Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Seed 2.1 Turbo delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,472 vs 1,358), while DeepSeek R1 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (65.2%), while DeepSeek R1 is more budget-friendly at $2.5/1M per 1M output tokens, while Seed 2.1 Turbo provides faster response streaming (160 tok/s). Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
8 benchmarks evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Open-weights reasoning model trained with large-scale RL.
ByteDance Seed 2.1 Turbo, listed on public model timelines as an Aug 10 2026 API drop.
Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost
Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.
Δ 114 Arena Elo pts
160 tok/s
$2.5 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top standard models across 6 key capability dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | DeepSeek R1 | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +114 | ||
| Coding Elo | — | — | |
| LiveBench | +5.8% | ||
| SWE-bench | +2% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +3% | ||
| Time to first token | +300 ms | ||
| Output speed | 62 tok/s | 160 tok/s | +98 tok/s |
| Input price | $0.7/1M | $0.5/1M | +$0.2/1M |
| Output price | $2.5/1M | $2.5/1M | — |
| Context window | +198k |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Seed 2.1 Turbo is estimated to save $7.00/month ($84/year).
Higher SWE-bench (65.2%).
Lower output list price ($2.5/1M).
Lower TTFT (120 ms).
Larger window (262k).
Seed 2.1 Turbo is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | DeepSeek R1 | Higher SWE-bench (65.2%). |
| High-volume chat | DeepSeek R1 | Lower output list price ($2.5/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Lower TTFT (120 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Larger window (262k). |
| Screenshots / vision | Seed 2.1 Turbo | Seed 2.1 Turbo is the side marked multimodal in the catalog. |
Listed on public model timelines as an Aug 10 2026 API drop. Preview-quality story, indexable because we have a full snapshot.
Jan 2025 reasoning model. Still searched. V4 Pro is the newer DeepSeek buy.
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