ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct vs DeepSeek-R1

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct comes out ahead, 60 to 52 on our weighted score.

  1. Our pick

    ByteDance Seed

    Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct

    Released Aug 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI—
    • Price—
    • Context524K
    Full specs Remove Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI138.8
    • Price$0.70 / $4.88
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct is our pick

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (52). It leads on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilitySeed-OSS-36B-InstructShared benchmarks: Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 69.5% · DeepSeek-R1 62.5%
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct unpriced
  • Longest contextSeed-OSS-36B-InstructSeed-OSS-36B-Instruct 524,288 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsSeed-OSS-36B-Instruct: Text · DeepSeek-R1: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightSeed-OSS-36B-InstructDeepSeek-R1
CapabilityShared benchmarks67%7063
Inputs & features20%3535
Context window13%4924
Overall100%60/10052/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: price. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct vs DeepSeek-R1 specifications side by side
SpecificationSeed-OSS-36B-InstructByteDance SeedDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—138.8
ECI rank—#119 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.5%71.7% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics67.5% (best)53.3%
Price per million tokens
Input—$0.70
Output—$4.88
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)—$1.75
Long-context rate—Same rate
Price source—Median of 11 providers
Limits
Context window524,288 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output524,288 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache 2.0Open
API model ID——
API providers—12
ReleasedAug 20, 2025Jan 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Jul 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct—
  • DeepSeek-R1$16.76
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct or DeepSeek-R1?

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (52). It leads on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct or DeepSeek-R1?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $4.88 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.75 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus . Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct has no published per-token price.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025): Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 69.5% and DeepSeek-R1 62.5%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — DeepSeek-R1 71.7%, Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 71.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 67.5%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct and DeepSeek-R1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct has the largest context window at 524,288 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct up to 524,288, DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct accepts text; DeepSeek-R1 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct is the newest, released Aug 20, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct Jul 2024, DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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