Seed 2.0 Pro vs Gemini 4 Argon
Official ByteDance Seed and Google API prices and LMArena scores, checked 2026-10-29. Add up to 2 more models to compare 4.
Seed 2.0 Pro costs less; Gemini 4 Argon wins more LMArena tasks.
Seed 2.0 Pro is 4x cheaper on input and 3.3x cheaper on output. Gemini 4 Argon scores 100 points higher for chat. Across 4 shared LMArena tasks, Gemini 4 Argon leads 4 to 0. Gemini 4 Argon has the longer context window (1M vs 256K tokens). A medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) costs $25 on Seed 2.0 Pro and $90 on Gemini 4 Argon.
- Pick Seed 2.0 Pro if you want the lower bill ($25 vs $90 for a medium month).
- Pick Gemini 4 Argon if you care most about chat (+100), roleplay (+100) and reasoning and math (+100) or you need the 1M context window.
Medium: 20M input + 5M output tokens a month at list price (short-context rate, no caching or batch discounts).
Marked side is better: lower for prices, higher for context and scores. Bars are scaled to the larger of the two.
| Spec | Seed 2.0 Pro | Gemini 4 Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Input | $0.50 | $2 |
| Cached input | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Output | $3 | $10 |
| Blend 3:1 | $1.12 | $4 |
| Sample month, medium | $25 | $90 |
| Context | ||
| Context window | 256K tokens | 1M tokens |
| Quality (LMArena, out of 100) | ||
| Coding | Not ranked | 52/100 #8 of 50 |
| Chat | 0/100 #28 of 51 | 100/100 #1 of 51 |
| Creative writing | 0/100 #39 of 51 | 96/100 #2 of 51 |
| Roleplay and characters | 0/100 #34 of 51 | 100/100 #1 of 51 |
| Reasoning and math | 0/100 #33 of 51 | 100/100 #1 of 51 |
| Vision | 3/100 #20 of 33 | Not ranked |
| Long documents | Not ranked | Not ranked |
| Cheap bulk and agents | Not ranked | 73/100 #6 of 34 |
| Details | ||
| Provider | ByteDance Seed | |
| API model id | seed-2.0-pro | gemini-4-argon |
| Notes | BytePlus ModelArk price. Prompts up to 128K. Longer prompts cost $1 in, $6 out. | Launch price through Nov 30, 2026. From Dec 1: $4 in, $20 out. |
| Sources | ||
| Last checked | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-29 |
| Official pricing | ByteDance Seed pricing | Google pricing |
Plans from data checked hourly against each vendor's official pricing page. Vendors state limits in different units, so we quote them as published. Team and enterprise plans are per seat.
API prices in USD per 1M tokens from each provider's official pricing page. Blend 3:1 = (3 x input + output) / 4. Sample month = stated input and output tokens at the list price, no caching. Quality: relative score out of 100 on each LMArena leaderboard (100 = top model we price on that board, n/a = not ranked there), data licensed CC BY 4.0. See how we pick.
Where each one ranks on LMArena
Relative score out of 100 on each leaderboard (100 = the top model we price there), with the rank among the models from our API price table that appear on that board.
- Coding (Code Arena): Seed 2.0 Pro not ranked, Gemini 4 Argon #8 of 50 (52/100)
- Chat (Text Arena): Seed 2.0 Pro #28 of 51 (0/100), Gemini 4 Argon #1 of 51 (100/100)
- Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing): Seed 2.0 Pro #39 of 51 (0/100), Gemini 4 Argon #2 of 51 (96/100)
- Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn): Seed 2.0 Pro #34 of 51 (0/100), Gemini 4 Argon #1 of 51 (100/100)
- Reasoning and math (Text Arena math): Seed 2.0 Pro #33 of 51 (0/100), Gemini 4 Argon #1 of 51 (100/100)
- Vision (Vision Arena): Seed 2.0 Pro #20 of 33 (3/100), Gemini 4 Argon not ranked
- Long documents (Document Arena): Seed 2.0 Pro not ranked, Gemini 4 Argon not ranked
- Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena): Seed 2.0 Pro not ranked, Gemini 4 Argon #6 of 34 (73/100)
Pricing details from the official pages
Seed 2.0 Pro lists $0.50 input, $3 output, $0.10 cached input per 1M tokens on ByteDance Seed pricing. Gemini 4 Argon lists $2 input, $10 output, $0.10 cached input per 1M tokens on Google pricing. Prices checked 2026-10-29.
- Seed 2.0 Pro: BytePlus ModelArk price. Prompts up to 128K. Longer prompts cost $1 in, $6 out.
- Gemini 4 Argon: Launch price through Nov 30, 2026. From Dec 1: $4 in, $20 out.
Sample monthly bill at list price, no caching: Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $2.50 vs $9. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $25 vs $90. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $250 vs $900.
FAQ
Is Seed 2.0 Pro cheaper than Gemini 4 Argon?
Seed 2.0 Pro costs $0.50 input and $3 output per 1M tokens; Gemini 4 Argon costs $2 and $10. For a medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) Seed 2.0 Pro is cheaper: $25 vs $90.
Which is better for coding, Seed 2.0 Pro or Gemini 4 Argon?
Code Arena score: Seed 2.0 Pro n/a (not ranked), Gemini 4 Argon 52/100. We do not guess missing scores.
Which has the bigger context window?
Seed 2.0 Pro: 256K tokens. Gemini 4 Argon: 1M tokens. Long prompts can cost more; see the pricing notes above.
How much do Seed 2.0 Pro and Gemini 4 Argon cost per month?
Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $2.50 vs $9. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $25 vs $90. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $250 vs $900. Pick your own token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
Where do these numbers come from?
Prices come from each provider's official pricing page, checked daily. Quality is the relative score on the LMArena leaderboard dataset, licensed CC BY 4.0. Where a model is not ranked we show n/a.
Sources
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