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Seedream 5 Lite API

The accessible Lite variant of ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 family (early 2026), a unified multimodal model that adds deep reasoning and real-time web search to ground images in current, real-world information.

Get API key Read the docs

~40s
Avg. generation: 4 credits
From

Seedream 5 Lite editorial still of a LUMEN City Brief card on an oak desk overlooking Lisbon rooftops

Playground

Try Seedream 5 Lite right here.

model: seedream-5-lite

Prompt

Aspect ratio

Media inputs

Reference image

Advanced settings

Output format Guidance Pre-LLM Pre-process the prompt with an LLM. Enhance prompt Seed

Estimated cost 4 credits · $0.04 Generate in Studio

Output

Your output lands here. Hit generate to run this request in Studio.

Pricing

Simple per-generation pricing.

4 credits per generation ≈ $0.04

You only pay for successful generations. Failed jobs are refunded automatically.
One credit balance across every model on Apiframe, no per-model plans.
Start with free credits. No subscription required.
Volume discounts on larger plans.

See plans and credit packs

Specs

At a glance.

Provider ByteDance

Model ID seedream-5-lite

Aspect ratios 1:1, 3:4, 4:3, 9:16, 16:9

Image input Supported

Avg. time ~40s

Quickstart

How to call the Seedream 5 Lite API.

Send one POST /v2/images/generate request with your API key. The call returns a jobId you can poll, or pass a webhook_url and the result is pushed to you the moment it's ready.

Swap seedream-5-lite for any other model and nothing else changes.

Get API key Read the docs

generate.js

const response = await fetch("https://api.apiframe.ai/v2/images/generate", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "X-API-Key": "afk_your_api_key_here",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "prompt": "a sleek silver sports car on a coastal highway at sunset, hyper-realistic",
    "model": "seedream-5-lite",
    "seedreamParams": {
      "image_input": "https://example.com/input.jpg",
      "output_format": "jpg",
      "guidance_scale": 3,
      "use_pre_llm": false
    }
  }),
});
const { jobId } = await response.json();
console.log(jobId);

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.apiframe.ai/v2/images/generate",
    headers={
        "X-API-Key": "afk_your_api_key_here",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "prompt": "a sleek silver sports car on a coastal highway at sunset, hyper-realistic",
        "model": "seedream-5-lite",
        "seedreamParams": {
            "image_input": "https://example.com/input.jpg",
            "output_format": "jpg",
            "guidance_scale": 3,
            "use_pre_llm": False
        }
    },
)
print(response.json())  # { "jobId": "...", "status": "QUEUED" }

curl -X POST https://api.apiframe.ai/v2/images/generate \
  -H "X-API-Key: afk_your_api_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
        "prompt": "a sleek silver sports car on a coastal highway at sunset, hyper-realistic",
        "model": "seedream-5-lite",
        "seedreamParams": {
            "image_input": "https://example.com/input.jpg",
            "output_format": "jpg",
            "guidance_scale": 3,
            "use_pre_llm": false
        }
    }'

let job;
do {
  await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 2000));
  job = await fetch("https://api.apiframe.ai/v2/jobs/JOB_ID", {
    headers: { "X-API-Key": "afk_your_api_key_here" },
  }).then((r) => r.json());
} while (job.status !== "COMPLETED" && job.status !== "FAILED");
console.log(job.result);

import requests, time

while True:
    job = requests.get(
        "https://api.apiframe.ai/v2/jobs/JOB_ID",
        headers={"X-API-Key": "afk_your_api_key_here"},
    ).json()
    if job["status"] in ("COMPLETED", "FAILED"):
        break
    time.sleep(2)
print(job["result"])

curl https://api.apiframe.ai/v2/jobs/JOB_ID \
  -H "X-API-Key: afk_your_api_key_here"

Input schema

Every field Seedream 5 Lite accepts, with types and defaults. The full reference lives in the docs.

Field	Type	Description
prompt required	string	Text description of what to generate.
model required	string	The model identifier for this endpoint. Default:"seedream-5-lite" · "seedream-5-lite"
seedreamParams.image_input	string (URL)	Reference image (URL)
seedreamParams.output_format	string	Output format Default:"jpg" · "jpg", "png"
seedreamParams.guidance_scale	number	Guidance Default:3 · min 1, max 10, step 0.5
seedreamParams.use_pre_llm	boolean	Pre-process the prompt with an LLM. Default:false
seedreamParams.enhance_prompt	boolean	Enhance prompt Default:false
seedreamParams.seed	number	Reuse a number to reproduce the same result. step 1

The Seedream flagship

Seedream 5 Lite is one of 4 Seedream image models on Apiframe. The full editorial page (showcase, comparison, and use cases) lives on the flagship.

Flagship from 6 cr Seedream 5.0 Pro

Reference-driven composition with native 2K detail.

Explore Seedream 5.0 Pro All image models

Seedream 5 Lite questions

What teams ask before shipping with Seedream 5 Lite. Everything else lives in the docs.

What is Seedream 5 Lite?

The public-facing Lite variant of ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 family, a unified multimodal image model with deep thinking and built-in web search.

What is web search in it?

It pulls real-time information from the web at generation time, so images can reflect current trends, events, products, and data rather than only training knowledge.

How is it different from Seedream 4.5?

It adds real-time search and deep reasoning, with stronger instruction following, consistency, and world knowledge, and a higher overall Elo score.

What does "Lite" mean here?

It is tuned for speed and throughput over maximum compute, making it the lighter, faster member of the 5.0 family rather than a less capable one.

How many reference images can it use?

Up to 14 in a single generation, for fusion and composition.

Where can you access it?

Through Apiframe, as well as ByteDance's Dreamina and CapCut apps and major hosting partners.