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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Seed 1.6 Vision

Seed 1.6 Vision comes out ahead, 63 to 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3.1

    Released Aug 12, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.40 / $2.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3.1
  2. Our pick

    ByteDance Seed

    Seed 1.6 Vision

    Released Aug 15, 2025

    63/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.119 / $1.19
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Seed 1.6 Vision

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Seed 1.6 Vision is our pick

Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Mistral Medium 3.1 (50). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 VisionSeed 1.6 Vision $0.386 · Mistral Medium 3.1 $0.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMistral Medium 3.1Mistral Medium 3.1 262,144 · Seed 1.6 Vision 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMistral Medium 3.1: Text, Images · Seed 1.6 Vision: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Medium 3.1Seed 1.6 Vision
Price50%5469
Inputs & features30%5070
Context window20%3736
Overall100%50/10063/100

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.

Mistral Medium 3.1 vs Seed 1.6 Vision specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Medium 3.1Mistral AISeed 1.6 VisionByteDance Seed
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.119 (best)
Output$2.00$1.19 (best)
Cached input—$0.024
Blended (3:1)$0.80$0.386 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.178 / $2.37
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Volcengine Ark API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens (best)32,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDmistral-medium-2508doubao-seed-1-6-vision-250815
API providers12 (best)
ReleasedAug 12, 2025Aug 15, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 2025—
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.

  • Mistral Medium 3.1$8.00
  • Seed 1.6 Vision$3.56
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Medium 3.1 or Seed 1.6 Vision?

Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Mistral Medium 3.1 (50). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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, Mistral Medium 3.1 or Seed 1.6 Vision?

Seed 1.6 Vision is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Mistral Medium 3.1 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 Vision versus $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3.1 (2.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Mistral Medium 3.1 has not been scored yet and Seed 1.6 Vision has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Medium 3.1 and Seed 1.6 Vision 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?

Mistral Medium 3.1 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6 Vision. Maximum output per response: Mistral Medium 3.1 up to 262,144, Seed 1.6 Vision up to 32,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Medium 3.1 accepts text and images; Seed 1.6 Vision accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. Mistral Medium 3.1 and Seed 1.6 Vision are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Seed 1.6 Vision is the newest, released Aug 15, 2025. Mistral Medium 3.1 came out Aug 12, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Medium 3.1 May 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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