Seed 1.6 Vision vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B vs GLM-4.5-Air
Too close to call on our weighted score (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65, Seed 1.6 Vision 63, GLM-4.5-Air 49). The right pick depends on what you value most.
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Vision
63/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
NVIDIALlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B
65/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context128K
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-4.5-Air
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.10
- Context131K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65/100, Seed 1.6 Vision 63/100, GLM-4.5-Air 49/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B on price and Seed 1.6 Vision 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 priceLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B Free · Seed 1.6 Vision $0.386 · GLM-4.5-Air $0.425 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSeed 1.6 VisionSeed 1.6 Vision 256,000 · GLM-4.5-Air 131,072 · Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 1.6 VisionSeed 1.6 Vision: Text, Images · Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B: Text · GLM-4.5-Air: Text
- Self-hostingLlama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and GLM-4.5-AirPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Seed 1.6 Vision | Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B | GLM-4.5-Air |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 69 | 100 | 68 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 63/100 | 65/100 | 49/100 |
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 VisionByteDance Seed | Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BNVIDIA | GLM-4.5-AirZ.ai (Zhipu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.119 | Free (best) | $0.20 |
| Output | $1.19 | Free (best) | $1.10 |
| Cached input | $0.024 (best) | — | $0.03 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.386 | Free (best) | $0.425 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official Nvidia API | Official Z.AI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 32,000 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 98,304 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-1-6-vision-250815 | nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-ultra-253b-v1 | glm-4.5-air |
| API providers | 2 | 1 | 13 (best) |
| Released | Aug 15, 2025 | Apr 7, 2025 | Jul 28, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | Apr 2025 |
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 Vision$3.56
- Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253BFree
- GLM-4.5-Air$4.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 1.6 Vision, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or GLM-4.5-Air?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 65/100, Seed 1.6 Vision 63/100, GLM-4.5-Air 49/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B on price and Seed 1.6 Vision 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, Seed 1.6 Vision, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B or GLM-4.5-Air?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price). Seed 1.6 Vision costs $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); GLM-4.5-Air costs $0.20 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B is listed as free.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Seed 1.6 Vision has not been scored yet, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B has not been scored yet and GLM-4.5-Air has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 1.6 Vision, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and GLM-4.5-Air 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?
Seed 1.6 Vision has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 131,072 for GLM-4.5-Air and 128,000 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B. Maximum output per response: Seed 1.6 Vision up to 32,000, Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B up to 8,192, GLM-4.5-Air up to 98,304 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 1.6 Vision accepts text and images; Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B accepts text; GLM-4.5-Air accepts text. Seed 1.6 Vision handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B and GLM-4.5-Air publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 Vision is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed 1.6 Vision is the newest, released Aug 15, 2025. GLM-4.5-Air came out Jul 28, 2025; Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B came out Apr 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GLM-4.5-Air Apr 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.
