DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GLM-5.3-Flash vs Inkling Small
Too close to call on our weighted score (GLM-5.3-Flash 80, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 78, Inkling Small 70). The right pick depends on what you value most.
DeepSeekDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
78/100- ECI155.0
- Price$0.15 / $0.60
- Context1M
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.3-Flash
80/100- ECI151.9
- Price$0.15 / $0.50
- Context1M
Thinking MachinesInkling Small
70/100- ECI150.2
- Price$0.50 / $1.20
- Context1.05M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GLM-5.3-Flash 80/100, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 78/100, Inkling Small 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for raw capability, GLM-5.3-Flash on price and Inkling Small for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityDeepSeek V4.1 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 155.0 · GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 · Inkling Small 150.2
- Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $0.263 · Inkling Small $0.675 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextInkling SmallInkling Small 1,048,576 · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1,000,000 · GLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGLM-5.3-FlashDeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Text, Images · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GLM-5.3-Flash | Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 81 | 78 |
| Price | 25% | 77 | 79 | 58 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 90 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 78/100 | 80/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek | GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu) | Inkling SmallThinking Machines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 155.0 (best) | 151.9 | 150.2 |
| ECI rank | #29 of 148 (best) | #42 of 148 | #47 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 90.2% (best) | 88.5% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 55.8% (best) | 46.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 93.9% (best) | 90.0% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | — | 19.1% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.15 (best) | $0.50 |
| Output | $0.60 | $0.50 (best) | $1.20 |
| Cached input | $0.003 (best) | $0.03 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.263 | $0.237 (best) | $0.675 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official DeepSeek API | Official Z.AI API | Median of 11 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 384,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · high · max | Yeslow · high · max | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenMIT | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | deepseek-flash | glm-5.3-flash | — |
| API providers | 50 | 65 (best) | 11 |
| Released | Sep 10, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 | Jul 30, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2025 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash$2.70
- GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
- Inkling Small$7.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM-5.3-Flash or Inkling Small?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GLM-5.3-Flash 80/100, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 78/100, Inkling Small 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for raw capability, GLM-5.3-Flash on price and Inkling Small for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM-5.3-Flash or Inkling Small?
GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official DeepSeek API price); Inkling Small costs $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.237 per million tokens for GLM-5.3-Flash versus $0.263 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (1.1× as much) and $0.675 for Inkling Small (2.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 155.0 (#29 of 148), GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 (#42 of 148) and Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (148.8–157.6 vs 149.4–154.3), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM-5.3-Flash and Inkling Small yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Inkling Small has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and 1,000,000 for GLM-5.3-Flash. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash up to 384,000, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Inkling Small up to 1,048,576 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts text and images; GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. GLM-5.3-Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (MIT and Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the newest, released Sep 10, 2026. GLM-5.3-Flash came out Aug 26, 2026; Inkling Small came out Jul 30, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash May 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
