Seed 2.1 Turbo vs Seed Character vs Motif 3
Seed Character comes out ahead, 75 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 pickByteDance Seed
Seed Character
75/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $0.297
- Context256K
Motif Technologies
Motif 3
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $2.00
- Context262K
Seed Character is our pick
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Seed 2.1 Turbo (57) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on price. 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 CharacterSeed Character $0.163 · 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 · Seed Character 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.1 Turbo and Seed CharacterSeed 2.1 Turbo: Text, Images, Video · Seed Character: Text, Images, Video · Motif 3: Text
- Self-hostingMotif 3Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Seed Character | Motif 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 52 | 87 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 75/100 | 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 | Seed CharacterByteDance Seed | Motif 3Motif Technologies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.445 | $0.119 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.23 | $0.297 (best) | $2.00 |
| Cached input | $0.089 | $0.024 (best) | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.891 | $0.163 (best) | $0.875 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $0.891 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens | 256,000 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 | Yesminimal · low · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | OpenMIT |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-2-1-turbo-260628 | doubao-seed-character-260628 | — |
| API providers | 4 (best) | 2 | 1 |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | Jun 23, 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
- Seed Character$1.78
- Motif 3$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.1 Turbo, Seed Character or Motif 3?
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Seed 2.1 Turbo (57) and Motif 3 (44). It leads on price. 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, Seed Character or Motif 3?
Seed Character is cheaper at $0.119 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). 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 $0.163 per million tokens for Seed Character versus $0.875 for Motif 3 (5.4× as much) and $0.891 for Seed 2.1 Turbo (5.5× 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, Seed Character 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, Seed Character 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 256,000 for Seed Character. Maximum output per response: Seed 2.1 Turbo up to 256,000, Seed Character up to 256,000, Motif 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts text, images and video; Seed Character 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 Seed Character is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Motif 3 is the newest, released Aug 7, 2026. Seed 2.1 Turbo came out Jun 23, 2026; Seed Character 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.
