Runway releases Seedance 2.0 Mini on API for faster video generation at up to 720p
Runway launched Seedance 2.0 Mini (seedance2_mini) on its API on June 26, 2026, adding a new lighter-weight tier to its Seedance 2.0 model lineup. The mini variant targets fast generation from text, images, or video at resolutions up to 720p, with durations from 4 to 15 seconds.
What's new
Seedance 2.0 Mini is a new model ID available on Runway's API alongside the existing Seedance 2.0 (seedance2) and Seedance 2.0 Fast (seedance2_fast) models. Like the other Seedance 2.0 variants, Mini supports:
- Input modalities: text to video, image to video, video to video
- Keyframe control for directing composition at specific timestamps
- Durations: 4 to 15 seconds
- Resolution: up to 720p (480p and 720p supported)
Mini is the most lightweight of the three Seedance 2.0 tiers now available on Runway's API, positioned below Seedance 2.0 Fast (which generates at higher quality) and the standard Seedance 2.0 (which supports up to 4K as of this week).
Context
Runway's Seedance lineup now spans three tiers:
| Model ID | Resolution | Use case |
|---|---|---|
seedance2_mini | Up to 720p | Fast, lightweight generation |
seedance2_fast | Higher quality | Speed-quality balance |
seedance2 | Up to 4K | Maximum resolution and quality |
The Mini launch follows the 4K support update for standard Seedance 2.0 two days earlier (June 24), suggesting Runway is completing a full Seedance 2.0 product line on its API. ByteDance's Seedance model has been one of the higher-performing video generation models on third-party benchmarks, and Runway's multi-tier integration gives API developers access to it at different cost-quality points.
Why it matters
The Mini tier addresses a real gap in the Runway API lineup. For use cases that require fast iteration — storyboarding, rapid prototyping, real-time preview generation — the standard Seedance 2.0 and Fast models carry more compute than necessary. A 720p mini variant trades resolution for speed and cost, making it practical to generate many clips in a pipeline without burning through credits on premium tiers.
For developers building multi-step video generation workflows — where early-stage drafts are reviewed before committing to high-resolution renders — this kind of tiered model access is operationally significant. Draft at Mini, approve, then upscale with standard Seedance 2.0 at 4K.
Corroborating sources
- Docs.dev.runwayml
https://docs.dev.runwayml.com/api-details/api_changelog/
“Seedance 2.0 Mini (`seedance2_mini`) is now available via the Runway API.”