ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Seed 1.6

Too close to call on our weighted score (Seed 1.6 55, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 53). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.55
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

  2. ByteDance Seed

    Seed 1.6

    Released Oct 15, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.119 / $1.19
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Seed 1.6

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Seed 1.6 55/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Seed 1.6 on price and Seed 1.6 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 1.6Seed 1.6 $0.386 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextSeed 1.6Seed 1.6 256,000 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images · Seed 1.6: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructSeed 1.6
Price50%6069
Inputs & features30%6045
Context window20%2436
Overall100%53/10055/100

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.

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Seed 1.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Seed 1.6ByteDance Seed
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.119 (best)
Output$1.55$1.19 (best)
Cached input—$0.024
Blended (3:1)$0.613$0.386 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.178 / $2.37
Price sourceMedian of 12 providersOfficial Volcengine Ark API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens256,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens64,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesminimal · low · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—doubao-seed-1-6-251015
API providers12 (best)2
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Oct 15, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMar 31, 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.

  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
  • Seed 1.6$3.56
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Seed 1.6?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Seed 1.6 55/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Seed 1.6 on price and Seed 1.6 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct or Seed 1.6?

Seed 1.6 is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.386 per million tokens for Seed 1.6 versus $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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 Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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?

Seed 1.6 has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768, Seed 1.6 up to 64,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images; Seed 1.6 accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Seed 1.6 is the newest, released Oct 15, 2025. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 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

Related comparisons