DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) by DeepSeek or Inkling Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max)
Inkling Small vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max): 25.1% less intelligence, 20.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 29.3% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.3 | 25.7 | −25.1% Inkling Small is 25.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $199.63 | $240.85 | +20.6% Inkling Small is 20.6% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.91s | 12.67s | −29.3% Inkling Small is 29.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image, Speech |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-flash/inkling-small · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-flash/inkling-small?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill