Inkling (xhigh) vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: Inkling (xhigh) by Thinking Machines or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-09.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Inkling (xhigh) scores 15.4 points higher (25.5 vs 10.1) but costs 2.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1026 vs $476; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick Inkling (xhigh) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3 Coder Next.
| Metric | Inkling (xhigh) | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 25.5 | 10.1 | −60.4% Qwen3 Coder Next is 60.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,026.14 | $476.03 | −53.6% Qwen3 Coder Next is 53.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 37.45s | 5.52s | −85.3% Qwen3 Coder Next is 85.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.00 / $4.05 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs Inkling (xhigh): 60.4% less intelligence, 53.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 85.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Inkling (xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
Inkling (xhigh)Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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