Seedance 2 Reference to Video vs Kling 2.1 (standard)
Seedance 2 Reference to Video leads on human preference — 1343 vs 1171 Elo (#1 of 79 in the Image-to-Video Arena). The right pick still depends on style, speed and licensing — details below.
Seedance 2 Reference to Video✓bytedance/seedance-2.0/reference-to-videovs
Kling 2.1 (standard)fal-ai/kling-video/v2.1/standard/image-to-video| Human-preference Elo | 1343 | 1171 |
| Arena rank | #1 of 79 | #53 of 79 |
| Category | image-to-video | image-to-video |
| License | commercial | commercial |
Frequently asked
Is Seedance 2 Reference to Video better than Kling 2.1 (standard)?
By human preference, Seedance 2 Reference to Video currently rates higher (1343 vs 1171 Elo). Preference votes measure typical output quality; test both on your own prompts for style fit.
What kind of models are Seedance 2 Reference to Video and Kling 2.1 (standard)?
Both are image to video models available as hosted API endpoints — Seedance 2 Reference to Video (bytedance/seedance-2.0/reference-to-video) and Kling 2.1 (standard) (fal-ai/kling-video/v2.1/standard/image-to-video).
See the full best image-to-video models ranking.