Seed 2.0 Lite API pricing
Official ByteDance Seed list price, last checked Oct 29, 2026. Updated Oct 29, 2026.
Seed 2.0 Lite costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $2 per 1M output tokens, cached input at $0.05, and a 256K-token context window, per ByteDance Seed's official pricing page (checked Oct 29, 2026). It's priced in the middle of the pack: number 22 of 77 by blended price ($0.6875 per 1M tokens at a 3 to 1 input to output mix). LMArena doesn't list it on the boards we track, so we don't rank its quality. For less, look at Mistral Small 4 ($0.2625 blended).
Seed 2.0 Lite price per million tokens
| Seed 2.0 Lite price per million tokens | USD |
|---|---|
| Input | $0.25 |
| Cached input | $0.05 |
| Output | $2 |
| Blended, 3 parts input to 1 part output | $0.6875 |
| Context window | 256K tokens |
| Prompts above 128K | $0.50 in, $4 out |
Official note from ByteDance Seed: BytePlus ModelArk price. Prompts up to 128K. Longer prompts cost $0.50 in, $4 out.
What Seed 2.0 Lite costs for real work
List-price estimates for a month, no discounts. Our math, not a quote: change the token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
| Workload | Tokens a month | Seed 2.0 Lite | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B | Mistral Small 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light: a side project or personal assistant | 2M in, 0.5M out | $1.50 | $1.50 | $0.60 |
| Medium: a small team or one product feature | 20M in, 5M out | $15.00 | $15.00 | $6.00 |
| Heavy: a production app | 200M in, 50M out | $150 | $150 | $60.00 |
| Medium with 80% of input cached | 20M in (16M cached), 5M out | $11.80 | n/a | $3.84 |
| Medium, every prompt above the long-prompt threshold | 20M in, 5M out | $30.00 | $15.00 | $6.00 |
How Seed 2.0 Lite ranks on LMArena
It isn't on any LMArena board we track as of Oct 29, 2026. We don't estimate quality for unranked models. See the best model for each task for ranked options.
Closest rivals to Seed 2.0 Lite
The models nearest in price, other makers first. Ranks are on LMArena, where we have them.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.5 35B-A3B | $0.25 / $2 | $0.6875 | Same price, no score to separate them. Compare |
| Qwen3.7 Plus | $0.40 / $1.60 | $0.70 | Same price, no score to separate them. Compare |
| Qwen3 Coder Flash | $0.30 / $1.50 | $0.60 | Qwen3 Coder Flash wins on price. Compare |
| GLM-5.3 FlashX | $0.37 / $1.25 | $0.59 | GLM-5.3 FlashX wins on price. Compare |
Cheaper alternatives to Seed 2.0 Lite
At least 40% cheaper blended, cheapest at the bottom of the list we found.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistral Small 4 | $0.15 / $0.60 | $0.2625 | Mistral Small 4 wins on price. Compare |
| MiniMax-M3.1 Flash | $0.15 / $0.60 | $0.2625 | MiniMax-M3.1 Flash wins on price. Compare |
| GLM-5.3 Flash | $0.15 / $0.50 | $0.2375 | GLM-5.3 Flash wins on price. Compare |
More from ByteDance Seed
- Seed 2.1 Turbo$0.50 in, $2.50 out per 1M
- Seed 2.0 Pro$0.50 in, $3 out per 1M
- Seed 2.0 Code Preview$0.50 in, $3 out per 1M
- Seed 2.0 Mini$0.10 in, $0.40 out per 1M
FAQ
How much does the Seed 2.0 Lite API cost per million tokens?
$0.25 per 1M input tokens and $2 per 1M output tokens, plus $0.05 per 1M for cached input, as of Oct 29, 2026. A typical 3 to 1 input to output mix works out to $0.6875 per 1M tokens.
Does Seed 2.0 Lite charge more for long prompts?
Yes. Prompts above 128K: $0.50 in, $4 out.
Is Seed 2.0 Lite cheaper than Qwen3.5 35B-A3B?
About the same. A medium month (20M input and 5M output tokens) costs $15.00 on Seed 2.0 Lite and $15.00 on Qwen3.5 35B-A3B at list price.
How does Seed 2.0 Lite rank on LMArena?
It isn't listed on the LMArena boards we track, so we show no quality rank rather than guess.
What is a cheaper alternative to Seed 2.0 Lite?
Mistral Small 4 costs $0.15 in and $0.60 out per 1M tokens, about 2.6x less blended.
Where does this Seed 2.0 Lite price come from?
From ByteDance Seed's official pricing page, which we check every day. This page was last checked Oct 29, 2026.