Seed Character vs Ornith 1.5 35B A3B vs Gemma 4 12B IT
Seed Character comes out ahead, 73 to 70 and 66 on our weighted score, though Gemma 4 12B IT is 23% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed Character
73/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $0.297
- Context256K
DeepReinforce
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B
66/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context262K
GoogleGemma 4 12B IT
70/100- ECI—
- Price$0.075 / $0.275
- Context262K
Seed Character is our pick
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Gemma 4 12B IT (70) and Ornith 1.5 35B A3B (66). It leads on inputs & features. Gemma 4 12B IT wins 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 priceGemma 4 12B ITGemma 4 12B IT $0.125 · Seed Character $0.163 · Ornith 1.5 35B A3B $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextOrnith 1.5 35B A3B and Gemma 4 12B ITOrnith 1.5 35B A3B 262,144 · Gemma 4 12B IT 262,144 · Seed Character 256,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSeed CharacterSeed Character: Text, Images, Video · Ornith 1.5 35B A3B: Text, Images · Gemma 4 12B IT: Text, Images
- Self-hostingOrnith 1.5 35B A3B and Gemma 4 12B ITPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Seed Character | Ornith 1.5 35B A3B | Gemma 4 12B IT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 84 | 82 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 80 | 60 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 66/100 | 70/100 |
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 | Ornith 1.5 35B A3BDeepReinforce | Gemma 4 12B ITGoogle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.119 | $0.10 | $0.075 (best) |
| Output | $0.297 | $0.40 | $0.275 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.024 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.163 | $0.175 | $0.125 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $0.891 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Volcengine Ark API | Median of 1 providers | Median of 2 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 256,000 tokens (best) | — | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · high | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenMIT | Open |
| API model ID | doubao-seed-character-260628 | — | — |
| API providers | 3 (best) | 1 | 2 |
| Released | Jun 23, 2026 | Aug 18, 2026 | Jun 9, 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
- Ornith 1.5 35B A3B$1.80
- Gemma 4 12B IT$1.30
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Seed Character, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B or Gemma 4 12B IT?
Seed Character is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Gemma 4 12B IT (70) and Ornith 1.5 35B A3B (66). It leads on inputs & features. Gemma 4 12B IT wins 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 Character, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B or Gemma 4 12B IT?
Gemma 4 12B IT is cheaper at $0.075 input / $0.275 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Seed Character costs $0.119 input / $0.297 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price); Ornith 1.5 35B A3B costs $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.125 per million tokens for Gemma 4 12B IT versus $0.163 for Seed Character (1.3× as much) and $0.175 for Ornith 1.5 35B A3B (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Seed Character has not been scored yet, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B has not been scored yet and Gemma 4 12B IT has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed Character, Ornith 1.5 35B A3B and Gemma 4 12B IT 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?
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B and Gemma 4 12B IT have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 256,000 for Seed Character. Maximum output per response: Seed Character up to 256,000, Gemma 4 12B IT up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Seed Character accepts text, images and video; Ornith 1.5 35B A3B accepts text and images; Gemma 4 12B IT accepts text and images. Seed Character handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B and Gemma 4 12B IT publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Seed Character is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B is the newest, released Aug 18, 2026. Seed Character came out Jun 23, 2026; Gemma 4 12B IT came out Jun 9, 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 Nov 2, 2026.
