ByteDance Seed lists 6 models and Inference.net 2. Inference.net is cheaper on a typical model ($0.08 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| ByteDance Seed | Inference.net | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 6 | 2 |
| Models with published pricing | 6 | 2 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.69 | $0.08 |
| Cheapest paid model | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash ($0.13) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06) |
| Longest context | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 (262K) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small (128K) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | ByteDance Seed: Seed 2.1 Turbo (2026-08-12) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small (2026-09-12) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | ByteDance Seed | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $11.63 with ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash | $5.25 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $12.00 with ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash | $5.10 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $12.60 with ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $7.80 with ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash | $3.30 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $4.05 with ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash | $1.65 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| You need | ByteDance Seed | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash ($0.13) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06) |
| With tool calling | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash ($0.13) | none listed |
| With image input | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash ($0.13) | none listed |
| With reasoning mode | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash ($0.13) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash ($0.13) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06) |
| 1M+ context | none listed | none listed |
| Model type | ByteDance Seed | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+video->text | 6 | 0 |
| text->text | 0 | 2 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | ByteDance Seed | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 2 | 2 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 4 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Inference.net is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.08 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.69 for ByteDance Seed. The cheapest paid models are ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 Flash at $0.13 and Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo at $0.06.
It depends on the job: ByteDance Seed offers the broader line-up (6 models vs 2), Inference.net the lower typical price, ByteDance Seed the longest context (262K tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
ByteDance Seed: ByteDance Seed lists 6 models and Inference.net lists 2.
ByteDance Seed: ByteDance Seed's longest is ByteDance Seed: Seed 1.6 at 262K tokens; Inference.net's is Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small at 128K.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
ByteDance Seed: 6 of 6 models accept images. Inference.net: 0 of 2.