Seed Character vs Hy3
Seed Character comes out ahead, 75 to 58 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed Character
75/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $0.297
- Context256K
TencentHy3
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.132 / $0.53
- Context256K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Seed Character is our pick
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Hy3 (58). It leads on price and 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 priceSeed CharacterSeed Character $0.163 · Hy3 $0.232 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameSeed Character 256,000 · Hy3 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed CharacterSeed Character: Text, Images, Video · Hy3: Text
- Self-hostingHy3Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Seed Character | Hy3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 87 | 80 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 75/100 | 58/100 |
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 CharacterByteDance Seed | Hy3Tencent |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.119 (best) | $0.132 |
| Output | $0.297 (best) | $0.53 |
| Cached input | $0.024 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.163 (best) | $0.232 |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $0.891 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 15 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · high | Yeshigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-character-260628 | hy3 |
| API providers | 2 | 18 (best) |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | Jul 6, 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 Character$1.78
- Hy3$2.38
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed Character or Hy3?
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Hy3 (58). It leads on price and 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 Character or Hy3?
Seed Character is cheaper at $0.119 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Hy3 costs $0.132 input / $0.53 output per million tokens (median across 15 API providers; free on Tencent TokenHub). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.163 per million tokens for Seed Character versus $0.232 for Hy3 (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Seed Character has not been scored yet and Hy3 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed Character and Hy3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Seed Character and Hy3 share the same 256,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Seed Character up to 256,000, Hy3 up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed Character accepts text, images and video; Hy3 accepts text. Seed Character handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Hy3 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed Character is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Hy3 is the newest, released Jul 6, 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.
