Hunyuan vs Seedream (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Seedream grades higher than Hunyuan: 1.6 against 1.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Seedream grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Seedream
ByteDance's image generation and editing model, sold by the image
From $13.99
Which one is for you
Pick Hunyuan if
- Fits if you follow Tencent's model releases and read Chinese
- Makes sense if you want to look at the open-source models rather than make pictures
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want an image generator you can sign up for today
- Not for you if you need English documentation, because the portal is Chinese
- Watch out: Hy Image3.5 is labelled preview and no prices are shown
- Watch out: this is a research portal with several models, not a single image product
Pick Seedream if
- Fits if you generate images in volume and want to pay per image
- Works for developers who want an image model behind their own app
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a finished app with a gallery and editor, as this is a model
- Tight if you buy packs and use them slowly: they expire after 30 days and unused images are lost
- Pricey if you read the discounted prices as the real ones, since $6.99, $24.99 and $49.99 are for a first purchase only
- Watch out: versions 4.0, 5.0 Lite and 5.5 all appear across ByteDance pages, and the packs are stated for 5.5
How we grade them
| 1.4GPAHunyuanWeak | 1.6GPASeedreamWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe portal publishes no price, so it sits in the middle by default. | C$13.99 for 700 images, about 2 cents each, and $35.99 for 1,800. Those are pay-as-you-go packs the category's monthly figures can't be set against, so it sits in the middle. The cheaper first-purchase prices apply once. |
| Free plan and trial | FThe portal records no free tier or trial. | FNo free plan or trial on the listing. A first pack is discounted to $6.99, which is still a purchase. |
| Features | DA model family portal rather than an image app. Hy Image3.5 is a preview, alongside language, vision and speech models. | CText-to-image and prompt-based editing in one model, transparent backgrounds and multi-turn edits. It's a model, not a full app, so there is no gallery, library or editor around it. |
| Ease of use | CThe page is in Chinese with a prompt to switch to an international site, and access terms weren't confirmed. | CNo store rating on record. It's sold as API access and image packs, which suits people who are comfortable calling a model rather than opening an app. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web portal. It lists open-source models and Tencent's own products, but nothing else to connect to. | CWeb only, with an API through BytePlus. No phone or desktop apps and no integrations are named. |
| Best for | a look at Tencent's models, not an app for making images | an image model bought by the pack or through an API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Hunyuan and Seedream. How we grade
Where they differ
- Hunyuan also covers transcription and chat assistant.
In commonWebAI featuresImage generation
At a glance
| Hunyuan | Seedream | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | $13.99 for 700 images, valid 30 days ($6.99 first purchase) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Tencent | ByteDance |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | byteplus.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hunyuan
- The portal is in Chinese, with a prompt to switch to an international site, so English documentation was not read.
- No prices are shown on the portal; the image model is labelled preview and access terms were not confirmed.
- This is a model family and research portal, not a single image app; the image model is one of several.
Seedream
- Seedream is a model, not an app of its own; the pages read here sell API access and image packs.
- Packs expire after 30 days and unused images are not carried over.
- The discounted prices apply to a first purchase only; the listed figure is the regular price.
- Versions 4.0, 5.0 Lite and 5.5 appear across ByteDance pages; the packs are stated for 5.5.
Key features
Hunyuan
- Hy Image3.5 preview
- A visual generation model in preview that Tencent describes as strong at rendering text, varied styles and consistent layouts.
- Hy3 language model
- A mixture-of-experts language model of 295B total and 21B active parameters, with a 256K context window and three thinking modes.
- Hy Vision 2.0
- A vision-language model for understanding images, built on Tencent's HY-2.0 language model and aimed at image-to-text tasks.
- Hy ASR 3.0 preview
- A speech recognition model built on Hy3 that Tencent says covers dialects and varied settings.
- Open-source models and products
- The portal links Tencent's open-source models and consumer products such as WorkBuddy, Yuanbao and ima.
Seedream
- Generation and editing in one model
- Seedream 4.0 combined text-to-image and prompt-based editing in a single architecture, according to ByteDance Seed's page.
- Multi-turn editing
- Seedream 5.5 makes targeted changes across successive edits while keeping the unedited parts of the image as they were.
- Transparent backgrounds
- Seedream 5.5 can output images with transparent or semi-transparent backgrounds, including separate layers.
- Multi-image fusion and series
- BytePlus lists multi-image fusion, image series generation, style transfer and element deletion or modification.
- Per-image API pricing
- BytePlus advertises image generation and editing from $0.02 per image through its API.
Plans
Hunyuan
Pricing could not be confirmed. See hunyuan.tencent.com.
Seedream
Starter$13.99
for 700 images, valid 30 days, paid once
Seedream 5.5 image pack. First purchase is $6.99 (50% off); unused images expire.
Professional$35.99
for 1,800 images, valid 30 days, paid once
Seedream 5.5 image pack. First purchase is $24.99 (31% off); unused images expire.
Team$69.99
for 3,500 images, valid 30 days, paid once
Seedream 5.5 image pack for heavy use. First purchase is $49.99 (29% off).
Ways to pay less
Hunyuan
No public discounts listed.
Seedream
- Other savings
First-purchase pack discount
New BytePlus customers pay $6.99, $24.99 or $49.99 for the three packs, 29% to 50% below the listed prices.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan or Seedream?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Hunyuan has no price we could confirm, and Seedream starts at $13.99 for 700 images, valid 30 days ($6.99 first purchase).
Which has a free plan, Hunyuan or Seedream?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Hunyuan nor Seedream has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.