Seed 2.0 Mini vs Step 3.5 Flash vs Ministral 3 3B
Seed 2.0 Mini comes out ahead, 80 to 74 and 62 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.0 Mini
80/100- ECI—
- Price$0.03 / $0.297
- Context256K
StepFunStep 3.5 Flash
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.30
- Context256K
Mistral AIMinistral 3 3B
74/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.10
- Context262K
Seed 2.0 Mini is our pick
Seed 2.0 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Ministral 3 3B (74) and Step 3.5 Flash (62). 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 priceSeed 2.0 MiniSeed 2.0 Mini $0.097 · Ministral 3 3B $0.10 · Step 3.5 Flash $0.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 3 3BMinistral 3 3B 262,144 · Seed 2.0 Mini 256,000 · Step 3.5 Flash 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.0 MiniSeed 2.0 Mini: Text, Images, Video · Step 3.5 Flash: Text · Ministral 3 3B: Text, Images
- Self-hostingStep 3.5 Flash and Ministral 3 3BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.0 Mini | Step 3.5 Flash | Ministral 3 3B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 98 | 89 | 97 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 35 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 80/100 | 62/100 | 74/100 |
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 2.0 MiniByteDance Seed | Step 3.5 FlashStepFun | Ministral 3 3BMistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.03 (best) | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Output | $0.297 | $0.30 | $0.10 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.0059 (best) | $0.02 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.097 (best) | $0.15 | $0.10 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.059 / $0.594 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official StepFun (Global) API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-2-0-mini-260428 | step-3.5-flash | — |
| API providers | 8 (best) | 8 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Feb 14, 2026 | Jan 29, 2026 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Jan 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 2.0 Mini$0.891
- Step 3.5 Flash$1.60
- Ministral 3 3B$1.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.0 Mini, Step 3.5 Flash or Ministral 3 3B?
Seed 2.0 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Ministral 3 3B (74) and Step 3.5 Flash (62). 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 2.0 Mini, Step 3.5 Flash or Ministral 3 3B?
Seed 2.0 Mini is cheaper at $0.03 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Ministral 3 3B costs $0.10 input / $0.10 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Step 3.5 Flash costs $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official StepFun (Global) API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.097 per million tokens for Seed 2.0 Mini versus $0.10 for Ministral 3 3B (1× as much) and $0.15 for Step 3.5 Flash (1.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Seed 2.0 Mini has not been scored yet, Step 3.5 Flash has not been scored yet and Ministral 3 3B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 2.0 Mini, Step 3.5 Flash and Ministral 3 3B 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?
Ministral 3 3B has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 2.0 Mini and 256,000 for Step 3.5 Flash. Maximum output per response: Seed 2.0 Mini up to 32,000, Step 3.5 Flash up to 256,000, Ministral 3 3B up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.0 Mini accepts text, images and video; Step 3.5 Flash accepts text; Ministral 3 3B accepts text and images. Seed 2.0 Mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Step 3.5 Flash and Ministral 3 3B publishes its weights (Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.0 Mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed 2.0 Mini is the newest, released Feb 14, 2026. Step 3.5 Flash came out Jan 29, 2026; Ministral 3 3B came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Step 3.5 Flash Jan 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.
