Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Ling 3.1 Flash
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Ling 3.1 Flash by InclusionAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 14.9 points higher (56.0 vs 41.1) but costs 7.2× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $1015; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when you need intelligence above 41.1, and Ling 3.1 Flash when 41.1 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Ling 3.1 Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 41.1 | −26.6% Ling 3.1 Flash is 26.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $1,014.56 | −86.0% Ling 3.1 Flash is 86.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 360.53s | 13.66s | −96.2% Ling 3.1 Flash is 96.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.30 / $0.90 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Ling 3.1 Flash vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 26.6% less intelligence, 86.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 96.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- Ling 3.1 Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)Ling 3.1 FlashToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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