Inkling 2 Small vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash
Which is better for the money: Inkling 2 Small by Thinking Machines or MiniMax-M3.1-Flash by MiniMax? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-06.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Inkling 2 Small scores 1.5 points higher (30.6 vs 29.1) but costs 2.2× as much to run the benchmark ($792 vs $358; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick Inkling 2 Small when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise MiniMax-M3.1-Flash.
| Metric | Inkling 2 Small | MiniMax-M3.1-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.6 | 29.1 | −4.9% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 4.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $791.81 | $358.06 | −54.8% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 54.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 20.92s | 18.42s | −12.0% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 12.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.00 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Inkling 2 Small: 4.9% less intelligence, 54.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 12.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Inkling 2 Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 52.50 for $718.
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (High) scores 42.40 for $267.
Inkling 2 SmallMiniMax-M3.1-FlashToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/inkling-2-small/minimax-m3-1-flash · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/inkling-2-small/minimax-m3-1-flash?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill