MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Inkling 2 Small
MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads Inkling 2 Small on coding, 55.7 to 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index, and MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs 1.7x less per output token ($0.60 vs $1.00 per million). Updated November 14, 2026; 21 benchmarks have a result for both.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Inkling 2 Small: which to pick
Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for coding: it scores 55.7 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.9 for Inkling 2 Small.
Pick Inkling 2 Small for work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 21
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash only
- 11
- Inkling 2 Small only
- 30
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 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
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash scores 55.7 against 48.9.
4 and 3 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads, 30.6 against 29.1.
Same board, both measured
General
Vals Index
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads, 56.1% against 53.8%.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash $0.0004, Inkling 2 Small $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash 55.7 from 4 benchmarks, Inkling 2 Small 48.9 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Knowledge, 11.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI): MiniMax M3.1 Flash 25.3% against Inkling 2 Small 12.6%, 16.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash $0.60 against Inkling 2 Small $1.00 per million output tokens, 1.7x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
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.
| Category | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Bars | Inkling 2 Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 3 | 6 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 3 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 4 | ||
| All shared boards | 4 | 17 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index36
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 68.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1584 | 1647 | Inkling 2 Small |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 25.3% | 12.6% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 73.9% | 81.5% | Inkling 2 Small |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.5% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| SciCode | 53.4% | 52.3% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Artificial Analysis run) | 25.8% | 13.1% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| FrontierCode 2.0 | 20.8% | 25.4% | Inkling 2 Small |
| ALE-Bench | 217.8 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1455 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1443 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1603 | 1660 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1558 | 1661 | Inkling 2 Small |
| SWE-Bench Pro V2 | 96.6% | 97.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| GameBench 2 | 41.0 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 29.1 | 30.6 | Inkling 2 Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | 76.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench browser | 80.6% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | 25.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 1.9% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 32.1% | 38.9% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 34.1% | 46.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 7.5% | 21.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.0% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Vals Science Index | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 46.8% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| MCP Atlas | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 82.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.2% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 48.0% | 44.1% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| HLE-Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 28.1% | 28.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| CritPt v2, hard subset (Artificial Analysis run) | 32.5% | 35.0% | Inkling 2 Small |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 96.5% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 81.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1421 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1478 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1424 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MathArena | Not measured | 42.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-Omniscience | -6.4 | 16.1 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1409 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1415 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| PRBench Finance | 45.6% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| PRBench Legal | 45.1% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench design | 71.2% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 53.8% | 56.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| LiveBench data analysis | 71.4% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 85.3% | 88.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 79.7% | 83.3% | Inkling 2 Small |
| GDPval-AA | 1465 | 1630 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1403 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1408 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1348 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1418 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1390 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1377 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1408 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1403 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1381 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1359 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Inkling 2 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
MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
MiniMax M3.1 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.
| Specification | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Thinking Machines Inkling 2 Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 19, 2026 | November 9, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.60 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | 55.7 | 48.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M3.1 Flash better than Inkling 2 Small for coding?
Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for coding: it scores 55.7 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.9 for Inkling 2 Small. Pick Inkling 2 Small for work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Inkling 2 Small?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Inkling 2 Small?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Inkling 2 Small comparison based on?
21 benchmarks have a result for both models as of November 14, 2026. MiniMax M3.1 Flash's coding index rests on 4 independent benchmarks and Inkling 2 Small's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.