Seedream 5.5 Overview: What's New, Pricing, and Where to Use It

Key takeaways

• Seedream 5.5 is ByteDance Seed's newest image model. It was announced on November 9, 2026, and handles both generation and editing.

• Editing is the headline. ByteDance says it preserves unedited regions across up to 100 rounds of edits and can output images with a native alpha channel, so transparent PNGs don't need a separate cutout step.

• It ranks higher for editing than for generation. Artificial Analysis puts it at 6th to 9th for image editing and 9th to 13th for text-to-image, behind the GPT Image 2.5 and 2.6 models.

• ByteDance hasn't published a price, resolution, or license for it. WaveSpeed, an API host, lists it from $0.02 per text-to-image generation.

• A Pro version is planned. ByteDance says one is "to follow" but gives no date.

What Seedream 5.5 is

Seedream 5.5 is a multimodal image generation and editing model from ByteDance's Seed team, announced on November 9, 2026. It follows Seedream 5.0 Lite, which added reasoning and live web search, and Seedream 5.0 Pro, released in July with dense-text infographics, region editing, and layer separation. Right now it's the only 5.5 model, since there's no 5.5 Lite and the promised Pro version has no date.

ByteDance's announcement is short on specs. It doesn't state an output resolution, a reference-image limit, a price, or commercial terms, so those details below come from API hosts and are labeled that way.

What changed from Seedream 5.0 Pro

ByteDance compares 5.5 only with 5.0 Pro, and they're its own claims.

• Multi-turn editing. Unedited regions are preserved "at the pixel level" across up to 100 successive edits, with fewer color shifts as each output becomes the next input. That's what matters for ad teams that revise one image many times for sizes, offers, and markets.

• Native transparency. The model generates an alpha channel, including partial transparency, which suits stickers, product cutouts, and layered assets.

• More natural realism. ByteDance says lighting, materials, and skin look less glossy and overexposed.

• Better text. Small and complex-character text improved, and ByteDance puts severe text corruption at 0.4% and minor corruption at 1.7%, measured on its own tests in Chinese and English.

• Human evaluations. In its MagicArena tests, ByteDance says quality scores and usability rates rose in all six use cases it measured, including e-commerce, marketing, and fashion.

ByteDance's 5.5 pages don't mention web search, point-and-lasso editing, or layer separation, so don't assume they carry over from earlier versions. WaveSpeed does offer a separate layer-decomposition endpoint for 5.5.

How it ranks

Independent leaderboards give a more modest picture than ByteDance's own tests. Artificial Analysis, read on November 11, 2026, shows these scores on its text-to-image and editing boards.

For comparison, Seedream 5.0 Pro scores 1129 for editing and FLUX 3 Image 1119. Seedream 5.5 gains 30 Elo over 5.0 Pro in editing and sits in a statistical tie with Nano Banana 2.1 there, though it trails it in text-to-image. Ranks within a few points of each other aren't reliably separated, and Artificial Analysis lists rank ranges for that reason.

Pricing and where to use it

ByteDance hasn't published a per-image price for 5.5 that we could read, so treat any figure as a host's price.

• ByteDance's own surfaces. The Seed announcement links to the Dola chat app and the BytePlus Playground, and Dreamina has an official Seedream 5.5 page with access that depends on your account during a staged rollout.

• API hosts. WaveSpeed lists text-to-image, edit, and layer-decomposition endpoints, from $0.02, $0.028, and $0.60 per request. Its prices scale with resolution and the number of references. It documents 1K, 1.5K, and 2K outputs and up to 10 reference images for edits.

• Creative platforms. Melius runs Seedream 5.0 Pro and 5.0 Lite today, according to its model docs.

Commercial terms aren't stated on ByteDance's pages, and WaveSpeed says outputs follow the ByteDance model license without giving the details. Check them before client work.

What it means for marketing teams

Seedream 5.5 fits the revision-heavy part of ad production. Teams that resize a hero image, swap a product color, change an offer, and re-export for a dozen placements are who'd benefit from stable multi-round edits, if the 100-round claim holds up outside ByteDance's demo. Native alpha output could cut a step for sticker-style assets and product cutouts. It isn't the top-ranked generator, so teams that mostly create new images from scratch should compare it against the GPT Image models first.

How to prompt it

ByteDance hasn't published a prompting guide for 5.5, but its examples point to a few habits.

• State the aspect ratio. The examples use 16:9 and 3:4, and WaveSpeed lists 15 ratios.

• Name the background. Ask for a transparent background and export as PNG when you want an alpha channel.

• Change one thing per edit. Say what to change and what has to stay the same.

• Be specific about details. The examples include sizes, angles, and materials, such as a thin dark gray border or a tilt of about 25 degrees.

Limits to know

• Unofficial specs. Resolution, reference counts, and pricing come from hosts, and a reseller review reports 4K output that WaveSpeed doesn't list.

• ByteDance's own numbers. The 100-round and text-corruption figures come from ByteDance's evaluations, and we found no independent edit-chain test.

• No Pro yet. Teams that need point-and-lasso editing and layer separation should check which model has them before switching.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Seedream 5.5?

Yes. ByteDance Seed announced it on November 9, 2026, and it's available in ByteDance's Dola app, BytePlus Playground, a staged Dreamina rollout, and on API hosts.

Is there a Seedream 5.5 Pro?

Not yet. ByteDance says a Pro version of the series is to follow, with no date.

What's new in Seedream 5.5?

More stable multi-turn editing, native transparent PNG output, more natural lighting and skin, and lower text corruption, according to ByteDance.

Can Seedream 5.5 make transparent backgrounds?

Yes. ByteDance says it generates a native alpha channel with full and partial transparency. On WaveSpeed, transparent output needs PNG.

How much does Seedream 5.5 cost?

ByteDance hasn't published a price we could read. WaveSpeed lists it from $0.02 per text-to-image generation and $0.028 per edit, scaling with resolution and references.

How does Seedream 5.5 compare with GPT Image 2.5?

On Artificial Analysis, GPT Image 2.5 and 2.6 rank above it for both editing and text-to-image, and Seedream 5.5 is an editing-strong model with a mid-pack generation score.

Can I use Seedream 5.5 images commercially?

ByteDance's 5.5 pages don't state terms, and WaveSpeed says outputs follow the ByteDance model license. Read the license before using images for clients.