Seed 1.6 vs GPT-5.1 Chat vs Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT
Seed 1.6 comes out ahead, 55 to 39 and 38 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6
55/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
OpenAIGPT-5.1 Chat
38/100- ECI—
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context128K
AI Singapore
Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT
39/100- ECI—
- Price$0.351 / $0.555
- Context128K
Seed 1.6 is our pick
Seed 1.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT (39) and GPT-5.1 Chat (38). It leads on context window. GPT-5.1 Chat wins 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 priceSeed 1.6Seed 1.6 $0.386 · Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT $0.402 · GPT-5.1 Chat $3.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSeed 1.6Seed 1.6 256,000 · GPT-5.1 Chat 128,000 · Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-5.1 ChatSeed 1.6: Text · GPT-5.1 Chat: Text, Images · Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT: Text
- Self-hostingGemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-ITPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Seed 1.6 | GPT-5.1 Chat | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 69 | 24 | 69 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 70 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 55/100 | 38/100 | 39/100 |
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 1.6ByteDance Seed | GPT-5.1 ChatOpenAI | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-ITAI Singapore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.119 (best) | $1.25 | $0.351 |
| Output | $1.19 | $10.00 | $0.555 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.024 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.386 (best) | $3.44 | $0.402 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 2 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 16,384 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | No |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-1-6-251015 | — | — |
| API providers | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Released | Oct 15, 2025 | Nov 13, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Sep 30, 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$3.56
- GPT-5.1 Chat$32.50
- Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT$4.62
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 1.6, GPT-5.1 Chat or Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT?
Seed 1.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT (39) and GPT-5.1 Chat (38). It leads on context window. GPT-5.1 Chat wins 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, GPT-5.1 Chat or Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT?
Seed 1.6 is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT costs $0.351 input / $0.555 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); GPT-5.1 Chat costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.386 per million tokens for Seed 1.6 versus $0.402 for Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT (1× as much) and $3.44 for GPT-5.1 Chat (8.9× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Seed 1.6 has not been scored yet, GPT-5.1 Chat has not been scored yet and Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 1.6, GPT-5.1 Chat and Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Seed 1.6 has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-5.1 Chat and 128,000 for Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT. Maximum output per response: Seed 1.6 up to 64,000, GPT-5.1 Chat up to 16,384, Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 1.6 accepts text; GPT-5.1 Chat accepts text and images; Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT accepts text. GPT-5.1 Chat handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 and GPT-5.1 Chat is proprietary.
Which is newer?
GPT-5.1 Chat is the newest, released Nov 13, 2025. Seed 1.6 came out Oct 15, 2025; Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.1 Chat Sep 30, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
