# Seedance 1.5 Pro and grok-imagine-image-quality: what to move

URL: https://infro.io/blog/seedance-1-5-pro-and-grok-imagine-image-quality-what-to-move
Author: INFRO Editorial (https://infro.io/blog/editorial)
Publisher: INFRO
Published: 2026-11-02
Last modified: 2026-11-02
Last reviewed: 2026-11-02 (next review due 2026-12-02)
Topic: Agents and multimodal systems
Format: Brief

> Point image calls at grok-imagine-image-2.0 explicitly, and move Seedance 1.5 Pro to a Seedance 2.x model before 11 November. The video move changes clip length, inputs and the per-second rate, so re-estimate cost and re-validate parameters before cutover.

Key takeaways:
- xAI's grok-imagine-image-quality is served by grok-imagine-image-2.0 at low quality from 2 November, so name the 2.0 id yourself and set quality on purpose.
- OpenRouter marks Seedance 1.5 Pro as going away on 11 November 2026 and names no successor on the page; the other Seedance models are the candidates.
- On list rates, a 720p clip with audio goes from $0.05184 to $0.1512 per second between Seedance 1.5 Pro and 2.0, so re-estimate before you switch.
- Validate duration, resolution and aspect ratio against OpenRouter's video models endpoint; unsupported values return a 400.
- Drain Seedance 1.5 Pro jobs and store the output files before 11 November, because this brief could not confirm what happens to jobs in flight.

## What changes, and when

Two ids move within nine days. xAI's `grok-imagine-image-quality` is served by a different model from 2 November, which is today. OpenRouter's page for Seedance 1.5 Pro carries a "Going away November 11, 2026" label [1]. The earlier [October media shutdown article](https://infro.io/blog/image-video-model-shutdowns-october-2026) lists the xAI change in one table row; this brief covers what to move for both.

| Id | Where | Date | What happens | Move to |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `grok-imagine-image-quality` | xAI API | 2 Nov 2026 | Served by `grok-imagine-image-2.0` at quality low, same request and response shape, lower per-image price [2] | `grok-imagine-image-2.0`, named explicitly |
| `bytedance/seedance-1-5-pro` | OpenRouter | 11 Nov 2026 | Marked "Going away" [1] | A Seedance 2.x model (no successor named on the page) |

The xAI row comes from INFRO's earlier article, which quotes xAI's release notes. I did not open those notes, so confirm the wording in your xAI console before relying on it.

## Image: grok-imagine-image-quality to Image 2.0

Quality Mode launched on 6 May 2026 under the id `grok-imagine-image-quality`, for enterprise developers and teams [3]. Image 2.0 became generally available on 7 August and is in the API as `grok-imagine-image-2.0` [4]. Nothing fails after 2 November, so a test that checks only for a 200 will pass while the output comes from a different model at low quality.

What to do:

- Replace the slug in code and config with `grok-imagine-image-2.0`. Then the model and quality are your choice, not a redirect's.
- Set quality explicitly if you need the old look. I did not confirm which quality values Image 2.0 accepts, so read xAI's image docs before you pick one.
- Check what you gain. Image 2.0 edits with up to 5 input images in one generation, exports a subject with a transparent background, and resizes to ratios from 1:2 to 2:1 [4].
- If you restrict API keys to specific models, add the new id. The console lets you restrict a key to named models [5], and a key limited to the old slug may refuse the new one.
- Re-baseline unit cost from usage on real requests. The console's usage page exports CSV and labels image resolution in pricing [5].

If you reach xAI image models through OpenRouter, read the endpoint record rather than assuming. OpenRouter publishes per-endpoint `supported_parameters` and pricing, and an absent key means the parameter is unsupported [6]. I did not confirm that OpenRouter lists this slug.

## Video: Seedance 1.5 Pro to Seedance 2.x

Seedance 1.5 Pro makes 4–12 second clips at up to 1080p, takes text and images, can use a first and last frame, and generates audio in the same pass [1]. The candidates, from OpenRouter's pages:

| Model | Clip length | Inputs | Listed rate "from" |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Seedance 1.5 Pro | 4–12 s | text, images | $0.02306/s |
| Seedance 2.0 | 4–15 s | text, images, video, audio | $0.06726/s |
| Seedance 2.0 Fast | not read | text, first/last frame, references | $0.04035/s |
| Seedance 2.0 Mini | 4–15 s, 480p and 720p only | text, first/last frame, references | $0.03363/s |
| Seedance 2.5 | not read | up to 50 reference assets, editing, extension | $0.1028/s |

Table: OpenRouter list rates read on 2 November 2026 [1] [7]. "From" is the lowest-resolution rate; Fast is described as prioritising speed and lower cost over maximum quality.

The rate step is real. The page's token formula is height × width × duration × 24 / 1024 [1]. At 720p that is 21,600 tokens per second, which matches the listed $0.05184/s with audio for 1.5 Pro and $0.1512/s for 2.0 [1] [7].

> **Example: Illustrative arithmetic: one 10-second 720p clip**
> Using the list rates above, not a quote: Seedance 1.5 Pro with audio is $0.5184, video only $0.2592, and Seedance 2.0 is $1.512 either way. Multiply by your monthly clip count before choosing a tier.

Two more things to weigh. Both pages show a single hosting provider and the note that OpenRouter forwards every request to it [1] [7]. When read, Seedance 2.0 showed 79.18% availability over three days against 99.32% for 1.5 Pro, so plan retries. Neither is available through EU in-region routing [7].

Validate parameters against the model, not your old request. OpenRouter returns a 400 listing the supported values when duration, resolution or aspect ratio is wrong [8].

```python
import requests

models = requests.get("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/videos/models").json()["data"]
for m in models:
    if m["id"].startswith("bytedance/seedance"):
        print(m["id"], m["supported_durations"], m["supported_resolutions"],
              m["supported_aspect_ratios"], m["pricing_skus"])
```

## Async-job cutover checklist

OpenRouter video is asynchronous: POST to `/api/v1/videos` returns a job id and polling URL, you poll `GET /api/v1/videos/{jobId}` until completed, then download from the content URL [8]. It also supports webhooks with signature verification [8]. The cutover has to respect that lifecycle.

- [ ] Inventory every caller that sends `seedance-1-5-pro`, including scheduled and batch jobs.
- [ ] Pick the replacement per workload: Fast or Mini for drafts, 2.0 or 2.5 where you need video or audio references.
- [ ] Run the parameter check above and fix durations, resolutions and aspect ratios.
- [ ] Re-estimate cost per clip from list rates and your own rates.
- [ ] Stop new 1.5 Pro submissions a few days before 11 November, then drain open jobs by polling or webhook.
- [ ] Download and store finished files yourself; I did not confirm how long OpenRouter keeps job content.
- [ ] Key idempotency on your own request id plus model, so a retry on the new model is not billed twice.
- [ ] Re-point image calls to `grok-imagine-image-2.0` and compare a fixed prompt set against old output.
- [ ] Watch OpenRouter's models page, which labels models with a "Going away" date [9].

INFRO can help with the mechanics. It records vendor shutdown dates and refuses a retired model before any provider call, naming the replacement. Video runs as async jobs with signed webhooks, outputs can be re-hosted, and an estimate shows cost before a request. All of it runs on your own provider accounts.

## Questions

### Will Seedance 1.5 Pro jobs submitted before 11 November still finish?

The pages read do not say. OpenRouter's model page shows the 11 November date and nothing about jobs in flight [1], so treat any job still queued on that day as lost and finish or resubmit before it.

### Does OpenRouter name a replacement for Seedance 1.5 Pro?

Not on the page read. It marks the model as going away on 11 November 2026 and lists other ByteDance video models, such as Seedance 2.0, 2.0 Fast, 2.0 Mini and 2.5, without recommending one [1].

## Sources

1. ByteDance: Seedance 1.5 Pro — OpenRouter. https://openrouter.ai/bytedance/seedance-1-5-pro (accessed 2026-11-02)
2. Image and video model shutdowns, October 2026: what broke and fixes — INFRO. https://infro.io/blog/image-video-model-shutdowns-october-2026 (accessed 2026-11-02)
3. Grok Imagine Quality Mode API — xAI. https://x.ai/news/grok-imagine-quality-mode (accessed 2026-11-02)
4. Imagine Image 2.0 — xAI. https://x.ai/news/grok-imagine-image-2 (accessed 2026-11-02)
5. Console Changelog — xAI. https://x.ai/api/changelog (accessed 2026-11-02)
6. Image Generation — OpenRouter. https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/overview/multimodal/image-generation (accessed 2026-11-02)
7. ByteDance: Seedance 2.0 — OpenRouter. https://openrouter.ai/bytedance/seedance-2.0 (accessed 2026-11-02)
8. Video Generation — OpenRouter. https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/overview/multimodal/video-generation (accessed 2026-11-02)
9. Compare AI Models: Pricing, Context & Benchmarks — OpenRouter. https://openrouter.ai/models (accessed 2026-11-02)