Seedream 5 — Free Online
ByteDance's flagship image model, available in your browser. Generate photorealistic visuals with accurate text rendering from a single text prompt.
Why Seedream 5.0 leads on photorealism & 4K output
ByteDance Seed's flagship image model — built for portraits, product heroes and cinematic composition. Every image below was generated on Shotari from a single prompt.
Native 4K, no upscale artifacts
Seedream 5.0 generates directly at native 4K instead of upscaling a small image. Edges stay sharp and detail stays natural — none of the over-sharpened halo you get from after-the-fact upscaling.
Materials you can almost touch
Skin pores, woven fabric, metal reflections, glass refraction, the sheen on food — Seedream 5.0 gets the physics of surfaces right. Every surface feels real, especially in the close-ups that expose weaker models.
Cinematic lighting & color grade
Three-point portrait light, soft window light, dusk rim light, neon noir, hard chiaroscuro — Seedream 5.0 treats light as the subject, not an afterthought. Output reads like a film still, not a stock photo.
Built for portraits, product & cinema
Fashion editorials, e-commerce heroes, food photography, automotive shots, cinematic compositions — anything that tells its story through light and material. When you need it to look like a real photo with a real budget, this is the default.
What Seedream 5 Does Better
Three credits per image makes Seedream 5 the volume economics champion on Shotari — with the photoreal rendering the Seedream line is known for.
Photoreal rendering
The Seedream line's signature look: natural skin, believable materials, and camera-like depth of field, without the over-processed AI sheen.
Volume economics
At 3 credits per image, your daily free-tier refill alone covers multiple generations, and a 1,500-credit pack is 500 images. No other premium model on Shotari comes close per credit.
Reference-image editing
Upload a photo and describe the change — Seedream 5 uses it to guide composition and style, making consistent low-cost edits the default rather than a premium feature.
E-commerce look
Clean product staging, accurate colorways, and catalog-friendly lighting are where the photoreal bias pays off — listings, variants, and seasonal refreshes at scale.
Full ratio & resolution ladder
Six aspect ratios and the 1K/2K/4K ladder, same as the premium tiers — the budget price does not cut the output options.
Fast turnaround
Optimized for throughput: short queue-to-image time keeps iteration loops tight when you are producing in batches.
How to Use Seedream 5 in 4 Steps
Describe the image
Subject, setting, lighting. Seedream leans photoreal by default — name a style if you want something else.
Add a reference (optional)
Guide composition or edit an existing photo. Up to 3 references are supported.
Pick resolution & ratio
3 credits at 1K; scale to 2K/4K only for the shots you ship.
Generate in batches
The price point is built for volume — run variants side by side and cherry-pick from history.
Where Seedream 5 Earns Its Credits
Product listings at scale
Hundreds of SKU shots, colorways, and seasonal variants where per-image cost decides feasibility.
Social content pipelines
Daily posts across accounts need a model you can afford to run every single day.
Photoreal scene mockups
Lifestyle contexts, interior staging, and environment shots that need to read as photography.
Draft-then-upgrade workflows
Explore cheaply here, then re-run the winning prompt on Nano Banana Pro when a hero shot demands the premium tier.
Explore more models
Each model has its own strengths — pick one and start creating.
Shotari Pro
Our premium in-house model — sharper, higher quality.
Shotari Basic
Our free, fast model for everyday creation.
FLUX.2
Black Forest Labs' flagship — striking photorealism.
GPT Image 2
OpenAI's flagship — best at long prompts and text inside images.
GPT Image 1.5
Fast OpenAI edits with clean in-image text.
Nano Banana Pro
Google Gemini — high-fidelity detail and strong consistency.
Nano Banana 2
Sharper detail and refined visual quality.
Nano Banana
Fast, popular model for everyday image creation.
Seedream 4.5
Cinematic realism with 2K/4K and reference editing.
Seedream 5 Lite
Budget-friendly, fast everyday generation.
Choose Your Plan
Free images include a watermark. Upgrade for clean output, faster generation and commercial use.
Free
10 credits per day
Get Started- ~5 Shotari Pro generations/dayⓘ
- Unlimited Shotari Basic (slow queue)ⓘ
- Basic features
- Community support
- Images include a watermark (free tier). Upgrade to remove.
- Shotari free models only
Pro
Billed yearly · $120/year
2,000 credits per month
- All credit models (GPT Image, Nano Banana, Seedream, Seedance, Kling, Veo)
- ~1,000 Shotari Pro generations/monthⓘ
- ~80 AI videos per monthⓘ
- Unlimited Shotari Basicⓘ
- Priority queue
- No watermark
- Commercial license
Ultimate
Billed yearly · $240/year
5,000 credits per month
- All credit models (GPT Image, Nano Banana, Seedream, Seedance, Kling, Veo)
- ~2,500 Shotari Pro generations/monthⓘ
- ~200 AI videos per monthⓘ
- Unlimited Shotari Basic
- Highest-priority queueⓘ
- Full privacyⓘ
- No watermark
- Commercial license
- Early access to new features
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Seedream 5?
Seedream 5 is ByteDance Seed's flagship text-to-image model. It is one of the strongest models in the field for native 4K output, photoreal material rendering, and cinematic lighting. On Shotari, Seedream 5 is available alongside GPT Image 2, Nano Banana 2, and Shotari's own models in one image generator.
How does Seedream 5 compare to GPT Image 2?
GPT Image 2 leads on long prompts and in-image text — packaging, posters, infographics. Seedream 5 leads on cinematic, photoreal output — portraits, product hero shots, film-grade compositions. The two are complementary; switch between them inside the same Shotari image generator panel based on the brief.
Does Seedream 5 really output at 4K natively?
Yes. Seedream 5 generates at native 4K rather than upscaling a smaller image. The result is cleaner edges, more organic detail, and none of the over-sharpened artifacts you get from a post-hoc super-resolution pass. Higher resolutions are available on Pro and Ultimate plans.
What is Seedream 5 best for?
Anything where lighting and materials carry the meaning: portrait photography, fashion editorial, food photography, e-commerce hero shots, automotive product imagery, and any film-grade composition. If your brief is 'make this look like an expensive real photograph', Seedream 5 is usually the right pick.
How much does Seedream 5 cost on Shotari?
On Shotari, Seedream 5 costs 3 credits per image, paid from a credit pack or subscription. The free credits every account gets — 20 at signup plus 10 a day — only run Shotari Basic, so they can't be spent on Seedream 5. Images made with paid credits are watermark-free and cleared for commercial use.
Can I use Seedream 5 outputs commercially?
Paid users can use watermark-free outputs for commercial projects — ads, e-commerce, social posts, presentations, client work. Free outputs include a watermark and are intended for trial and personal use. Always make sure your prompt and uploaded references comply with copyright, likeness, and platform content rules.