Happy Horse vs Seedance 2.5: which fits your video request?

Happy Horse 1.1 from Alibaba covers text-to-video, image-to-video and reference-to-video in clips of 3 to 15 seconds at 720p or 1080p. Seedance 2.5 from ByteDance covers those modes plus first and last frame, in clips of 4 to 30 seconds from 480p to 4k. Measured field by field, Seedance 2.5 accepts more values almost everywhere, and the one request value only Happy Horse 1.1 accepts is a 3 second duration. This page compares catalog facts and prices; it does not test output quality.

Which Seedance model does this compare?

Seedance 2.5, the newest Seedance release on Makernice, with model id seedance-2.5. If you are weighing Happy Horse 1.1 against the earlier 15 second Seedance, Seedance 2.0 vs Happy Horse 1.1 covers that pair.

Spec table: Happy Horse 1.1 and Seedance 2.5

Seedance 2.5 accepts the wider range on length (4 to 30 seconds), tiers (480p to 4k) and references (16), while Happy Horse 1.1 accepts the shorter 3 second minimum. The table lists every catalog field for both.

Model pages: Happy Horse 1.1 and Seedance 2.5. Audio for Happy Horse 1.1 is not listed in the catalog, so it is left open here; Seedance 2.5 returns audio on every clip.

Is there anything Happy Horse 1.1 accepts that Seedance 2.5 does not?

Happy Horse 1.1 accepts one value that Seedance 2.5 rejects: a duration of 3 seconds. Seedance 2.5 starts at 4. Every other Happy Horse 1.1 request value, including its five text-to-video ratios and both resolution tiers, is also valid on Seedance 2.5, as long as the input images fit Seedance 2.5's 300 to 6000 pixel sides. The reverse is far from true: a Seedance 2.5 request may use first and last frame, 480p or 4k, 21:9 or 9:21, more than 9 references, a prompt over 2,500 characters or a clip over 15 seconds, and Happy Horse 1.1 rejects each of those.

How do Happy Horse 1.1 and Seedance 2.5 differ in reference-to-video?

Seedance 2.5 reads up to 16 images and lets the request set any of its eight aspect ratios. Happy Horse 1.1 reads up to 9 and takes no aspect_ratio field in that mode. Happy Horse 1.1 also asks for reference images with a short side of at least 400 pixels, while Seedance 2.5 accepts sides from 300 to 6000 pixels within a 2:5 to 5:2 shape. A reference set prepared for Seedance 2.5 can therefore fail on Happy Horse 1.1 on count, on image size or on the aspect_ratio field.

What do 720p and 1080p cost on Happy Horse 1.1 and Seedance 2.5?

On Makernice, Happy Horse 1.1 is $0.168 per second and Seedance 2.5 is $0.2592 per second at 720p, on price list v15 (November 12, 2026). Rates are per second of output and shared by every mode at a given tier. Clip price = per-second price × seconds, rounded to the cent; 15 s is the longest Happy Horse 1.1 clip.

Seedance 2.5 also prices 480p and 4k, and clips up to 30 seconds; see the Seedance 2.5 model page or the cost calculator.

Which should I choose, Happy Horse or Seedance?

Let the brief decide, since this page has no side-by-side quality test: Happy Horse 1.1 only when the clip must be 3 seconds long, and Seedance 2.5 when the request needs a value Happy Horse 1.1 rejects. For anything inside both lists, the per-second price is the remaining difference.

• A 3 second clip: Happy Horse 1.1.
• First and last frame, clips past 15 seconds, 480p drafts, 4k, or ultrawide and 9:21 framing: Seedance 2.5.
• More than 9 reference images, or a set framed with aspect_ratio: Seedance 2.5.
• Anything inside both lists: either works, and the per-second price is the remaining difference.