Credits Policy and Seedance Pricing

As checked on October 28, 2026, Seedance pricing in ChatCut depends on the exact model, resolution, duration, eligible video inputs, and account pricing catalog. Rounded public card estimates are not job quotes. Check the editor estimate or confirmation for your settings, then verify the completed charge in Credits history → Detail. Built-in Agent usage is separate from media-generation usage.

Which actions use ChatCut credits?

Manual timeline editing, uploads, project browsing, transcription, and exporting do not consume credits. A plan can still limit access to a feature even when you have enough credits. See Generation Credits for the estimate and transaction workflow.

Can I estimate the cost from 30–60 minutes of raw footage?

Raw footage length alone cannot tell you whether 100 credits will cover an edit. Uploading and manually editing that footage do not consume credits. Asking the built-in ChatCut Agent to edit it uses variable model usage; generating new media adds the charges for those generation actions. Revisions and the context processed can also change the total.

Before starting, separate editing existing footage, asking the Agent for changes, and generating new clips, images, or audio. Check your plan and balance in the avatar menu. Video Gen shows an estimate after you choose its settings; some Agent-driven generation requests show a confirmation card. Do not assume every action has a fixed price preview.

How many credits does video generation use?

There is no single current per-second price that covers every Seedance model, setting, and account. This page does not publish an authenticated production quote: none was captured for this update. Use the editor estimate for the intended job and the completed ledger for settlement.

Last verified: 2026-10-28. The table separates documentation, inspected integration behavior, and unverified route behavior. Saved official documentation was accessed on 2026-10-27; the source and evidence review took place on 2026-10-28.

What changes the price?

Record the exact model or public model ID, pricing catalog, resolution and dimensions, aspect ratio, requested duration, input-video duration, audio setting, and quote date. Compare estimates only when those fields match. The inspected ChatCut Seedance tool enables generated audio internally and has no audio toggle; the native API’s generate_audio: false is a separate control.

In the inspected Seedance contract, token usage depends on frame size and output frames. Eligible input video changes the tariff for the request and adds input usage; minimum input billing can also apply. Provider-reported usage and job-level rounding can make settlement differ from the estimate. Increasing resolution therefore does not imply a fixed pixel-only price ratio.

Do not multiply a rounded one-second card estimate into an exact job price. Do not use an expired Fast/mini promotion as today’s price, or attach a Nano Banana 2 card number to Nano Banana Pro. Retail subscriptions, Ark CNY pricing, BytePlus USD pricing, and ChatCut credits have different scopes.

What does a matched-settings example cost?

For a reproducible quote check, use full Seedance 2.0 (public Ark model ID doubao-seedance-2-0-260128), one 5-second output, 16:9, 720p with a 1280 × 720 pricing basis, no image/video/audio references, and ChatCut’s internally enabled generated audio. Record whether the account uses catalog 2026-10-20 or the legacy fallback before comparing prices.

No authenticated production quote or settled charge was captured for that setup on 2026-10-28, so no numeric total is asserted. The quote date is still to be recorded when you check it in the editor. This is a recipe for obtaining a matched estimate, not evidence that a generation completed.

1. Open Video Gen and select the full Seedance 2.0 model with the settings above.
2. Use a bounded prompt, such as: “A slow camera push toward black headphones on a studio desk. Keep the camera movement steady.”
3. Record the displayed estimate, catalog if known, exact settings, and check date before submitting. If a setting or catalog cannot be confirmed, label it unknown.
4. If you choose to generate, compare the completed media transaction in Credits history → Detail with that estimate. Record built-in Agent usage separately if the Agent helped with the task.

Are reference videos billed?

Eligible reference or source video affects the inspected billing contract for Seedance 2.0, Fast, mini, and 2.5. It is not exclusive to 2.5. The contract changes the applicable token tariff when video input is present and includes billable input usage. Adding a video therefore requires a fresh quote with its duration and the intended output settings; it is not a fixed surcharge per attachment.

See Generation References for preparing inputs and the Model Capability Matrix for model-specific options. Those are integration references, not live endpoint-acceptance guarantees.

Are Agent charges separate?

When the built-in ChatCut Agent plans or revises a project, its model usage is separate from the media-generation charge. A media quote does not promise to cover the entire Agent conversation.

When Codex, Claude, or another supported local agent controls ChatCut through a plugin or MCP connection, the host’s reasoning uses its own subscription or API allowance. ChatCut-hosted media generation uses ChatCut credits. If the host supplies its own image generation, that follows the host’s allowance. Check which tool supplies each operation when a workflow mixes services.

How can I keep Agent conversation usage focused?

• Put the goal, required source material, output format, and constraints in one specific request.
• Use attachments or Selection Mode references for assets, clips, times, screen regions, or transcript passages.
• Keep related revisions in the same conversation while the previous context is useful.
• Start a new conversation for an unrelated task when the old discussion is no longer needed. Create a separate project only when its media and Timeline should also be separate.

These steps reduce unnecessary context; they do not promise a fixed charge.

What does not use ChatCut credits?

• Uploading files, organizing the media library, and browsing projects.
• Manual editing such as trimming, moving, styling, and arranging timeline items.
• Transcription and standard caption editing.
• Video, audio, subtitle, and XML export. Export can still be limited by your plan; see Web vs Desktop Export and Export Panel.

What changes when I use a Codex or Claude plugin?

Keep the host agent’s allowance and ChatCut media charges separate as described above. A plugin connection does not make ChatCut-hosted generation free, and a ChatCut media estimate does not include the host agent’s reasoning allowance.

How do generation confirmations work?

A confirmation card can show Allow, Allow all … in this project, and Deny. Allow all applies only to that generation category in the current project.

To turn it off, open Agent Settings beside the Agent mode control, select Generation Auto-Allow, and disable Motion Graphics, Video Generation, or Image Generation.

How do I verify the final charge?

1. Open the avatar menu in the top-right of the editor.
2. Select Credits history.
3. Open Detail.
4. Read the completed negative transaction and the balance shown after it.

The transaction list is the source of truth for completed charges. If generation fails, open its card in My Assets, then inspect Credits history. Do not infer a deduction or refund from the estimate or failure status alone. See Workflow Failures for checking the task itself.