Seed 2.1 Turbo vs Qwen3.8 Max Preview vs Motif 3
Seed 2.1 Turbo comes out ahead, 57 to 47 and 44 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.1 Turbo
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.445 / $2.23
- Context256K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max Preview
47/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
Motif Technologies
Motif 3
44/100- 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 57/100 against Qwen3.8 Max Preview (47) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3.8 Max Preview wins 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 priceMotif 3Motif 3 $0.875 · Seed 2.1 Turbo $0.891 · Qwen3.8 Max Preview $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview 1,000,000 · Motif 3 262,144 · Seed 2.1 Turbo 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.1 Turbo and Qwen3.8 Max PreviewSeed 2.1 Turbo: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.8 Max Preview: Text, Images, Video · Motif 3: Text
- Self-hostingMotif 3Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Qwen3.8 Max Preview | Motif 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 52 | 27 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 70 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 47/100 | 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 | Qwen3.8 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | Motif 3Motif Technologies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.445 (best) | $2.00 | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.23 | $6.00 | $2.00 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.089 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.891 | $3.00 | $0.875 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 6 providers | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | 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 | 4 | 6 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | Jul 19, 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
- Qwen3.8 Max Preview$32.00
- Motif 3$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.1 Turbo, Qwen3.8 Max Preview or Motif 3?
Seed 2.1 Turbo is the better all-round choice, scoring 57/100 against Qwen3.8 Max Preview (47) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen3.8 Max Preview wins 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 2.1 Turbo, Qwen3.8 Max Preview or Motif 3?
Motif 3 is cheaper at $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); Qwen3.8 Max Preview costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.875 per million tokens for Motif 3 versus $0.891 for Seed 2.1 Turbo (1× as much) and $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max Preview (3.4× 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, Qwen3.8 Max Preview 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, Qwen3.8 Max Preview 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?
Qwen3.8 Max Preview has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Motif 3 and 256,000 for Seed 2.1 Turbo. Maximum output per response: Seed 2.1 Turbo up to 256,000, Qwen3.8 Max Preview up to 131,072, Motif 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.8 Max Preview accepts text, images and video; 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 Qwen3.8 Max Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Motif 3 is the newest, released Aug 7, 2026. Qwen3.8 Max Preview came out Jul 19, 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.
