FLORA vs Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk

FLORA 53

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-generation prices for every model are published without a login on the model-pricing page, with plan prices on the pricing page (20). Free gives each new workspace $2.50 of usage, which the docs and the MCP changelog (1 September 2026) say an agent can spend through MCP; the REST API answers paid_plan_required on Free, the pricing page marks MCP 'Not included' there, and no page says whether Free needs a card, so this is a one-off trial on one surface (15 of 20). A person signs up in a browser and approves OAuth, or makes a key in Settings (0). 0+20+15+0 = 35. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 35 is 53.

Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk 30

Per the 9 October check for the docs pages, not re-read on 4 November (docs.byteplus.com answers robots.txt with its HTML app page). No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-image prices for every Seedream model are published without a login (20). No free image quota is listed for Seedream. The free trial page covers models billed by token, and the model list shows no free quota in the image table (0). Access needs a browser sign-up, model activation in the console and a console-made key (0). On 4 November the Seedream product page on ai.byteplus.com shows 5.0 Pro from $0.045 an image and first-purchase image packages (310 to 1,555 images, valid 30 days), all paid. 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 20 is 30.

FLORA 79

Platform with an MCP server and an API, read with the API and MCP lines. The API reference is generated from version 5.10.2 of FLORA's OpenAPI document and reproduces each operation's fields with types, enums, patterns and limits in Markdown, but the document itself is not published and the SDK's README says the generated code comes from it; MCP tool inputs are documented with types and constraints and were not seen live (15 of 25). llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page (10). The tools reference says what each tool does and labels it read-only, writes, destructive, spends money or async, and the cost, runs and security pages say when not to call (flora_run_canvas_nodes spends with no confirmation, never re-fire a partial batch, stop on billing errors); per-tool descriptions are one line (16 of 20). Typed inputs with enums for type and status, prefixed id formats (ws_, prj_, run_, tech_), item and length limits and unknown keys rejected, but params is a free-form object whose names come from flora_list_models (11 of 15). An example call per tool, a REST error table with 13 codes and their retryability, the MCP failure shapes and run error codes, and the skills repository's failure-codes reference (14 of 15). Versioned path /v1 with the API version in the SDK changelog, a dated MCP changelog with entries from 28 May to 23 October 2026 and a retired-tools page; no version numbers on the MCP changelog and no written versioning policy (13 of 15). 15+10+16+11+14+13 = 79.

Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk 62

Per the 9 October check for the docs pages, not re-read on 4 November (docs.byteplus.com answers robots.txt with its HTML app page). No OpenAPI file for the data plane was found. The Go and Python SDKs publish typed request and response models, and an API Explorer page exists that we did not read (8). No llms.txt or Markdown docs for agents were found, and the docs site is drawn by script (0). Each parameter states its purpose, the models that accept it and its restrictions (15). Inputs carry types, defaults, enums and pixel and aspect-ratio ranges, though size is a string with two exclusive formats (13). The tutorial has curl, Python, Java, Go and OpenAI SDK examples, and the error reference maps HTTP status to code, message and meaning (14). The path is versioned at /api/v3, model IDs carry a date, and release pages are dated by month (12).

FLORA 83

Closed service with a dated changelog. The newest MCP changelog entry is 23 October 2026, and flora.ai/updates has product entries to 28 October (30). 31 dated MCP changelog entries between 4 August and 23 October 2026 (20). Support at support@florafauna.ai, bug and feature forms, a Discord linked from the home page, weekly training sessions, and GitHub issues on the skills repository as its support URL (2 open); no response times stated (10 of 15). ai.flora/flora 0.11.5 is in the official MCP registry under a DNS-verified namespace since 16 October 2026 (15). The TypeScript SDK @flora-ai/flora 0.21.1 (14 October 2026, 157 downloads in the week to 1 November) has CI, release-please and an npm publish workflow; the skills repository was last pushed on 18 October 2026 (8 of 10). 30+20+10+15+8 = 83.

Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk 73

Graded on the model lines. The Go SDK's v0.18.0 (3 November 2026, a released tag) changes the image generation models: a safety_identifier field, layer_decomposition_options with OCR text recognition, and sizes from 0.5K to 3K, so a dated API change touches Seedream one day before this check (30). The ai.byteplus.com catalogue on 4 November shows Dola Seedream 5.0 Pro updated 8 July 2026, 5.0 lite, 4.5 and 4.0, with no newer Seedream model. The deprecation process promises at least 30 calendar days' notice and the last two batches gave about eight weeks, but the page says each version is usually retired a few months after launch, and Seedream 3.0 went in May 2026, per the 9 October check (12). Dated release and update pages are public, with tickets and a Discord community for support, which we did not test, per the 9 October check (8). Official SDKs are current: the Python SDK reached v3.0.64 on 29 October and the Go SDK v0.19.0 on 3 November 2026 (15). Both SDK repositories have CI workflows (8). 30 + 12 + 8 + 15 + 8 = 73.

FLORA 46

Hosted reading, for the MCP server and the REST API. A status page at status.flora.ai is linked from the home page and the MCP page, but its robots.txt answered a client error twice on 2 November 2026, so under our rules nothing on that host was fetched and its components are unread (10 of 20, for a linked page whose content we could not check). No readable incident history, so the floor, and this is our fetch rule rather than a finding about FLORA (5). No requests-per-minute figure is published, as the cost and limits page says in so many words; batch sizes (1 to 20 generations, 20 run ids, 50 canvas nodes, 25 files), the polling cooldown (15 seconds, or 2 seconds a run) and one-at-a-time generation for new unpaid accounts are given with numbers (8 of 15). 429 rate_limited is documented with Retry-After on the API and retry_after_seconds on MCP, a 60-second fallback, exponential backoff and a retryability table, and the SDK retries 408, 429 and 5xx twice. Idempotency-Key covers every mutating REST request for two hours, but flora_create_generations over MCP has none and the docs say to read history before retrying (13 of 15). No SLA; the terms provide the service as is (0). No beta or preview label on either surface; the old beta endpoint was removed on 30 June 2026, though the registry version is 0.11.5 (10). 10+5+8+13+0+10 = 46.

Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk 40

Graded as a hosted service. No status page was found in the docs or site pages on 9 October, and none is linked from www.byteplus.com/llms.txt or ai.byteplus.com/llms.txt on 4 November (0), so the 90-day record is scored as unreadable (5). Per the 9 October check for the docs pages, not re-read on 4 November (docs.byteplus.com answers robots.txt with its HTML app page). The model list gives 500 images a minute for each Seedream model, with a note that limits are theoretical maximums and not guaranteed (15). The error reference lists 15 distinct 429 codes including ModelAccountIpmRateLimitExceeded, and a burst-traffic guide gives exponential backoff with jitter, with no idempotency key or safe-retry guidance for a generation request; this run's settled reading gives backoff guidance alone 10, in place of 13 (as seedance-on-byteplus-modelark). The legal index lists SLAs for 16 other BytePlus products and none named for ModelArk (0). The image API is not labelled beta or preview (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 40.

FLORA 68

Closed service under terms of service (17 November 2025) that name FLORA AND FAUNA FLOWERSHOP, INC., give the user all rights in output and limit FLORA's licence in user data to running the service; the SDK is Apache-2.0 and the skills MIT (15 of 30). The terms, the data, security and IP page and the MCP security page agree that FLORA does not train on user data or let model providers train on it. The privacy notice (1 June 2026) is silent on training, names only Google Analytics and an unnamed session replay tool, and gives no retention period beyond the life of the account; a DPA is for Enterprise and paid workspaces with client data (18 of 30). The MCP changelog dates deprecations with replacements (a beta endpoint deprecated 28 May and removed 30 June 2026, execute deprecated 11 September and retired 8 October 2026) and a retired-tools page lists five, but there is no written notice period, and flora_comments forwards with no end date (12 of 20). The sub-processors page (2 June 2026) names 23 services with their locations, including India, the UK, China and Singapore, with no commitment to notice of changes (16 of 20). 15+18+12+16 = 61.

Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk 62

Per the 9 October check for the docs pages, not re-read on 4 November (docs.byteplus.com answers robots.txt with its HTML app page). Closed service under a public Customer Agreement and Service Specific Terms. The General Terms for AI Services, which the model terms rely on, did not load for us, so output ownership is not established (13). The data processing page and the ModelArk terms agree that customer data is not used for training without opt-in, name 180 days' retention for filter-triggered content and list processing in Malaysia, Indonesia and the EU or EEA. The Privacy Policy excludes customer data and points to a DPA we did not read (20). A deprecation process with dated batches, named replacements and a 30-day minimum (16). A sub-processor list effective 24 September 2026 with locations and 15 days' notice of changes, which has no row for ModelArk (12).