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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Trinity Large Thinking vs Seed 1.8

Seed 1.8 comes out ahead, 63 to 55 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Arcee AI

    Trinity Large Thinking

    Released Apr 1, 2026Beta

    55/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.80
    • Context524K
    Full specs Remove Trinity Large Thinking
  2. Our pick

    ByteDance Seed

    Seed 1.8

    Released Dec 28, 2025

    63/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.119 / $1.19
    • Context256K
    Full specs Remove Seed 1.8

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Seed 1.8 is our pick

Seed 1.8 is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Trinity Large Thinking (55). It leads on inputs & features. Trinity Large Thinking wins on context window. 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 1.8Seed 1.8 $0.386 · Trinity Large Thinking $0.388 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextTrinity Large ThinkingTrinity Large Thinking 524,288 · Seed 1.8 256,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSeed 1.8Trinity Large Thinking: Text · Seed 1.8: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingTrinity Large ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights (OpenMDW-1.1)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightTrinity Large ThinkingSeed 1.8
Price50%6969
Inputs & features30%3570
Context window20%4936
Overall100%55/10063/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. 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.

Trinity Large Thinking vs Seed 1.8 specifications side by side
SpecificationTrinity Large ThinkingArcee AISeed 1.8ByteDance Seed
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.25$0.119 (best)
Output$0.80 (best)$1.19
Cached input$0.06$0.024 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.388$0.386 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.178 / $2.37
Price sourceOfficial Arcee APIOfficial Volcengine Ark API
Limits
Context window524,288 tokens (best)256,000 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens (best)64,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenMDW-1.1Proprietary
API model IDtrinity-large-thinkingdoubao-seed-1-8-251228
API providers6 (best)2
ReleasedApr 1, 2026Dec 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Trinity Large Thinking$4.10
  • Seed 1.8$3.56
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Trinity Large Thinking or Seed 1.8?

Seed 1.8 is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Trinity Large Thinking (55). It leads on inputs & features. Trinity Large Thinking wins on context window. 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, Trinity Large Thinking or Seed 1.8?

Seed 1.8 is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). Trinity Large Thinking costs $0.25 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Arcee API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.386 per million tokens for Seed 1.8 versus $0.388 for Trinity Large Thinking (1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Trinity Large Thinking has not been scored yet and Seed 1.8 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Trinity Large Thinking and Seed 1.8 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?

Trinity Large Thinking has the largest context window at 524,288 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.8. Maximum output per response: Trinity Large Thinking up to 262,144, Seed 1.8 up to 64,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Trinity Large Thinking accepts text; Seed 1.8 accepts text and images. Seed 1.8 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Trinity Large Thinking publishes its weights (OpenMDW-1.1) and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.8 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Trinity Large Thinking is the newest, released Apr 1, 2026. Seed 1.8 came out Dec 28, 2025.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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