Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Grok 3 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo benchmark

Name: Grok 3 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Grok 3 (xAI) and Seed 2.1 Turbo (ByteDance) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, Seed 2.1 Turbo is ahead by 67 points (1,472 vs 1,405; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, Seed 2.1 Turbo resolves 63.2% versus 51.4% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). Seed 2.1 Turbo streams faster (160 tok/s) while Seed 2.1 Turbo is the cheaper output token ($2.5/1M). Seed 2.1 Turbo has the larger context window (262k tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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xAI

Grok 3

Previous xAI generation before Grok 4. Kept for grok 3 vs grok 4.

Elo 1,405$15/1M out

ByteDance

Seed 2.1 Turbo

ByteDance Seed 2.1 Turbo, listed on public model timelines as an Aug 10 2026 API drop.

Elo 1,472$2.5/1M out

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Model A

Model B

Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Grok 3 (0)vsSeed 2.1 Turbo (10)

Grok 3: 0W (0%)Overall: Seed 2.1 TurboSeed 2.1 Turbo: 10W (100%)

← Grok 3Seed 2.1 Turbo →

Seed 2.1 Turbo (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,405vs1,472

Coding Elo

—vs1,480

SWE-bench

51.4%vs63.2%

LiveBench

60.2%vs64.8%

GPQA Diamond

74.2%vs76.8%

Grok 3: 0WSeed 2.1 Turbo: 5W

Seed 2.1 Turbo (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

88 tok/svs160 tok/s

Time to first token

250 msvs120 ms

Grok 3: 0WSeed 2.1 Turbo: 2W

Seed 2.1 Turbo (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$2.5/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0.5/1M

Context window

131kvs262k

Grok 3: 0WSeed 2.1 Turbo: 3W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageSeed 2.1 Turbo 6/6

Preference Elo

Seed 2.1 Turbo

67 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Seed 2.1 Turbo

72 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Seed 2.1 Turbo

$12.50/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,405

EloHigh is better

1,472+5%

Code Elo

High is better

—

Code EloHigh is better

1,480

LiveBench

High is better

60.2%

LiveBenchHigh is better

64.8%+8%

SWE-bench

High is better

51.4%

SWE-benchHigh is better

63.2%+23%

GPQA

High is better

74.2%

GPQAHigh is better

76.8%+4%

TTFT

Low is better

250 ms

TTFTLow is better

120 ms+108%

Speed

High is better

88 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

160 tok/s+82%

In $

Low is better

$3/1M

In $Low is better

$0.5/1M+500%

Out $

Low is better

$15/1M

Out $Low is better

$2.5/1M+500%

Context

High is better

131k

ContextHigh is better

262k+100%

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 83% with Seed 2.1 Turbo

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Grok 3$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

Seed 2.1 Turbo$55.00 / mo

In: $17.50Out: $37.50

Estimated Cost Delta

Seed 2.1 Turbo is estimated to save $275.00/month ($3,300/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
Seed 2.1 Turbo:Pick Seed 2.1 Turbo when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Seed 2.1 Turbo:Pick Seed 2.1 Turbo when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.
3
Seed 2.1 Turbo:Pick Seed 2.1 Turbo as the default general assistant.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsSeed 2.1 Turbo

Higher SWE-bench (63.2%).

High-volume chatSeed 2.1 Turbo

Lower output list price ($2.5/1M).

Voice / low-latency UISeed 2.1 Turbo

Lower TTFT (120 ms).

Long-document RAGSeed 2.1 Turbo

Larger window (262k).

Screenshots / visionSeed 2.1 Turbo

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Seed 2.1 Turbo).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Seed 2.1 Turbo	Higher SWE-bench (63.2%).
High-volume chat	Seed 2.1 Turbo	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	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Seed 2.1 Turbo).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

launchAug 10, 2026

Seed 2.1 Turbo (Aug 10): ByteDance’s API drop on the public timeline

Listed on public model timelines as an Aug 10 2026 API drop. Preview-quality story, indexable because we have a full snapshot.

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LIVE

xAI

Grok 3

Elo 1,405

LiveBench60.2%

SWE-bench51.4%

Speed88 tok/s

Output cost$15/1M

ByteDance

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Elo 1,472

LiveBench64.8%

SWE-bench63.2%

Speed160 tok/s

Output cost$2.5/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Grok 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?: Seed 2.1 Turbo has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,472). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Grok 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?: Seed 2.1 Turbo leads SWE-bench at 63.2% vs 51.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Seed 2.1 Turbo output tokens are $2.5/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Grok 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?: Seed 2.1 Turbo has the lower time-to-first-token (120 ms vs 250 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts 262k tokens versus 131k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Grok 3 and Seed 2.1 Turbo Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Grok 3 matchups →|All Seed 2.1 Turbo matchups →

Grok 3 vs Grok 4 (next grok)Seed 2.1 Turbo vs Doubao Pro 1.5 (previous seed)Grok 4.6 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo Doubao Lite 1.5 vs Grok 3 Grok 4 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo Mistral Large 3 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo

Grok 3 vs Seed 2.1 Turbo benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Grok 3 (0)vsSeed 2.1 Turbo (10)

Grok 3: 0W (0%)Overall: Seed 2.1 TurboSeed 2.1 Turbo: 10W (100%)

← Grok 3Seed 2.1 Turbo →

Seed 2.1 Turbo (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,405vs1,472

Coding Elo

—vs1,480

SWE-bench

51.4%vs63.2%

LiveBench

60.2%vs64.8%

GPQA Diamond

74.2%vs76.8%

Grok 3: 0WSeed 2.1 Turbo: 5W

Seed 2.1 Turbo (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

88 tok/svs160 tok/s

Time to first token

250 msvs120 ms

Grok 3: 0WSeed 2.1 Turbo: 2W

Seed 2.1 Turbo (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$2.5/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0.5/1M

Context window

131kvs262k

Grok 3: 0WSeed 2.1 Turbo: 3W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsSeed 2.1 Turbo

Higher SWE-bench (63.2%).

High-volume chatSeed 2.1 Turbo

Lower output list price ($2.5/1M).

Voice / low-latency UISeed 2.1 Turbo

Lower TTFT (120 ms).

Long-document RAGSeed 2.1 Turbo

Larger window (262k).

Screenshots / visionSeed 2.1 Turbo

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Seed 2.1 Turbo).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Seed 2.1 Turbo	Higher SWE-bench (63.2%).
High-volume chat	Seed 2.1 Turbo	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	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Seed 2.1 Turbo).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Grok 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?

Seed 2.1 Turbo has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,472). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Grok 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?

Seed 2.1 Turbo leads SWE-bench at 63.2% vs 51.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Seed 2.1 Turbo output tokens are $2.5/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Grok 3 or Seed 2.1 Turbo?

Seed 2.1 Turbo has the lower time-to-first-token (120 ms vs 250 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

Seed 2.1 Turbo accepts 262k tokens versus 131k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Grok 3 and Seed 2.1 Turbo Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Seed 2.1 Turbo (Aug 10): ByteDance’s API drop on the public timeline

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CompareLLM Matrix

Grok 3

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Seed 2.1 Turbo (Aug 10): ByteDance’s API drop on the public timeline

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Grok 3

Seed 2.1 Turbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons