ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

MiniMax-M3 vs Inkling Small

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

  1. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M3

    Released Jun 1, 2026

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

  2. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

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

  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 sameMiniMax-M3 1,048,576 · Inkling Small 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsMiniMax-M3: Text, Images, Video · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMiniMax-M3Inkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7478
Price25%6358
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6161
Overall100%69/10070/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

MiniMax-M3 vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniMax-M3MiniMaxInkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)147.0150.2 (best)
ECI rank#62 of 148#47 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions90.9% (best)88.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—46.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics71.1%90.0% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30 (best)$0.50
Output$1.20$1.20
Cached input$0.06—
Blended (3:1)$0.525 (best)$0.675
Long-context rateOver 512K: $0.60 / $2.40Same rate
Price sourceOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output512,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoYes
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDMiniMax-M3—
API providers42 (best)11
ReleasedJun 1, 2026Jul 30, 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.

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

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniMax-M3 or Inkling Small?

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, MiniMax-M3 or Inkling Small?

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 MiniMax-M3 and Inkling Small 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?

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

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

MiniMax-M3 accepts text, images and video; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. 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

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