Seed 1.6 Vision vs Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct
Seed 1.6 Vision comes out ahead, 56 to 40 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Vision
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
- ByteDance Seed
Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct
40/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context524K
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 56/100 against Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct (40). It leads on inputs & features. Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct wins on context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct unpriced
- Longest contextSeed-OSS-36B-InstructSeed-OSS-36B-Instruct 524,288 · Seed 1.6 Vision 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 1.6 VisionSeed 1.6 Vision: Text, Images · Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingSeed-OSS-36B-InstructPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 1.6 Vision | Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 70 | 35 |
| Context window | 40% | 36 | 49 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 40/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. 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 | Seed-OSS-36B-InstructByteDance Seed |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 71.5% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 67.5% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.119 | — |
| Output | $1.19 | — |
| Cached input | $0.024 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.386 | — |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 | — |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | — |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 524,288 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,000 tokens | 524,288 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-1-6-vision-250815 | — |
| API providers | 2 | — |
| Released | Aug 15, 2025 | Aug 20, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jul 2024 |
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
- Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct—
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 1.6 Vision or Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct?
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct (40). It leads on inputs & features. Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct wins on context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. 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 Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct?
Seed 1.6 Vision is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark 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 . Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct has no published per-token price.
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 Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 1.6 Vision and Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 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-OSS-36B-Instruct has the largest context window at 524,288 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6 Vision. Maximum output per response: Seed 1.6 Vision up to 32,000, Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct up to 524,288 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 1.6 Vision accepts text and images; Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct accepts text. Seed 1.6 Vision handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 Vision is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct is the newest, released Aug 20, 2025. Seed 1.6 Vision came out Aug 15, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct Jul 2024.
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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