Last verified
OFF THE PRICE LISTAGENTIC CODING256K CONTEXTTEXT + VISIONCONTEXT CACHINGCNY SOURCE

Doubao Seed Code API Pricing

Off the price list: as of September 24, 2026, Volcano Ark no longer lists doubao-seed-code on its pricing page or model list, and we found no retirement notice - so do not plan new work on it. The closest current model is Doubao Seed 2.0 Code. Doubao Seed Code is ByteDance's code-specialised model for agentic programming, UI-to-code work, and bug-fixing loops. The official Volcano Ark model page last listed the <=32K tier at Y1.20/M input, Y8.00/M output, and Y0.24/M cache-hit input; AI//COST stores that as $0.1785/M, $1.1903/M, and $0.0357/M at Y6.7209/USD. Checked by hand against volcengine.com.

Input - per 1M tokens
$0.178/M
Original Y1.20/M CNY source
Output - per 1M tokens
$1.19/M
Original Y8.00/M CNY source
Cached input - per 1M tokens
$0.0357/M
Original Y0.24/M -80%
Effective - agentic blend
$0.152/M
92/8 split - 82% cache
§ 01 / TERMINAL

Run the numbers.

Live calculator pre-loaded with Doubao Seed Code's baseline tier from the official Volcano Ark model page. Adjust for larger codebase prompts if you expect the 32K-128K or 128K-256K pricing bands instead of the default row.

$ /mo
Workload split
Prompt cache hit rate
Tokens you can process
—
Words equivalent (English)
—
Effective rate
—
Open full calculator (all models · share URL · CSV) →
§ 02 / SCENARIOS

Real-world presets.

BUGFIX

Focused bugfix

$0.00192/task
8k in - 1.2k out~52,094 tasks/$100
UI TO CODE

Screenshot to frontend

$0.0055/screen
12k in - 4k out~18,188 screens/$100
AGENT

Repo iteration

$0.010/run
20k in - 7.5k out~9,847 runs/$100
REVIEW

PR review

$0.00395/review
10k in - 2.8k out~25,336 reviews/$100
§ 03 / TOKENIZER

Paste text. See tokens. See cost.

What's a token →
Calibrated · measured on the vendor's tokenizer · 2026-06-10 Auto-counts as you type

Counts use a chars-per-token calibration measured on the vendor's own published tokenizer (ByteDance-Seed/Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct, 2026-06-10). English prose is typically within a few percent; code and non-Latin scripts tokenize heavier. For billing-exact counts use the vendor's count-tokens API.

Characters 665
Words 98
Tokens (estimated) 128 tokens
Cost as input · uncached $0.00002 USD
Cost as output · uncached $0.00015 USD
Cost as cached input $0.000005 USD
§ 04 / SHELF

Up against the shelf.

All models →
Model Input /M Output /M Effective blended Context Best for
Doubao Seed Code Current $0.178 cache $0.0357 $1.19 $0.152 agentic 92/8 128K Agentic coding and UI-to-code
Doubao Seed 2.0 Code $0.476 cache $0.0952 $2.38 $0.341 +2.2× 256K Current flagship coding tier
Doubao Seed 2.0 Pro $0.476 cache $0.0952 $2.38 $0.341 +2.2× 256K Complex agent workflows
GPT-5.3-Codex $1.75 cache $0.175 $14.00 $1.54 +10× 400K OpenAI coding workflows
Claude Sonnet 4.6 $3.00 cache $0.30 $15.00 $2.05 +13× 1M Daily-driver agents and coding

Frequently asked.

Practical coding-model pricing questions, with the official CNY ladder separated from workload assumptions.

Q · 01 Is Doubao Seed Code still sold? +
Not as a listed model. On September 24, 2026 doubao-seed-code was missing from both Volcano Ark's model pricing page and its model list, and ByteDance published no retirement notice we could find, so whether existing integrations still get answers is unconfirmed. For new work, start from Doubao Seed 2.0 Code; the rates on this page are the last ones Volcano Ark listed.
Q · 02 What is Doubao Seed Code priced at? +
The official Volcano Ark model page lists the <=32K tier at Y1.20/M input, Y8.00/M output, and Y0.24/M cache-hit input. AI//COST stores that as $0.1785/M, $1.1903/M, and $0.0357/M using Y6.7209/USD.
Q · 03 Does the price change for larger codebase prompts? +
Yes. The official model page shows 32K-128K at Y1.40/M input and Y12.00/M output, then 128K-256K at Y2.80/M input and Y16.00/M output. This page uses the <=32K baseline so the public comparison stays consistent.
Q · 04 How large is the cache-hit discount? +
Cache-hit input is listed at Y0.24/M on every published tier, versus Y1.20/M on the baseline input row. That is roughly an 80% reduction for repeated prompt segments.
Q · 05 How does it compare with Doubao Seed 2.0 Code? +
Doubao Seed 2.0 Code is the newer flagship coding row and is much pricier at $0.4761/M input and $2.3806/M output on its baseline tier. Seed Code is cheaper, but it is no longer the top of ByteDance's coding lineup.
Q · 06 Is this page using the Coding Plan subscription price? +
No. This page uses the official API token price from Volcano Ark's public model page, not the separate Coding Plan subscription packaging. That keeps the comparison aligned with other per-token model pages.
Q · 07 Why is the effective figure lower than the output price suggests? +
Because AI//COST applies a 92/8 workload with an 82% cache-hit assumption when showing the blended planning figure. The public list prices remain the CNY rows shown above.
Y
Reviewed by Yaroslav Vikhariev Founder · AI//COST · Prices checked by hand against volcengine.com · Last verified Jul 11, 2026
Methodology Report a correction More by Y.V.