Seedream 4 on Okou. The photoreal text-to-image default
ByteDance's Seedream 4 text-to-image model. Strong photoreal aesthetic at a cost comparable to the cheapest options in the lineup.
Image / Text-to-image
It's the natural default when the brief is specifically a photo. For stylised illustration or editorial design pick GPT Image 1 or Flux Pro v1.1 Ultra.
What is Seedream 4?
April 2026 · ByteDance's photoreal text-to-image default in the Seedream V4 generation.
Seedream 4 is the fourth generation of ByteDance's text-to-image family. The aesthetic skews towards photoreal output, with portrait, product and lifestyle shots as the standout categories. Prompt adherence on standard descriptive briefs (subject, setting, lighting) is solid.
What's notable about Seedream 4
Headline architecture and capability features.
Diffusion-based text-to-image model. Billed per generated image. Inputs accept text prompts; produces photoreal-leaning output suitable for portraits, products and lifestyle imagery.
Specs at a glance
Seedream 4 pricing
Relative Built-in cost at standard catalog settings; actual credits vary with generation settings.
How Seedream 4 behaves in practice
Observed behaviour from production agent runs.
Photoreal aesthetic
Portraits, product shots and lifestyle photography are the standout categories. Output is competitive with Flux Pro v1.1 Ultra on a meaningful share of photoreal briefs and dramatically cheaper per call.
Chinese-language prompts
Strong handling of Chinese-language prompts and culturally-anchored subjects, which is a real advantage for agents serving Chinese-speaking users.
Aesthetic ceiling
Solid for everything in the photoreal lane; less of a fit for hyper-stylised illustration where GPT Image 1 leads.
Best agent tasks for Seedream 4
The portrait or product-shot agent at scale
Photoreal subjects at a low per-image cost make Seedream 4 viable for fan-out workloads — a hundred product photos for a catalogue, batch portrait generation for a creator tool.
The Chinese-language marketing agent
Strong handling of Chinese prompts and culturally-anchored subjects. The right default for agents serving Chinese-speaking markets.
The cheaper alternative to Flux Pro v1.1 Ultra
When the brief is photoreal but the deliverable doesn't justify the Flux premium, Seedream 4 carries most of the quality at half the price.
When to skip Seedream 4
Skip Seedream 4 for stylised illustration (GPT Image 1 leads) or hero-shot editorial work where the Flux premium is justified.
Seedream 4 vs other models
Seedream 4 vs GPT Image 1
Seedream 4 leads on photoreal aesthetic at lower cost; GPT Image 1 leads on stylised illustration and native edit flows.
Seedream 4 vs Flux Pro v1.1 Ultra
Both photoreal-leaning. Seedream 4 is half the price and competitive on portrait and product work; Flux Pro v1.1 Ultra wins on hero-shot compositional fidelity.
Bottom line: should you use Seedream 4?
Default to Seedream 4 when the brief is specifically a photo and cost matters. Escalate to Flux Pro v1.1 Ultra only when the hero shot justifies the premium.
Frequently asked questions
Is it good at Chinese prompts?
Yes — significantly stronger than most Western-trained baselines on Chinese-language prompts and culturally-anchored subjects.
What's its strongest aesthetic?
Photoreal: portraits, product shots, lifestyle photography. Less of a fit for stylised illustration.
Does it support image editing?
The curated entry on Okou covers text-to-image. Edit flows are not the model's primary strength.
Alternatives
Using Seedream 4 on Okou
Using Seedream 4 on Okou
Okou agents can call Seedream 4 as part of an agent run, billed against Okou credits. The price tier above is the product's relative cost signal; the final charge depends on settings such as size, quality, duration, resolution and audio.
Available on Okou since April 2026.
