameter.

Common questions

Is Seedream 5.0 Pro better than GPT Image 2?

It depends on the job. Seedream drew the dust, engraved the lettering and cost $0.045 an image, while the GPT pair left the copy space and kept the koi logo. For ads and logo-safe edits, GPT Image 2 or 2.5 is safer.

How much does Seedream 5.0 Pro cost per image?

BytePlus charges $0.045 per image up to 2.61 million pixels and $0.09 above that; the first reference image is free and each extra one is $0.003. All our images were 1,572,864 pixels or less, so each cost $0.045, edits included.

When was Seedream 5.0 Pro released?

ByteDance launched Seedream 5.0 Pro on July 8, 2026. It outputs 1K, 1.5K or 2K images, and ByteDance says 1.5K costs the same as 1K and looks better.

Is Seedream 5.0 Pro faster than GPT Image 2?

No. New images took a median 52 s on Seedream against 31 s on GPT Image 2, about 1.7 times as long. Edits took 63 s against 38 s.

How do I remove the "AI generated" label from Seedream images?

Set "watermark": false in parameters on the request. Every Seedream image in our test had the label because we left that setting at its default. It sits in the bottom-right corner and is faint on light backgrounds.

Update log

• 2026-10-17: First version, with our same-prompt tests run on October 16, 2026.