ByteDance Doubao (Doubao-Pro / Lite)

LLM

by ByteDance

ByteDance's Doubao models are available through Volcano Engine (Ark platform). Known for aggressive pricing and generous free credits. Doubao-Pro offers strong performance at very low cost.

Official API Documentation

API Endpoint

https://www.volcengine.com/product/doubao

Documentation

Official Docs

Pricing

View Pricing

Registration & API Key Steps

Step 1

Visit Volcano Engine (volcengine.com) and click "Register".

Open link

Step 2

Step 3

Complete real-name verification (required for Chinese cloud services).

Step 4

Navigate to Console > Volcano Ark > Model Services > Doubao.

Step 5

Activate the Doubao API service.

Step 6

Create an API key in the key management section.

Step 7

Create an "Endpoint" for the model you want to use.

Pricing

Tier	Price	Features
Doubao-Lite-32K	¥0.3 / ¥0.6 per 1M tokens	Input / Output (~$0.04/$0.08). Most affordable.
Doubao-Pro-32K	¥0.8 / ¥2 per 1M tokens	Input / Output (~$0.11/$0.27). Best value for quality.
Doubao-Pro-256K	¥5 / ¥9 per 1M tokens	Input / Output. Long context version.
Doubao-1.5-Pro-256K	¥4 / ¥8 per 1M tokens	Input / Output. Latest model with enhanced reasoning.

Application Tips

Tip 1

Doubao is one of the cheapest LLM APIs available — Lite model at ¥0.3/1M tokens.

Tip 2

Every model gets 500K free tokens monthly that never expire.

Tip 3

Volcano Engine also hosts DeepSeek, Llama, and other third-party models.

Tip 4

Cache hits reduce costs by up to 80%.

Tip 5

API uses endpoint-based routing — create endpoints before making API calls.

Tip 6

Doubao-Seed-Code is optimized for programming with 256K context.

China Access Solutions

Access Solution

Directly accessible in China. Volcano Engine is a domestic cloud platform by ByteDance. Supports Chinese phone, Alipay/WeChat payment.

Code Example

JavaScript / TypeScript

from volcenginesdkarkruntime import Ark

client = Ark(api_key="your-ark-api-key")

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="your-endpoint-id",  # e.g., "ep-20240xxx-xxx"
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "请用简单的语言解释人工智能"}
    ]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

# --- cURL example ---
# curl https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3/chat/completions \
#   -H "Authorization: Bearer your-ark-api-key" \
#   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
#   -d '{"model":"your-endpoint-id","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"你好"}]}'

Rate Limits

Tier	Limits
Default	Varies by model and endpoint configuration. Default: 120 RPM, 120K TPM. Can request increases through console.

Recommended Use Cases

Cost-sensitive chatbotsChinese content generationCode assistanceEnterprise applicationsMultimodal tasks

Last Updated: 2026-02-10

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Registration & API Key Steps

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Pricing

Application Tips

Tip 1

Tip 2

Tip 3

Tip 4

Tip 5

Tip 6

China Access Solutions

Access Solution

Code Example

Rate Limits

Recommended Use Cases

Related API Guides

OpenAI GPT-4o / GPT-4.1 / o3

Anthropic Claude (Sonnet 4.5 / Opus 4.5)

Google Gemini (2.5 Pro / 2.5 Flash)

Meta Llama 4 (Scout / Maverick)