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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

LongCat-2.0 vs Motif 3 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo

Seed 2.1 Turbo comes out ahead, 57 to 45 and 44 on our weighted score.

  1. Meituan (LongCat)

    LongCat-2.0

    Released Jun 30, 2026

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.75 / $2.95
    • Context1M
  2. Motif Technologies

    Motif 3

    Released Aug 7, 2026

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $2.00
    • Context262K
  3. Our pick

    ByteDance Seed

    Seed 2.1 Turbo

    Released Jun 23, 2026

    57/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.445 / $2.23
    • Context256K
01 — Verdict

Seed 2.1 Turbo is our pick

Seed 2.1 Turbo is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against LongCat-2.0 (45) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on inputs & features. LongCat-2.0 wins on context window. 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 priceMotif 3Motif 3 $0.875 · Seed 2.1 Turbo $0.891 · LongCat-2.0 $1.30 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextLongCat-2.0LongCat-2.0 1,000,000 · Motif 3 262,144 · Seed 2.1 Turbo 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSeed 2.1 TurboLongCat-2.0: Text · Motif 3: Text · Seed 2.1 Turbo: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingMotif 3Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLongCat-2.0Motif 3Seed 2.1 Turbo
Price50%445352
Inputs & features30%353580
Context window20%603736
Overall100%45/10044/10057/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

LongCat-2.0 vs Motif 3 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo specifications side by side
SpecificationLongCat-2.0Meituan (LongCat)Motif 3Motif TechnologiesSeed 2.1 TurboByteDance Seed
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75$0.50$0.445 (best)
Output$2.95$2.00 (best)$2.23
Cached input$0.015 (best)—$0.089
Blended (3:1)$1.30$0.875 (best)$0.891
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial LongCat APIMedian of 1 providersOfficial Volcengine Ark API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens256,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningYesYesYesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenMITProprietary
API model IDLongCat-2.0—doubao-seed-2-1-turbo-260628
API providers5 (best)14
ReleasedJun 30, 2026Aug 7, 2026Jun 23, 2026
Knowledge cutoff———
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • LongCat-2.0$13.40
  • Motif 3$9.00
  • Seed 2.1 Turbo$8.91
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: LongCat-2.0, Motif 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?

Seed 2.1 Turbo is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against LongCat-2.0 (45) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on inputs & features. LongCat-2.0 wins on context window. 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, LongCat-2.0, Motif 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?

Motif 3 is cheaper at $0.50 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Seed 2.1 Turbo costs $0.445 input / $2.23 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); LongCat-2.0 costs $0.75 input / $2.95 output per million tokens (official LongCat API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.875 per million tokens for Motif 3 versus $0.891 for Seed 2.1 Turbo (1× as much) and $1.30 for LongCat-2.0 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. LongCat-2.0 has not been scored yet, Motif 3 has not been scored yet and Seed 2.1 Turbo has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for LongCat-2.0, Motif 3 and Seed 2.1 Turbo 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?

LongCat-2.0 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Motif 3 and 256,000 for Seed 2.1 Turbo. Maximum output per response: LongCat-2.0 up to 131,072, Motif 3 up to 262,144, Seed 2.1 Turbo up to 256,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

LongCat-2.0 accepts text; Motif 3 accepts text; Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts text, images and video. Seed 2.1 Turbo handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Motif 3 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; LongCat-2.0 and Seed 2.1 Turbo is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Motif 3 is the newest, released Aug 7, 2026. LongCat-2.0 came out Jun 30, 2026; Seed 2.1 Turbo came out Jun 23, 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 Oct 4, 2026.