ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Inkling Small

Inkling Small comes out ahead, 68 to 38 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Mistral AI

    Mistral Large 2.1

    Released Nov 18, 2024

    38/100
    • ECI128.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Large 2.1
  2. Our pick

    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. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Inkling Small is our pick

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.5 · Mistral Large 2.1 128.6
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.795 · Mistral Large 2.1 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextInkling SmallInkling Small 1,048,576 · Mistral Large 2.1 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsInkling SmallMistral Large 2.1: Text · 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
MeasureWeightMistral Large 2.1Inkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5077
Price25%2652
Inputs & features15%2570
Context window10%2561
Overall100%38/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Large 2.1 vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 2.1Mistral AIInkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)128.6150.5 (best)
ECI rank#142 of 165#58 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions51.3%88.5% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—46.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics7.8%90.0% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.58 (best)
Output$6.00$1.44 (best)
Cached input—$0.116
Blended (3:1)$3.00$0.795 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 2 providersOfficial Thinking Machines API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoYes
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model ID—thinkingmachines/Inkling-Small
API providers212 (best)
ReleasedNov 18, 2024Jul 30, 2026
Knowledge cutoffNov 2024—
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.

  • Mistral Large 2.1$32.00
  • Inkling Small$8.68
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Mistral Large 2.1 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Mistral Large 2.1 (38). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Mistral Large 2.1 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.58 input / $1.44 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines API price). Mistral Large 2.1 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.795 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $3.00 for Mistral Large 2.1 (3.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.5 (#58 of 165) and Mistral Large 2.1 128.6 (#142 of 165). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.7–152.4 vs 124.3–130.7), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Inkling Small 88.5%, Mistral Large 2.1 51.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling Small 90.0%, Mistral Large 2.1 7.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mistral Large 2.1 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?

Inkling Small has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Mistral Large 2.1. Maximum output per response: Mistral Large 2.1 up to 16,384, Inkling Small up to 1,048,576 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 2.1 accepts text; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. Inkling Small handles the widest range of inputs.

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. Mistral Large 2.1 came out Nov 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Large 2.1 Nov 2024.

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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