Ling 3.1 Flash vs Mistral Small 3.1
Which is better for the money: Ling 3.1 Flash by InclusionAI or Mistral Small 3.1 by Mistral? 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
Ling 3.1 Flash scores 34.0 points higher (41.1 vs 7.1) but costs 36× as much to run the benchmark ($1015 vs $27.8; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Ling 3.1 Flash when you need intelligence above 7.1, and Mistral Small 3.1 when 7.1 is enough.
| Metric | Ling 3.1 Flash | Mistral Small 3.1 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 41.1 | 7.1 | −82.7% Mistral Small 3.1 is 82.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,014.56 | $27.82 | −97.3% Mistral Small 3.1 is 97.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 13.66s | 11.99s | −12.2% Mistral Small 3.1 is 12.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $0.90 | $0.08 / $0.14 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 3.1 vs Ling 3.1 Flash: 82.7% less intelligence, 97.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 12.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Ling 3.1 Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Mistral Small 3.1 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
Ling 3.1 FlashMistral Small 3.1Today'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/ling-3-1-flash/mistral-small-3-1 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/ling-3-1-flash/mistral-small-3-1?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill