Seedream 4.0 AI Image Generator
Seedream 4.0 is the entry tier of ByteDance's Seedream family. It is the one that takes a resolution rather than a quality switch, and the one cheap enough to run several times while you are still deciding what you want.
Seedream 4.0 AI Image Generator
Two images Seedream 4.0 made here
AI-generated reference frames from Seedream 4.0: a city as a moulded model, and a big cat lit from behind.
Prague as a city model
What is Seedream 4.0?
Seedream 4.0 is the oldest tier of ByteDance's Seedream family still worth offering, sitting below 4.5, 5.0 Lite and 5.0 Pro. It is also the odd one out in how you talk to it: where the later tiers take an aspect ratio and a quality setting, 4.0 takes a named framing preset — square, portrait_16_9, landscape_21_9 and so on — plus a resolution of 1K, 2K or 4K.
Only the prompt is actually required. What it is for is the part of the process before you know what you want. Most of the images anyone generates are thrown away, and they are thrown away for reasons that have nothing to do with model tier: the composition was wrong, the idea did not work, the subject was in the wrong place.
Finding that out at 35 credits a run is the whole argument for Seedream 4.0. For lettering inside the picture, Seedream 4.5 is the tier built for it, and faces under difficult light are what 5.0 Pro is for.
Creative engine
What a Seedream 4.0 image costs
One flat rate, and the resolution you pick does not change it.
The entry tier
Seedream 4.0 costs 35 credits, level with 5.0 Lite and below 4.5 and 5.0 Pro at 40.
Named presets, not ratios
square, portrait_4_3, landscape_16_9 and six more, plus a 1K/2K/4K resolution.
Prompt is the only requirement
Everything else has a default, which makes it the quickest tier to throw an idea at.
When Seedream 4.0 is the right pick
Pick this tier when you are still deciding. That covers the first several runs of almost every image anyone makes here: testing whether the composition works, whether the subject reads at a glance, whether the idea was any good. The prompt you arrive at transfers to 4.5 and 5.0 Pro unchanged, so nothing spent down here is wasted. Once the idea is settled, take it up a tier for the finish it needs: lettering that reads cleanly inside the frame on 4.5, or a face doing something difficult on 5.0 Pro. And stay here permanently for decorative work: backgrounds, textures, and anything that will sit behind text at low opacity.
The family's lowest price
Seedream 4.0 is 35 credits a run, against 40 for Seedream 4.5 and 5.0 Pro.
Direct 4K
The resolution is a request field here rather than something implied by a quality switch.
Prompts carry upward
Whatever wording works here works on 4.5 and 5.0 Pro without rewriting.
Seedream 4.0 features
What the entry tier accepts, and where the tiers above it pick up.
Text to image
One prompt in, one image out, with no source material required.
Nine framing presets
square, square_hd, portrait_4_3, portrait_3_2, portrait_16_9, and four landscape equivalents up to 21:9.
1K, 2K and 4K
A real resolution field, which the 4.5 and 5.0 tiers replaced with a quality switch.
Seed
Reuse a seed to get closer to a previous run rather than starting over each time.
Seedream 4.0 specs
Taken from the published provider schema for Seedream 4.0, which is the API it runs on here.
- Model
- Seedream 4.0 (ByteDance), text-to-image
- Required inputs
- Prompt only
- Framing presets
- square / square_hd / portrait_4_3 / portrait_3_2 / portrait_16_9 / landscape_4_3 / landscape_3_2 / landscape_16_9 / landscape_21_9
- Resolution
- 1K / 2K / 4K
- Seed
- Supported, for staying near a previous result
- Credit cost
- 35 credits per image, any resolution
- Tiers above
- Seedream 4.5, Seedream 5.0 Lite and Seedream 5.0 Pro
From prompt to image with Seedream 4.0
Four steps, and the last one is what this tier is actually for.
Pick the framing preset
Choose the shape by name before writing — it changes what belongs in the frame.
Describe the subject and the light
What the thing is, and where the light comes from. Both do more than any adjective.
Leave it at 1K while testing
Resolution does not change the composition, and 4K is only worth generating once you like it.
Run it several times
A Seedream 4.0 run is 35 credits at any resolution, so every retake costs the same as the first.
What Seedream 4.0 is for
Jobs where you want to run one prompt as many times as it takes.
Finding the composition
The first several attempts at any image, before the prompt has settled.
Backgrounds and textures
Images that sit behind type at low opacity: a slide background, a texture, a header wash.
Simple product shots
One object, one light source, no writing on the label.
Volume work
Anywhere you need a whole set of images from the same prompt.
One credit balance for every image model
Credits are shared across everything Veida AI runs. You see the cost before each run, and a failed job is never charged.
Free · Unlimited free pictures once you sign in
No card, nothing to cancel.
Starter
What's included
- Unlimited pictures and photo edits on Veida AI Image v1
- Skip the free queue — your runs start when you press Generate
- 2 generations at once
Pro
Everything in Starter, plus
- Every model Max has, at 60% of Max's price
- Unlimited on every model — GPT Image 2.5, GPT Image 2, Nano Banana Pro, Seedream 5.0 Pro, Qwen Image 3
- 4 generations at once
Max
Everything in Pro, plus
- 2× Pro at once — 8 generations running together
- 1.7× Pro's full-speed allowance, the largest on the site
- Unlimited on every model, up to 4K
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Seedream 4.0 FAQ
Common questions about Seedream 4.0, the entry tier of the Seedream family.
Seedream 4.0 takes a named framing preset and a 1K/2K/4K resolution; 4.5 takes an aspect ratio and a basic/high quality switch. The practical difference is text — 4.5 renders writing inside an image far more reliably — and 4.5 costs a little more.
35 credits, and the resolution you pick does not change it. Seedream 4.5 is 40, Seedream 5.0 Pro is 40 and Seedream 5.0 Lite is 35. On the Pro and Max plans none of them spend credits at all, so you can run the same prompt as often as you like.
Only once you like the image. Resolution does not change composition or subject, so generating your test runs at 1K and the keeper at 4K loses nothing.
Generate it on Seedream 4.5 — legible lettering inside the picture is the thing that release improved. Keep Seedream 4.0 for pictures that carry no lettering.
Reusing a seed keeps a new run close to a previous one, so you can change one part of the prompt without the whole image rearranging itself.
A Seedream 4.0 run that fails puts its credits straight back, automatically.
For its price, no — 35 credits flat, any use. Seedream 4.0's output is stable and its look is well understood, which matters when you are matching images made months ago.
Make an image with Seedream 4.0
Pick a framing preset, describe the subject and the light, and run it a few times.