DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Inkling Small

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads Inkling Small on coding, 62.5 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs 1.4x less per output token ($0.84 vs $1.20 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 71 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Replace Inkling Small

DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek

Coding: 62.5
Overall: 62.4
Output $/M: $0.84

T Inkling SmallThinking Machines

Coding: 27.3
Overall: 43.6
Output $/M: $1.20

vs boards won of 71 shared, 1 tied

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Inkling Small: which to pick

Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small.

Pick Inkling Small for work measured by AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.

Model ADeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek62.5/1005 independent benchmarksNo cost per solved task Model BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task

713013

Shared results: 71
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash only: 30
Inkling Small only: 13
Like-for-like categories: 7 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 62.5 against 27.3.
5 and 4 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 25.7 against 24.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a AA Agentic Index result, 23.5.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Inkling Small has a GPQA Diamond result, 83.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Inkling Small has a MMLU Pro result, 85.6%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1308.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a Vals Index result, 27.6%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 524K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $0.0006, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Inkling Small has the number, $0.16.
Directional only

At a glance

Coding index: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 62.5 from 5 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category: Coding, 24.5 points apart on average over 15 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap: Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 84.7% against Inkling Small 19.1%, 65.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $0.84 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 1.4x apart.
Context window: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Inkling Small 524K.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
Category	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Ties
Coding	14	0	1 tie
Intelligence	1	1
Agentic work	4	0
Reasoning	10	0
Math	6	0
Knowledge	7	0
General	27	0
All shared boards	69	1	1 tie

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index140

Coding benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
LiveBench coding	90.2%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LMArena WebDev	1618	1409	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
AA Coding Index	Not measured	52.9	Only Inkling Small measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	Not measured	85.9%	Only Inkling Small measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	Not measured	82.2%	Only Inkling Small measured
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)	19.7%	0.0%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)	84.7%	19.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Code migration (Vals AI)	45.6%	13.7%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
ProgramBench (Vals AI)	0.5%	0.5%	Tie
IOI (Vals AI)	40.3%	9.3%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)	74.5%	55.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI)	46.5%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)	16.4%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)	69.8%	33.6%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
CyberBench (Vals AI)	73.7%	64.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
SciCode	51.9%	49.7%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
FrontierCode	43.9%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
ALE-Bench	1092.3	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LMArena Text: coding	1502	1450	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: software and IT	1496	1447	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena WebDev: React	1628	1399	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena WebDev: HTML	1612	1398	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena WebDev: from an image	1606	1410	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11

Intelligence benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	24.7	25.7	Inkling Small
Epoch Capabilities Index	155.9	150.3	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40

Agentic work benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
AA Agentic Index	Not measured	23.5	Only Inkling Small measured
LiveBench research	86.8%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LiveBench browser	84.0%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LiveBench long agentic	40.1%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
SREBench (Vals AI)	0.8%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)	53.5%	41.3%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)	26.6%	15.4%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)	41.4%	25.5%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)	Not measured	2.9%	Only Inkling Small measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)	57.2%	31.8%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
BioMysteryBench (Vals AI)	67.8%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)	0.0%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Vals Science Index	29.6%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
APEX-Agents	39.5%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index100

Reasoning benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
GPQA Diamond	Not measured	83.6%	Only Inkling Small measured
LiveBench reasoning	86.7%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
MysteryMechanism (Vals AI)	21.2%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	89.5%	Only Inkling Small measured
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	39.2%	33.3%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	89.8%	88.5%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
ARC-AGI	94.5%	84.0%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
ARC-AGI-2	72.9%	40.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Chess puzzles	48.0%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Mystery game puzzles	43.0%	6.0%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1483	1423	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: expert	1501	1441	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1488	1429	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: diagrams	1297	1251	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: homework	1307	1257	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here

MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60

Math benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
OTIS Mock AIME	98.3%	90.0%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	67.4%	46.3%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
FrontierMath, tier 4	26.8%	17.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
ProofBench	54.0%	6.0%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: math	1478	1459	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1485	1441	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here

KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index70

Knowledge benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
MMLU Pro	Not measured	85.6%	Only Inkling Small measured
LegalBench (Vals AI)	83.3%	83.0%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
CorpFin (Vals AI)	Not measured	69.6%	Only Inkling Small measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)	Not measured	75.5%	Only Inkling Small measured
MortgageTax (Vals AI)	Not measured	62.3%	Only Inkling Small measured
MedCode (Vals AI)	41.2%	37.9%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
SimpleQA Verified	42.9%	19.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: science	1469	1428	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1484	1413	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: legal and government	1443	1415	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: business and finance	1461	1413	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here

Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared

Web design benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
Design Arena: websites	1308	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: UI components	1312	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: game dev	1330	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: data viz	1291	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: 3D	1355	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: all code categories	1320	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: SVG	1245	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Design Arena: ASCII art	1265	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LiveBench design	79.2%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index270

General benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
Vals Index	Not measured	27.6%	Only Inkling Small measured
LiveBench data analysis	79.3%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)	64.3%	59.4%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
SAGE (Vals AI)	47.9%	32.7%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
MedScribe (Vals AI)	85.5%	84.1%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Vals Multimodal Index	Not measured	50.0%	Only Inkling Small measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	84.0%	75.7%	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DTBench	89.9%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LMCA	47.0%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Surface Evolver Bench	46.3%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
Furniture assembly	34.2%	Not measured	Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash measured
LMArena Text	1464	1413	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: instruction following	1473	1399	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: creative writing	1437	1334	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision	1278	1237	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: English	1473	1421	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: non-English	1449	1401	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: Chinese	1501	1464	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: German	1470	1408	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: Japanese	1432	1401	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: Korean	1436	1367	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: French	1465	1435	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: Spanish	1459	1422	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: Russian	1467	1394	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: Polish	1457	1428	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1461	1416	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: longer queries	1473	1402	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: writing and language	1450	1357	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1445	1352	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: English	1288	1243	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: Chinese	1327	1292	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: reading text	1282	1243	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: humor	1260	1207	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LMArena Vision: creative writing	1275	1205	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here

Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared

Image generation benchmarks for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash$0.0006Fits in one request

Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash$0.014Fits in one request

Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash$0.053Fits in one request

Inkling Small$0.102Fits in one request

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling Small
Specification	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Thinking Machines Inkling Small
Maker	DeepSeek	Thinking Machines
Weights	Open weights	Open weights
Released	September 10, 2026	July 30, 2026
Context window	1.05M	524K
Input $/Mtok	$0.2225	$0.45
Output $/Mtok	$0.84	$1.20
Coding index	62.5	27.3
Independent measurements behind it	5	4
Cost per solved task	Not computable	$0.16
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash better than Inkling Small for coding?

Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small. Pick Inkling Small for work measured by AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Inkling Small?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.2225 per million input tokens and $0.84 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for Inkling Small only.

Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Inkling Small?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 524K.

How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Inkling Small comparison based on?

71 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash's coding index rests on 5 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small" title="DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Inkling Small, LLMBenchmark.ai" width="100%" height="360" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small">LLMBenchmark.ai, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Inkling Small</a></p>

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Inkling Small: which to pick

Which one for your work

Coding

Intelligence

Agentic work

Reasoning

Knowledge

Web design

General

Long documents

Everyday cost

Cost per solved task

At a glance

Benchmark by benchmark

What each workload costs

Chat turn

Repository review

Agent loop

Specification differences

Questions

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