Seed 2.1 Turbo vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B vs Motif 3
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B comes out ahead, 71 to 57 and 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.1 Turbo
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.445 / $2.23
- Context256K
- Our pick
NVIDIANemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.05 / $0.20
- Context262K
Motif Technologies
Motif 3
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $2.00
- Context262K
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is our pick
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Seed 2.1 Turbo (57) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on price. Seed 2.1 Turbo 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 priceNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B $0.087 · Motif 3 $0.875 · Seed 2.1 Turbo $0.891 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Motif 3Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 262,144 · Motif 3 262,144 · Seed 2.1 Turbo 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.1 TurboSeed 2.1 Turbo: Text, Images, Video · Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B: Text · Motif 3: Text
- Self-hostingNemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Motif 3Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B | Motif 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 52 | 100 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 45 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 71/100 | 44/100 |
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 | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3BNVIDIA | Motif 3Motif Technologies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.445 | $0.05 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.23 | $0.20 (best) | $2.00 |
| Cached input | $0.089 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.891 | $0.087 (best) | $0.875 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 9 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 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 | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | OpenMIT |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-2-1-turbo-260628 | nvidia/nemotron-3.5-lightning-30b-a3b | — |
| API providers | 4 | 12 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | Aug 11, 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
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B$0.90
- Motif 3$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.1 Turbo, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Motif 3?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Seed 2.1 Turbo (57) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on price. Seed 2.1 Turbo 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 2.1 Turbo, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B or Motif 3?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers; free on Nvidia). 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 $0.087 per million tokens for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B versus $0.875 for Motif 3 (10× as much) and $0.891 for Seed 2.1 Turbo (10× 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, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 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, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B 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?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Motif 3 have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Seed 2.1 Turbo. Maximum output per response: Seed 2.1 Turbo up to 256,000, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B up to 262,144, Motif 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts text, images and video; Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B accepts text; Motif 3 accepts text. Seed 2.1 Turbo handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B and Motif 3 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Seed 2.1 Turbo is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B is the newest, released Aug 11, 2026. Motif 3 came out Aug 7, 2026; Seed 2.1 Turbo came out Jun 23, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
