ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Inkling Small vs MiniMax-M3

Too close to call on our weighted score (Inkling Small 70, MiniMax-M3 69). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI150.2
    • Price$0.50 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small

  2. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M3

    Released Jun 1, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI147.0
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove MiniMax-M3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Inkling Small 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Inkling Small for raw capability and MiniMax-M3 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 · MiniMax-M3 147.0
  • Lowest priceMiniMax-M3MiniMax-M3 $0.525 · Inkling Small $0.675 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameInkling Small 1,048,576 · MiniMax-M3 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsInkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · MiniMax-M3: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightInkling SmallMiniMax-M3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7874
Price25%5863
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6161
Overall100%70/10069/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Inkling Small vs MiniMax-M3 specifications side by side
SpecificationInkling SmallThinking MachinesMiniMax-M3MiniMax
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)150.2 (best)147.0
ECI rank#47 of 148 (best)#62 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.5%90.9% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics46.3%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics90.0% (best)71.1%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions19.1%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.30 (best)
Output$1.20$1.20
Cached input—$0.06
Blended (3:1)$0.675$0.525 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 512K: $0.60 / $2.40
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output1,048,576 tokens (best)512,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID—MiniMax-M3
API providers1142 (best)
ReleasedJul 30, 2026Jun 1, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
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.

  • Inkling Small$7.40
  • MiniMax-M3$5.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Inkling Small or MiniMax-M3?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Inkling Small 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Inkling Small for raw capability and MiniMax-M3 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Inkling Small or MiniMax-M3?

MiniMax-M3 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) 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 $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M3 versus $0.675 for Inkling Small (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148) and MiniMax-M3 147.0 (#62 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–152.1 vs 142.7–149.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — MiniMax-M3 90.9%, Inkling Small 88.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling Small 90.0%, MiniMax-M3 71.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling Small and MiniMax-M3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Inkling Small leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Inkling Small and MiniMax-M3 share the same 1,048,576-token context window. Maximum output per response: Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, MiniMax-M3 up to 512,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; MiniMax-M3 accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Inkling Small is the newest, released Jul 30, 2026. MiniMax-M3 came out Jun 1, 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons