Gemma 4 12B IT vs Ornith 1.5 35B A3B vs Seed Character
Seed Character comes out ahead, 73 to 70 and 66 on our weighted score, though Gemma 4 12B IT is 23% cheaper per token.
GoogleGemma 4 12B IT
70/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.275
- Context262K
DeepReinforce
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B
66/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context262K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed Character
73/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $0.297
- Context256K
Seed Character is our pick
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Gemma 4 12B IT (70) and Ornith 1.5 35B A3B (66). It leads on inputs & features. Gemma 4 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceGemma 4 12B ITGemma 4 12B IT $0.125 · Seed Character $0.163 · Ornith 1.5 35B A3B $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemma 4 12B IT and Ornith 1.5 35B A3BGemma 4 12B IT 262,144 · Ornith 1.5 35B A3B 262,144 · Seed Character 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed CharacterGemma 4 12B IT: Text, Images · Ornith 1.5 35B A3B: Text, Images · Seed Character: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingGemma 4 12B IT and Ornith 1.5 35B A3BPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Gemma 4 12B IT | Ornith 1.5 35B A3B | Seed Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 89 | 82 | 84 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 60 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 70/100 | 66/100 | 73/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemma 4 12B ITGoogle | Ornith 1.5 35B A3BDeepReinforce | Seed CharacterByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.075 (best) | $0.10 | $0.119 |
| Output | $0.275 (best) | $0.40 | $0.297 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.024 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.125 (best) | $0.175 | $0.163 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $0.891 |
| Price source | Median of 2 providers | Median of 1 providers | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | — | 256,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yesminimal · low · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenMIT | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | doubao-seed-character-260628 |
| API providers | 2 | 1 | 3 (best) |
| Released | Jun 9, 2026 | Aug 18, 2026 | Jun 23, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemma 4 12B IT$1.30
- Ornith 1.5 35B A3B$1.80
- Seed Character$1.78
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemma 4 12B IT, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B or Seed Character?
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Gemma 4 12B IT (70) and Ornith 1.5 35B A3B (66). It leads on inputs & features. Gemma 4 12B IT wins on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 12B IT, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B or Seed Character?
Gemma 4 12B IT is cheaper at $0.075 input / $0.275 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Seed Character costs $0.119 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); Ornith 1.5 35B A3B costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.125 per million tokens for Gemma 4 12B IT versus $0.163 for Seed Character (1.3× as much) and $0.175 for Ornith 1.5 35B A3B (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemma 4 12B IT has not been scored yet, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B has not been scored yet and Seed Character has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemma 4 12B IT, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B and Seed Character yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemma 4 12B IT and Ornith 1.5 35B A3B have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Seed Character. Maximum output per response: Gemma 4 12B IT up to 32,768, Seed Character up to 256,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemma 4 12B IT accepts text and images; Ornith 1.5 35B A3B accepts text and images; Seed Character accepts text, images and video. Seed Character handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Gemma 4 12B IT and Ornith 1.5 35B A3B publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Seed Character is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B is the newest, released Aug 18, 2026. Seed Character came out Jun 23, 2026; Gemma 4 12B IT came out Jun 9, 2026.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
