Seed 2.1 Turbo vs Aion-3.0-Mini vs Motif 3
Seed 2.1 Turbo comes out ahead, 56 to 43 and 41 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.1 Turbo
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.445 / $2.23
- Context256K
Aion Labs
Aion-3.0-Mini
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.70 / $1.40
- Context131K
Motif Technologies
Motif 3
43/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $2.00
- Context262K
Seed 2.1 Turbo is our pick
Seed 2.1 Turbo is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Motif 3 (43) and Aion-3.0-Mini (41). 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 priceAion-3.0-Mini and Motif 3Aion-3.0-Mini $0.875 · Motif 3 $0.875 · Seed 2.1 Turbo $0.891 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMotif 3Motif 3 262,144 · Seed 2.1 Turbo 256,000 · Aion-3.0-Mini 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.1 TurboSeed 2.1 Turbo: Text, Images, Video · Aion-3.0-Mini: Text · Motif 3: Text
- Self-hostingMotif 3Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Aion-3.0-Mini | Motif 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 25 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 41/100 | 43/100 |
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 2.1 TurboByteDance Seed | Aion-3.0-MiniAion Labs | Motif 3Motif Technologies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.445 (best) | $0.70 | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.23 | $1.40 (best) | $2.00 |
| Cached input | $0.089 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.891 | $0.875 (best) | $0.875 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 4 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | OpenMIT |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-2-1-turbo-260628 | — | — |
| API providers | 8 (best) | 4 | 1 |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | May 14, 2026 | Aug 7, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Seed 2.1 Turbo$8.91
- Aion-3.0-Mini$9.80
- Motif 3$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.1 Turbo, Aion-3.0-Mini or Motif 3?
Seed 2.1 Turbo is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Motif 3 (43) and Aion-3.0-Mini (41). 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 2.1 Turbo, Aion-3.0-Mini or Motif 3?
Aion-3.0-Mini is cheaper at $0.70 input / $1.40 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). Motif 3 costs $0.50 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Seed 2.1 Turbo costs $0.445 input / $2.23 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.875 per million tokens for Aion-3.0-Mini versus $0.875 for Motif 3 (1× as much) and $0.891 for Seed 2.1 Turbo (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Seed 2.1 Turbo has not been scored yet, Aion-3.0-Mini has not been scored yet and Motif 3 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed 2.1 Turbo, Aion-3.0-Mini and Motif 3 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?
Motif 3 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 2.1 Turbo and 131,072 for Aion-3.0-Mini. Maximum output per response: Seed 2.1 Turbo up to 256,000, Aion-3.0-Mini up to 32,768, Motif 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts text, images and video; Aion-3.0-Mini accepts text; Motif 3 accepts text. Seed 2.1 Turbo handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Motif 3 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.1 Turbo and Aion-3.0-Mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Motif 3 is the newest, released Aug 7, 2026. Seed 2.1 Turbo came out Jun 23, 2026; Aion-3.0-Mini came out May 14, 2026.
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.
