One 30 s shot or three 10 s shots: same price on Seedance 2.5

Three 10-second Seedance 2.5 shots cost the same as one 30-second shot within one cent on Sume, plus $0.10 for a Timeline render to join them (as of 2026-10-08).

The check

At 720p, 10 s is 578 cents and 30 s is 1734 cents; 3 x 578 = 1734. At 480p, 3 x 269 = 807, equal to the 30 s price. At 1080p, 3 x 1422 = 4266 against 4265, a difference of one cent because each job rounds up separately.

What changes besides price

Retake cost. If the last third of a 30 s clip goes wrong, you pay $17.34 at 720p to try again. If it was a separate 10 s shot, you pay $5.78. Over several attempts, shorter shots save real money.

Continuity. One request keeps one scene. Three requests need references, or a first frame taken from the earlier shot, to match. Timeline joins them with optional fades of up to 1 s.

Wan 3.0 is the same

On Wan 3.0, 3 x $1.25 = $3.75 at 720p, equal to one 30 s job. At 480p, 3 x 63 = 189 cents against 188, one cent more.

Timeline costs $0.10 per output minute rounded up, so for a 30 s result the join is a flat $0.10. Total for three 10 s Seedance 2.5 shots at 720p: $17.34 + $0.10 = $17.44.

Decision list

Pick one 30 s job when the action cannot be cut, when the camera moves through the whole time, or when you only want one review.

Pick three 10 s jobs when shots differ in setting, when any part may need a retake, or when you want to mix models. The cost difference is one cent per three jobs, plus $0.10 for the join.

Pick two jobs of 15 s when you want the cheaper Seedance 2.0 row: 2 x $5.67 = $11.34 at 720p, against $17.34 for 2.5.

Check the number yourself

To confirm the figure behind this post, read the seedance-2.5 entry from GET /v1/video-router/models and check that 10 s and 1080p are inside its duration_seconds and resolutions. The grid price for that cell is 1422 cents ($14.22). It is the provider list price times 1.25, rounded up to the next cent for the job, as of 2026-10-08.

Use an Idempotency-Key on every create call so a retry cannot start a second paid job, then poll the job until it is complete and download the file from the result. Media inputs for Timeline or for references must be hosted files, so import them first.

None of the prices here say anything about picture quality, motion or how well a model follows a prompt. Prices can change when a provider changes its list, which is why every table carries a date. Re-read the catalog before you commit a large batch, and run one test job at the exact setting you plan to use.