ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Sarvam 105B vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Seed 1.6 Flash

Seed 1.6 Flash comes out ahead, 78 to 65 and 35 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Sarvam AI

    Sarvam 105B

    Released Sep 1, 2025

    65/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.047 / $0.186
    • Context131K
  2. Inception

    Mercury Edit 2

    Released Mar 30, 2026

    35/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.75
    • Context32K
  3. Our pick

    ByteDance Seed

    Seed 1.6 Flash

    Released Aug 28, 2025

    78/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.022 / $0.223
    • Context256K
01 — Verdict

Seed 1.6 Flash is our pick

Seed 1.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Sarvam 105B (65) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on inputs & features and 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 priceSeed 1.6 FlashSeed 1.6 Flash $0.072 · Sarvam 105B $0.082 · Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextSeed 1.6 FlashSeed 1.6 Flash 256,000 · Sarvam 105B 131,072 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSeed 1.6 FlashSarvam 105B: Text · Mercury Edit 2: Text · Seed 1.6 Flash: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingSarvam 105BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightSarvam 105BMercury Edit 2Seed 1.6 Flash
Price50%10070100
Inputs & features30%35070
Context window20%24036
Overall100%65/10035/10078/100

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.

Sarvam 105B vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Seed 1.6 Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationSarvam 105BSarvam AIMercury Edit 2InceptionSeed 1.6 FlashByteDance Seed
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.047$0.25$0.022 (best)
Output$0.186 (best)$0.75$0.223
Cached input—$0.025$0.0044 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.082$0.375$0.072 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.045 / $0.445
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersOfficial Inception APIOfficial Volcengine Ark API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens32,000 tokens256,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)8,192 tokens32,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYes · low · medium · highNoYes
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryProprietary
API model IDsarvam-105bmercury-edit-2doubao-seed-1-6-flash-250828
API providers3 (best)12
ReleasedSep 1, 2025Mar 30, 2026Aug 28, 2025
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.

  • Sarvam 105B$0.842
  • Mercury Edit 2$4.00
  • Seed 1.6 Flash$0.668
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Sarvam 105B, Mercury Edit 2 or Seed 1.6 Flash?

Seed 1.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Sarvam 105B (65) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on inputs & features and 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, Sarvam 105B, Mercury Edit 2 or Seed 1.6 Flash?

Seed 1.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.223 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Sarvam 105B costs $0.047 input / $0.186 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); Mercury Edit 2 costs $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). 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 $0.082 for Sarvam 105B (1.1× as much) and $0.375 for Mercury Edit 2 (5.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Sarvam 105B has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and Seed 1.6 Flash has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sarvam 105B, Mercury Edit 2 and Seed 1.6 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Mercury Edit 2 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Seed 1.6 Flash has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Sarvam 105B and 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: Sarvam 105B up to 131,072, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Seed 1.6 Flash up to 32,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Sarvam 105B accepts text; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Seed 1.6 Flash accepts text and images. Seed 1.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Sarvam 105B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury Edit 2 and Seed 1.6 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mercury Edit 2 is the newest, released Mar 30, 2026. Sarvam 105B came out Sep 1, 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.