Inkling Small vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash
Which is better for the money: Inkling 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 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash scores 17.0 points higher (42.7 vs 25.7) but costs 1.2× as much to run the benchmark ($283 vs $241; both mid-range class). Pick MiniMax-M3.1-Flash when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Inkling Small.
| Metric | Inkling Small | MiniMax-M3.1-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 25.7 | 42.7 | +66.1% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 66.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $240.85 | $283.18 | +17.6% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 17.6% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 12.80s | 23.83s | +86.2% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 86.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech | Text, Image |
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Inkling Small: 66.1% more intelligence, 17.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 86.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Inkling SmallMiniMax-M3.1-FlashToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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