Pika Adds Fast, Cheap Seedance 2.5 Draft Mode

Pika has rolled out a Draft Mode for Seedance 2.5 on its platform and API Club, letting users churn out quick preview clips for as little as 10 cents per second before upgrading to full quality.

Pika is giving users of Seedance 2.5 a cheaper, faster way to iterate on video ideas. The company announced that a new Draft Mode for the model is now live both on the main Pika platform and through the Pika API Club, aimed at speeding up the early stages of video creation. According to Pika, Draft Mode clips can be generated at what it calls "blazing speeds" for as low as 10 cents per second of video. The company framed that price point as unusually cheap for AI video generation, essentially inviting creators to test out ideas without worrying much about cost. The workflow is designed around iteration: once a creator has landed on a version of a clip they're happy with in draft form, they can then finalize it in high quality rather than paying premium rates for every experimental pass. That two-step approach mirrors a broader trend among AI video platforms toward separating cheap, rough previews from more expensive, polished final renders. Pika detailed the update in a post on X, positioning the low draft pricing as a way to make heavier use of Seedance 2.5 more accessible for creators who want to explore multiple takes before committing to a final output.