Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo vs Seed 1.6
Seed 1.6 comes out ahead, 41 to 36 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Moonshot AIKimi K2 Thinking Turbo
36/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context262K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Seed 1.6 is our pick
Seed 1.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 41/100 against Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo (36). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 priceSeed 1.6Seed 1.6 $0.386 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo unpriced
- Longest contextKimi K2 Thinking TurboKimi K2 Thinking Turbo 262,144 · Seed 1.6 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsKimi K2 Thinking Turbo: Text · Seed 1.6: Text
- Self-hostingKimi K2 Thinking TurboPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Seed 1.6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 35 | 45 |
| Context window | 40% | 37 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 36/100 | 41/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Kimi K2 Thinking TurboMoonshot AI | Seed 1.6ByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | — | $0.119 |
| Output | — | $1.19 |
| Cached input | — | $0.024 |
| Blended (3:1) | — | $0.386 |
| Long-context rate | — | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 |
| Price source | — | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 64,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | doubao-seed-1-6-251015 |
| API providers | — | 2 |
| Released | Nov 6, 2025 | Oct 15, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 2024 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo—
- Seed 1.6$3.56
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo or Seed 1.6?
Seed 1.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 41/100 against Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo (36). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo or Seed 1.6?
Seed 1.6 is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.386 per million tokens for Seed 1.6 versus . Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo has not been scored yet and Seed 1.6 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo and Seed 1.6 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo up to 262,144, Seed 1.6 up to 64,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo accepts text; Seed 1.6 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo is the newest, released Nov 6, 2025. Seed 1.6 came out Oct 15, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo Aug 2024.
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 Oct 4, 2026.
