Seedream 3
LMArena ID: seedream-3
ByteDanceProprietary
Seedream 3 is an AI image model from ByteDance. On LMArena’s Text-to-image leaderboard it ranks 60 of 82 with 1082±5 from 36,885 votes. It is not on LMArena’s Image editing leaderboard yet. License: Proprietary.
Key figures
- Developer
- ByteDance
- License
- Proprietary
Not yet available: Released (per AA), LMArena · Image editing, AA Elo
Who it is for (from the data)
- When quality is not the top priority: #60 of 82 on Text-to-image, in the bottom half; if quality matters most, check higher-ranked models first.
- Mainly text-to-image: no image-edit results yet.
- Use via ByteDance's service or API: LMArena lists it as proprietary.
- Existing ByteDance users: this vendor has 8 models on Text-to-image.
Neighbours on Text-to-image
| # | Model | Score | Votes | AA Elo | License | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 |  Recraft V4.1 Flash Recraft | 1099 | 3,516 | 949 | Proprietary | +17 |
| 58 |  MAI Image 1 Microsoft AI | 1093 | 98,410 | – | Proprietary | +11 |
| 59 |  Z-Image Turbo Alibaba | 1083 | 24,808 | 936 | Apache 2.0 | +1 |
| 60 | Seedream 3 ByteDance | 1082 | 36,885 | – | Proprietary | |
| 61 |  FLUX 1 Kontext Max Black Forest Labs | 1074 | 65,510 | – | Proprietary | -8 |
| 62 | FLUX 2 Klein 9B Black Forest Labs | 1070 | 150,782 | – | flux-non-commercial-license | -12 |
| 63 | Qwen Image Prompt Extend Alibaba | 1060 | 716,773 | – | Apache 2.0 | -22 |
Alternatives · More from ByteDance
| # | Model | Score | Votes | AA Elo | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Seedream 5.0 Pro ByteDance | 1255 | 94,181 | 1100 | Proprietary |
| 36 | Seedream 4.5 ByteDance | 1149 | 300,107 | 1026 | Proprietary |
| 39 | Seedream 4 2K ByteDance | 1140 | 12,562 | – | Proprietary |
| 40 | Seedream 5.0 Lite ByteDance | 1138 | 129,950 | 1017 | Proprietary |
| 46 | Seedream 4 fal ByteDance | 1117 | 11,841 | – | Proprietary |
Alternatives · Top open-weight models
| # | Model | Score | Votes | AA Elo | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Qwen Image 2.1 Alibaba | 1223 | 11,441 | 1042 | qwen-research |
| 20 |  Ideogram 4.0 Quality Ideogram | 1205 | 60,591 | – | Ideogram Open Model |
| 27 |  Cosmos3-Super-Text2Image (Agentic) NVIDIA | 1165 | 10,805 | – | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| 33 | Cosmos3-Super-Text2Image NVIDIA | 1152 | 18,485 | – | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| 35 |  Hunyuan Image 3.0 Tencent | 1150 | 180,518 | 989 | tencent-hunyuan-community |
How to read the scores
- LMArena score: people blind-pick the better of two anonymous images for the same prompt, and the votes are fitted into an Elo-style rating; "±" is the 95% confidence interval.
- Text-to-image and image edit are separate boards, so scores are not comparable across them; AA Elo comes from Artificial Analysis on a different scale.
- If the gap between two models is smaller than their combined intervals, the order is not statistically reliable; treat them as the same tier. More votes mean narrower intervals.
FAQ
Where does Seedream 3 rank among AI image models?
Text-to-image rank 60 (1082) (LMArena, data as of Oct 26, 2026).
Is Seedream 3 open-weight?
No. LMArena lists it as Proprietary; it is available only through ByteDance’s products or API.
Can Seedream 3 edit images?
The LMArena image-edit board has no result for Seedream 3 yet, so we cannot confirm its editing ability from the data.
Who makes Seedream 3?
According to LMArena, Seedream 3 is made by ByteDance.
How reliable is Seedream 3's score?
The scores are based on 36,885 votes on Text-to-image (95% CI ±5). More votes and narrower intervals mean a more stable rank.
How far is Seedream 3 from #1 on Text-to-image?
#1 on Text-to-image is GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (1425); Seedream 3 scores 1082, 343 points behind.
Sources
LMArena Text-to-image data published on Oct 7, 2026.
LMArena Image editing data published on Oct 20, 2026.
17NAS syncs the upstream leaderboards daily; this page's data was synced on Oct 26, 2026.
Price, resolution and speed have no reliable public data yet and are omitted; all values come from the snapshot, blanks show –.