Seed 2.1 Turbo vs Step 5 Preview vs Motif 3
Too close to call on our weighted score (Seed 2.1 Turbo 57, Step 5 Preview 57, Motif 3 44). The right pick depends on what you value most.
ByteDance SeedSeed 2.1 Turbo
57/100- ECI—
- Price$0.445 / $2.23
- Context256K
StepFunStep 5 Preview
57/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $2.70
- Context1M
Motif Technologies
Motif 3
44/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $2.00
- Context262K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Seed 2.1 Turbo 57/100, Step 5 Preview 57/100, Motif 3 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Motif 3 on price and Step 5 Preview for long inputs. 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 · Step 5 Preview $1.43 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextStep 5 PreviewStep 5 Preview 1,000,000 · Motif 3 262,144 · Seed 2.1 Turbo 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed 2.1 Turbo and Step 5 PreviewSeed 2.1 Turbo: Text, Images, Video · Step 5 Preview: Text, Images, Video · Motif 3: Text
- Self-hostingMotif 3Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Step 5 Preview | Motif 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 52 | 43 | 53 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 57/100 | 57/100 | 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 | Step 5 PreviewStepFun | Motif 3Motif Technologies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.445 (best) | $1.00 | $0.50 |
| Output | $2.23 | $2.70 | $2.00 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.089 | $0.05 (best) | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.891 | $1.43 | $0.875 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official StepFun (Global) API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| 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 | Yeslow · medium · 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 | step-5-preview | — |
| API providers | 4 | 7 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | Sep 16, 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
- Step 5 Preview$15.40
- Motif 3$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed 2.1 Turbo, Step 5 Preview or Motif 3?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Seed 2.1 Turbo 57/100, Step 5 Preview 57/100, Motif 3 44/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Motif 3 on price and Step 5 Preview for long inputs. 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, Step 5 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); Step 5 Preview costs $1.00 input / $2.70 output per million tokens (official StepFun (Global) API price). 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 $1.43 for Step 5 Preview (1.6× 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, Step 5 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, Step 5 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?
Step 5 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, Step 5 Preview up to 1,000,000, Motif 3 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts text, images and video; Step 5 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 Step 5 Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Step 5 Preview is the newest, released Sep 16, 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.
