ByteDance vs 
Moonshot AI
Verdict
- Moonshot AI's flagship leads: Kimi K3.1 Pro at 66.9 vs Dola Seed 2.0 Pro at 58.5.
- Moonshot AI has the better model in 3 of 4 price bands.
- Moonshot AI's fastest ranked model (Kimi K2 Thinking, 121 tok/s) beats ByteDance's (Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct, 38 tok/s).
- Moonshot AI publishes more open-weights models (9 vs 1).
- Moonshot AI ships more often: one model every 56 days against every 83.
Best model per price band
Each provider’s highest-index model below the price ceiling. Purple marks the winner of the band.
| Price band | ByteDance | Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|
| Under $0.50/M | Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 46.8$0.300/M | – |
| Under $2/M | Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 46.8$0.300/M | Kimi K2.6 thinking 59.4$1.71/M |
| Under $10/M | Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 46.8$0.300/M | Kimi K3.1 Pro 66.9$4.00/M |
| Any price | Seed-OSS-36B-Instruct 46.8$0.300/M | Kimi K3.1 Pro 66.9$4.00/M |
Line-up
| Metric | ByteDance | Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|
| Flagship index | 58.5 | 66.9 |
| Ranked models | 3 | 9 |
| Open-weights models | 1 | 9 |
| Cheapest ranked, $/M | $0.300 | $1.00 |
| Fastest ranked, tok/s | 38 | 121 |
| Release cadence, days | 83 | 56 |
| Last release | 14 Feb 2026 | 23 Oct 2026 |
| Next expected | 4 Apr 2026 – 10 Jun 2026 | 25 Nov 2026 – 9 Jan 2027 |
Data as of 25 Oct 2026. See ByteDance and Moonshot AI in full.