Seed 1.6 Flash vs Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)
Seed 1.6 Flash comes out ahead, 81 to 72 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Flash
81/100- ECI—
- Price$0.022 / $0.223
- Context256K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)
72/100- ECI—
- Price$0.022 / $0.215
- Context262K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Seed 1.6 Flash is our pick
Seed 1.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 81/100 against Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) (72). It leads on 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 priceQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) $0.07 · Seed 1.6 Flash $0.072 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 262,144 · Seed 1.6 Flash 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 1.6 FlashSeed 1.6 Flash: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud): Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Seed 1.6 Flash | Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 100 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 50 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 81/100 | 72/100 |
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 | Seed 1.6 FlashByteDance Seed | Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)Alibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.022 | $0.022 (best) |
| Output | $0.223 | $0.215 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.0044 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.072 | $0.07 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.045 / $0.445 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-1-6-flash-250828 | — |
| API providers | 5 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Aug 28, 2025 | Oct 15, 2025 |
| 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.
- Seed 1.6 Flash$0.668
- Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)$0.65
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 1.6 Flash or Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)?
Seed 1.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 81/100 against Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) (72). It leads on 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, Seed 1.6 Flash or Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud)?
Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is cheaper at $0.022 input / $0.215 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Seed 1.6 Flash costs $0.022 input / $0.223 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.07 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) versus $0.072 for Seed 1.6 Flash (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Seed 1.6 Flash has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 1.6 Flash and Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) 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?
Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6 Flash. Maximum output per response: Seed 1.6 Flash up to 32,000, Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 1.6 Flash accepts text, images and video; Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) accepts text and images. Seed 1.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Seed 1.6 Flash and Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 VL Flash (Alibaba Cloud) is the newest, released Oct 15, 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 Nov 2, 2026.
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