SIDE BY SIDE
Seed 1.6 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo
Both are ByteDance Seed models. Seed 2.1 Turbo was added to OpenRouter on 2026-08-12, Seed 1.6 on 2025-12-23.
| Field | Seed 1.6 | Seed 2.1 Turbo |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ByteDance Seed | ByteDance Seed |
| Family | ByteDance Seed | ByteDance Seed |
| Province | Maple Highlands | Maple Highlands |
| Context window | 262K tokens | 262K tokens |
| Maximum output | 33K tokens | 236K tokens |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.250 | $0.500 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.50 |
| Accepts | text, images, video | text, images, video |
| Produces | text | text |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Added to OpenRouter | 2025-12-23 | 2026-08-12 |
| Model ID | bytedance-seed/seed-1.6 | bytedance-seed/seed-2-1-turbo |
Questions and answers
Which is cheaper, Seed 1.6 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?
Seed 1.6 costs less for both input ($0.250 vs $0.500) and output ($2.00 vs $2.50) per million tokens. On input, Seed 1.6 is 50% cheaper.
Which has the larger context window?
Both have a 262K-token context window.
What can one do that the other cannot?
Nothing among reasoning, tool use and image input: both support reasoning, tool use and image input.
Answers are computed from the 2026-10-24 catalog snapshot.