ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Mistral Large 4 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small

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. 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
  2. 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

  3. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI150.5
    • Price$0.58 / $1.44
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small
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 sameMistral Large 4 1,048,576 · Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Inkling Small 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashMistral Large 4: Text, Images · Gemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMistral Large 4Gemini 3.6 FlashInkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%778277
Price25%474052
Inputs & features15%7010070
Context window10%616161
Overall100%67/10072/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Large 4 vs Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Large 4Mistral AIGemini 3.6 FlashGoogleInkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)150.6154.7 (best)150.5
ECI rank#57 of 165#42 of 165 (best)#58 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.1%94.1% (best)88.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics58.6%59.0% (best)46.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics98.3% (best)94.2%90.0%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions20.0%66.2% (best)19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.75$0.58 (best)
Output$2.10$3.75$1.44 (best)
Cached input$0.07 (best)$0.075$0.116
Blended (3:1)$1.05$1.50$0.795 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Google APIOfficial Thinking Machines API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output262,144 tokens65,536 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesYes
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYesminimal · low · medium · highYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpenApache-2.0
API model IDmistral-large-4gemini-3.6-flashthinkingmachines/Inkling-Small
API providers1531 (best)12
ReleasedOct 6, 2026Jul 21, 2026Jul 30, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 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.

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

Which should you choose?

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

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, Mistral Large 4, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling Small?

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 Mistral Large 4, Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small 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?

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

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Large 4 accepts text and images; Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. 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; Mistral Large 4 and Gemini 3.6 Flash 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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