Seed 2.0 Pro vs Nova 2 Lite vs MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed
Nova 2 Lite comes out ahead, 62 to 57 and 41 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.0 Pro
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.475 / $2.37
- Context256K
- Our pick
AmazonNova 2 Lite
62/100- ECI—
- Price$0.33 / $2.75
- Context1M
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.5-highspeed
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $2.40
- Context205K
Nova 2 Lite is our pick
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Seed 2.0 Pro (57) and MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed (41). It leads on context window. 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 priceNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite $0.935 · Seed 2.0 Pro $0.95 · MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed $1.05 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNova 2 LiteNova 2 Lite 1,000,000 · Seed 2.0 Pro 256,000 · MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsNova 2 LiteSeed 2.0 Pro: Text, Images, Video · Nova 2 Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed: Text
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M2.5-highspeedPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.0 Pro | Nova 2 Lite | MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 51 | 51 | 49 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 60 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 62/100 | 41/100 |
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 ProByteDance Seed | Nova 2 LiteAmazon | MiniMax-M2.5-highspeedMiniMax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.475 | $0.33 (best) | $0.60 |
| Output | $2.37 (best) | $2.75 | $2.40 |
| Cached input | $0.095 | $0.083 | $0.06 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.95 | $0.935 (best) | $1.05 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.712 / $3.56 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official Amazon Bedrock API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 204,800 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-2-0-pro-260215 | amazon.nova-2-lite-v1:0 | MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed |
| API providers | 5 | 2 | 7 (best) |
| Released | Feb 14, 2026 | Dec 2, 2025 | Feb 13, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Oct 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 Pro$9.50
- Nova 2 Lite$8.80
- MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed$10.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.0 Pro, Nova 2 Lite or MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed?
Nova 2 Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against Seed 2.0 Pro (57) and MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed (41). It leads on context window. 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 Pro, Nova 2 Lite or MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed?
Nova 2 Lite is cheaper at $0.33 input / $2.75 output per million tokens (official Amazon Bedrock API price). Seed 2.0 Pro costs $0.475 input / $2.37 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed costs $0.60 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.935 per million tokens for Nova 2 Lite versus $0.95 for Seed 2.0 Pro (1× as much) and $1.05 for MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Seed 2.0 Pro has not been scored yet, Nova 2 Lite has not been scored yet and MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 2.0 Pro, Nova 2 Lite and MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed 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?
Nova 2 Lite has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 2.0 Pro and 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed. Maximum output per response: Seed 2.0 Pro up to 128,000, Nova 2 Lite up to 65,536, MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.0 Pro accepts text, images and video; Nova 2 Lite accepts text, images, PDFs and video; MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed accepts text. Nova 2 Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.0 Pro and Nova 2 Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Seed 2.0 Pro is the newest, released Feb 14, 2026. MiniMax-M2.5-highspeed came out Feb 13, 2026; Nova 2 Lite came out Dec 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Nova 2 Lite Oct 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.
