Seed 1.6 Vision vs Qwen3-VL Plus
Seed 1.6 Vision comes out ahead, 63 to 56 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Vision
63/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Seed 1.6 Vision is our pick
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Qwen3-VL Plus (56). 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 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Seed 1.6 Vision 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsSeed 1.6 Vision: Text, Images · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Seed 1.6 Vision | Qwen3-VL Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 69 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 63/100 | 56/100 |
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 | Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.119 (best) | $0.20 |
| Output | $1.19 (best) | $1.60 |
| Cached input | $0.024 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.386 (best) | $0.55 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official Alibaba API |
| 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 | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-1-6-vision-250815 | qwen3-vl-plus |
| API providers | 2 | 6 (best) |
| Released | Aug 15, 2025 | Sep 23, 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
- Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 1.6 Vision or Qwen3-VL Plus?
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Qwen3-VL Plus (56). 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, Seed 1.6 Vision or Qwen3-VL Plus?
Seed 1.6 Vision is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Qwen3-VL Plus costs $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Seed 1.6 Vision has not been scored yet and Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 1.6 Vision and Qwen3-VL Plus 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 Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6 Vision. Maximum output per response: Seed 1.6 Vision up to 32,000, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 1.6 Vision accepts text and images; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. Seed 1.6 Vision and Qwen3-VL Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Seed 1.6 Vision came out Aug 15, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL Plus 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.
