ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small vs Mistral Large 4

Gemini 3.6 Flash comes out ahead, 72 to 68 and 67 on our weighted score, though Inkling Small is 47% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.6 Flash

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    72/100
    • ECI154.7
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.6 Flash

  2. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI150.5
    • Price$0.58 / $1.44
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 4

    Released Oct 6, 2026NewBeta

    67/100
    • ECI150.6
    • Price$0.70 / $2.10
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 4
01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.6 Flash is our pick

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Inkling Small (68) and Mistral Large 4 (67). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Inkling Small wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3.6 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.7 · Mistral Large 4 150.6 · Inkling Small 150.5
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.795 · Mistral Large 4 $1.05 · Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameGemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Inkling Small 1,048,576 · Mistral Large 4 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · Mistral Large 4: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.6 FlashInkling SmallMistral Large 4
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%827777
Price25%405247
Inputs & features15%1007070
Context window10%616161
Overall100%72/10068/10067/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small vs Mistral Large 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.6 FlashGoogleInkling SmallThinking MachinesMistral Large 4Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)154.7 (best)150.5150.6
ECI rank#42 of 165 (best)#58 of 165#57 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions94.1% (best)88.5%88.1%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics59.0% (best)46.3%58.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics94.2%90.0%98.3% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions66.2% (best)19.1%20.0%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75$0.58 (best)$0.70
Output$3.75$1.44 (best)$2.10
Cached input$0.075$0.116$0.07 (best)
Blended (3:1)$1.50$0.795 (best)$1.05
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Thinking Machines APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesYesNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · maxYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenApache-2.0Proprietary
API model IDgemini-3.6-flashthinkingmachines/Inkling-Smallmistral-large-4
API providers31 (best)1215
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Jul 30, 2026Oct 6, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMar 2026——
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
  • Inkling Small$8.68
  • Mistral Large 4$11.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash, Inkling Small or Mistral Large 4?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Inkling Small (68) and Mistral Large 4 (67). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Inkling Small wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Inkling Small or Mistral Large 4?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.58 input / $1.44 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines API price). Mistral Large 4 costs $0.70 input / $2.10 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.795 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $1.05 for Mistral Large 4 (1.3× as much) and $1.50 for Gemini 3.6 Flash (1.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.7 (#42 of 165), Mistral Large 4 150.6 (#57 of 165) and Inkling Small 150.5 (#58 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (153.0–156.7 vs 147.4–153.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.1%, Inkling Small 88.5%, Mistral Large 4 88.1%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Gemini 3.6 Flash 59.0%, Mistral Large 4 58.6%, Inkling Small 46.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Mistral Large 4 98.3%, Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.2%, Inkling Small 90.0%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2%, Mistral Large 4 20.0%, Inkling Small 19.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash, Inkling Small and Mistral Large 4 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.6 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?

Gemini 3.6 Flash, Inkling Small and Mistral Large 4 share the same 1,048,576-token context window. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, Mistral Large 4 up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; Mistral Large 4 accepts text and images. Gemini 3.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Inkling Small publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.6 Flash and Mistral Large 4 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral Large 4 is the newest, released Oct 6, 2026. Inkling Small came out Jul 30, 2026; Gemini 3.6 Flash came out Jul 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026.

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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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