Ministral 3 3B vs Seed 1.6 Flash vs Seed 2.0 Mini
Too close to call on our weighted score (Seed 2.0 Mini 80, Seed 1.6 Flash 78, Ministral 3 3B 74). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Flash
78/100- ECI—
- Price$0.022 / $0.223
- Context256K
- ByteDance Seed
Seed 2.0 Mini
80/100- ECI—
- Price$0.03 / $0.297
- Context256K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Seed 2.0 Mini 80/100, Seed 1.6 Flash 78/100, Ministral 3 3B 74/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Seed 1.6 Flash on price and Ministral 3 3B for long inputs. 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 priceSeed 1.6 FlashSeed 1.6 Flash $0.072 · Seed 2.0 Mini $0.097 · Ministral 3 3B $0.10 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 3 3BMinistral 3 3B 262,144 · Seed 1.6 Flash 256,000 · Seed 2.0 Mini 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.0 MiniMinistral 3 3B: Text, Images · Seed 1.6 Flash: Text, Images · Seed 2.0 Mini: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingMinistral 3 3BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 3 3B | Seed 1.6 Flash | Seed 2.0 Mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 97 | 100 | 98 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 70 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 36 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 74/100 | 78/100 | 80/100 |
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 | Ministral 3 3BMistral AI | Seed 1.6 FlashByteDance Seed | Seed 2.0 MiniByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.10 | $0.022 (best) | $0.03 |
| Output | $0.10 (best) | $0.223 | $0.297 |
| Cached input | — | $0.0044 (best) | $0.0059 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.10 | $0.072 (best) | $0.097 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.045 / $0.445 | Over 32K: $0.059 / $0.594 |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official Volcengine Ark API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 32,000 tokens | 32,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache 2.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | doubao-seed-1-6-flash-250828 | doubao-seed-2-0-mini-260428 |
| API providers | 1 | 2 | 8 (best) |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Aug 28, 2025 | Feb 14, 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.
- Ministral 3 3B$1.20
- Seed 1.6 Flash$0.668
- Seed 2.0 Mini$0.891
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 3 3B, Seed 1.6 Flash or Seed 2.0 Mini?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Seed 2.0 Mini 80/100, Seed 1.6 Flash 78/100, Ministral 3 3B 74/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Seed 1.6 Flash on price and Ministral 3 3B for long inputs. 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, Ministral 3 3B, Seed 1.6 Flash or Seed 2.0 Mini?
Seed 1.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.223 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Seed 2.0 Mini costs $0.03 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.072 per million tokens for Seed 1.6 Flash versus $0.097 for Seed 2.0 Mini (1.3× as much) and $0.10 for Ministral 3 3B (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet, Seed 1.6 Flash has not been scored yet and Seed 2.0 Mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 3 3B, Seed 1.6 Flash and Seed 2.0 Mini 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?
Ministral 3 3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6 Flash and 256,000 for Seed 2.0 Mini. Maximum output per response: Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144, Seed 1.6 Flash up to 32,000, Seed 2.0 Mini up to 32,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images; Seed 1.6 Flash accepts text and images; Seed 2.0 Mini accepts text, images and video. Seed 2.0 Mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Ministral 3 3B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 Flash and Seed 2.0 Mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed 2.0 Mini is the newest, released Feb 14, 2026. Ministral 3 3B came out Dec 2, 2025; Seed 1.6 Flash came out Aug 28, 2025.
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.
