Doubao

Doubao is ByteDance's AI assistant in China, free on the web and in apps, running ByteDance's own Seed models (Seed 2.1 since Jun 2026) with Seedance video and Seedream image generation built in. Outside China, ByteDance offers a similar assistant called Dola at cici.com.

Doubao (豆包) is the AI assistant made by ByteDance, the company behind TikTok and Douyin, for users in China, at doubao.com and in apps. It is free to use, and it runs ByteDance's own Seed models: the Seed 2.1 family, which ByteDance's Seed team announced on Jun 23, 2026 and made available in Doubao and on its Volcano Engine cloud. Doubao also generates video with Seedance and images with Seedream.

Doubao matters if you live or work in China and use Chinese; elsewhere, ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are the usual choices. Outside China, ByteDance's comparable assistant is Dola AI, which now answers at cici.com, the address of ByteDance's earlier overseas assistant Cici. For a comparison of assistants, see Best AI Chatbot.

Quick facts

Maker	ByteDance (models by the ByteDance Seed team)
Get it	doubao.com and mobile apps, in China; Dola at cici.com elsewhere
Price	Free; a paid Doubao Pro tier is named in ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 post
Models	Seed 2.1 (Jun 23, 2026), including Seed 2.1 Pro
Image and video	Seedream 5.0 Pro, Seedance 2.0 and 2.5
Languages	Mainly Chinese
Open weights	No for Seed 2.1
Best for	Users in China; free image and video generation

Features

Seed 2.1 models. ByteDance says Seed 2.1 is built for agent work: multi-step office tasks, research with documents and images, end-to-end coding and operating apps on a phone. ByteDance reports that Seed 2.1 Pro scored highest on GDPval among the models it compared and topped the MobileWorld benchmark for phone tasks; these are ByteDance's own results.

Video generation. Doubao's site said on Nov 6, 2026 that Seedance 2.0 is fully available in Doubao, free on sign-in. Seedance 2.5, released Jul 31, 2026, came to Doubao Pro and ByteDance's Jimeng AI app, with text, image and video references.

Image generation and design. ByteDance's Seedream image models, most recently Seedream 5.0 Pro (Jul 8, 2026), power image creation.

Everyday help. Doubao describes itself as a chat assistant for answering questions, writing, translation and programming, per its site.

Dola, the version outside China

ByteDance's Seed site lists Dola as its everyday assistant for international users, and cici.com, once the home of ByteDance's Cici assistant, now carries the title Dola AI. Dola offers chat, writing, translation and programming help in English and other languages. ByteDance's Dreamina, a separate creative app, carries its image and video tools abroad.

Users and reach

ByteDance does not publish a Doubao user count on the pages read for this article, and this page does not repeat third-party estimates. Check the latest ByteDance announcements for an official figure.

Doubao vs the alternatives

Qwen (Alibaba), DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM are the other major Chinese assistants; unlike Doubao's Seed 2.1, all four publish open model weights. ChatGPT and Gemini are the global leaders, with English-first apps. For video alone, see Best AI Video Generator, where ByteDance's Seedance competes with Veo, Sora and Kling.

Frequently asked questions

Is Doubao free? Yes. Doubao is free on the web and in its apps, including Seedance 2.0 video generation on sign-in, as its site said on Nov 6, 2026; ByteDance also names a Doubao Pro tier.

Who makes Doubao? Doubao is made by ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and Douyin; its models come from ByteDance's Seed team.

Can I use Doubao outside China? Doubao is aimed at Chinese users; ByteDance's assistant for international users is Dola, at cici.com.

What model does Doubao use? Doubao runs ByteDance's Seed 2.1 model family, announced on Jun 23, 2026, the successor to Seed 2.0.

Is Doubao the same as Cici? They are sister products: Doubao serves China, while Cici served users abroad and its address now carries ByteDance's Dola assistant.