Doubao 豆包 (ByteDance)
ByteDance's China-first AI assistant, free for daily use with paid power tiers
Overview
Doubao (豆包) is ByteDance's consumer AI assistant for mainland China, covering chat, search, writing, image generation, voice and video calls, and an Office Task agent mode. It runs on ByteDance's Doubao 2.1 (Seed) models, which developers can also buy through Volcano Engine in China or BytePlus ModelArk internationally. Everyday use is free; a paid Professional edition launched in June 2026 at ¥68 to ¥500 a month.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 14 Oct 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- Chat, search and writing
- Image generation
- Voice and video calls
- Everything in Free
- Doubao 2.1 models
- Expert and Office Task quotas 5x+ the free allowance
- 4x the Standard quota
- 10x the Standard quota
- Seed 1.6 Flash $0.075 in / $0.30 out per M tokens
- Seed 2.0 Mini $0.10 in / $0.40 out
- Dola Seed 2.1 Turbo $0.50 in / $2.50 out
API pricing (pay as you go)
| Model | Input | Cached input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| dola-seed-2-1-turbo Single tier, prompt length 0-256K. | $0.50 | $0.10 | $2.50 |
| seed-2-0-pro-260328 Lowest tier 0-128K; 128-256K is $1.00 / $6.00. | $0.50 | $0.10 | $3 |
| seed-2-0-lite-260428 Lowest tier 0-128K; audio input is $3.75. | $0.25 | $0.05 | $2 |
| seed-2-0-mini-260428 Lowest tier 0-128K; audio input is $1.50. | $0.10 | $0.02 | $0.40 |
| seed-2-0-code-preview-260328 Lowest tier 0-128K. | $0.50 | $0.10 | $3 |
| seed-1-8-251228 Lowest tier 0-128K. | $0.25 | $0.05 | $2 |
| seed-1-6-flash-250715 Lowest tier 0-128K. | $0.075 | $0.015 | $0.30 |
Use cases
What you can produce with Doubao 豆包 (ByteDance)
- Chinese-language answers, drafts and summaries with live web search
- Images generated inside the same chat
- Hands-free spoken conversations by voice or video call on mobile
- Multi-step office tasks in Office Task mode, including local computer and browser operation and scheduled jobs (paid quotas)
- Slides, spreadsheets and simple apps or web pages generated by the agent
- Developer access to Doubao and Seed models through Volcano Engine or BytePlus ModelArk
ASEAN Perspective
Doubao 豆包 (ByteDance) in Southeast Asia
依托字节系流量（抖音、今日头条）的中国市场最大 C 端 AI 助手之一，DAU 据传持续领跑国产 AI App 榜单。
Doubao is the default AI assistant for Chinese-language users: QuestMobile puts it far ahead of Qwen and DeepSeek, everyday features are free, and the June 2026 Professional tiers (¥68 to ¥500 a month) add an agent mode that can work a local computer and browser. The Doubao 2.1 models behind it are priced aggressively for developers.
For ASEAN readers the consumer app is the wrong door: doubao.com shows a regional-restriction notice outside China and points visitors to Dola, ByteDance's separate international assistant. Developers should go through BytePlus ModelArk, which bills Seed models in US dollars.
What we found
Doubao (豆包) is ByteDance's consumer AI assistant for mainland China, and on third-party measures it is the country's most-used AI app by a wide margin. QuestMobile counted 345 million monthly active users in March 2026, more than Alibaba's Qwen (166 million) and DeepSeek (127 million) combined, and 382 million in June. ByteDance's own figures describe load rather than people: it reported 1.9 billion AI interactions on Lunar New Year's Eve, 16 February 2026, and Volcano Engine said in June that daily token calls across the Doubao models had passed 180 trillion, more than ten times a year earlier.
The models move quickly. Doubao 2.0 arrived in February 2026, and at Volcano Engine's FORCE conference in Beijing on 23 June ByteDance released Doubao 2.1 Pro, listed at ¥6 per million input tokens and ¥30 per million output, with a 2.1 Turbo at half that, alongside the Seedance 2.5 video and Seedream 5.0 Pro image models. Volcano Engine says 2.1 Pro beats Claude Opus 4.6 on several benchmarks; that comparison is its own.
The bigger change for users is money. On 24 June 2026 Doubao launched a paid Professional edition in three tiers at ¥68, ¥200 and ¥500 a month, or ¥688, ¥2,048 and ¥5,088 a year, aimed at heavy productivity work: an Office Task mode that can operate a local computer and browser and run scheduled jobs, with quotas at least five times the free allowance. University students get a six-month offer of ¥38 a month. ByteDance says everyday chat, search, writing, image generation and voice and video calls stay free. Earlier versions of this page said no paid plan existed.
Outside China access is awkward. Opening doubao.com from Singapore today returns a regional-restriction notice asking you to sign in, with phone sign-in defaulting to +86, or to switch to Dola, ByteDance's international assistant, formerly Cici. Developers fare better: BytePlus ModelArk sells Seed models in US dollars, from $0.10 per million input tokens for Seed 2.0 Mini.
Compiled by RECATOOLS from public sources: vendor documentation and pricing, code repositories and published reporting.
Frequently asked questions
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Doubao 豆包 (ByteDance)'s official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Doubao 豆包 (ByteDance) unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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