AI model comparison
Inkling vs MiniMax M3
Side by side comparison of Inkling and MiniMax M3 on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.
Inkling is an open-weight multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines Lab, with 41B active parameters out of 975B total.
- Input / 1M
- $1
- Output / 1M
- $4.05
- Context
- 524K
MiniMax-M3 is a multimodal foundation model from MiniMax.
- Input / 1M
- $0.30
- Output / 1M
- $1.20
- Context
- 1.05M
Comparing image generators? Compare image models
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
MiniMax M3
3.4x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
MiniMax M3
18.7 vs 12.5 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
MiniMax M3
1.05M vs 524K tokens
Newer release
Inkling
Released July 17, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Coding index
Agentic index
Pricing
Inkling vs MiniMax M3 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $1 | $0.30 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $4.05 | $1.20 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.17 | $0.06 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 524K tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 472K tokens | 512K tokens |
| Input types | Audio, Image, Text | Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Max, High, Medium, Low, Minimal, None | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | High | Not available |
| Release date | July 17, 2026 | May 31, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Not supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Not supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
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- MiniMax M3 vs Step 5 Preview
- MiniMax M3 vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash
- MiniMax M3 vs GPT-5.6 Luna
- MiniMax M3 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813
- MiniMax M3 vs Qwen3.8 27B
- MiniMax M3 vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
- MiniMax M3 vs Inkling Small
- MiniMax M3 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
- MiniMax M3 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
- MiniMax M3 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423
- MiniMax M3 vs Step 3.7 Flash
- MiniMax M3 vs GLM 5.3 FlashX
- MiniMax M3 vs GPT-5.6 Luna Pro
Our take
MiniMax M3 is 3.4x cheaper for a typical chat. MiniMax M3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (18.7 vs 12.5). MiniMax M3 has the larger context window (1.05M vs 524K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Inkling or MiniMax M3 cheaper?
MiniMax M3 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, while Inkling costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $4.05 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Inkling or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M3 supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 524K for Inkling.
Is Inkling smarter than MiniMax M3?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Inkling scores 12.5 and MiniMax M3 scores 18.7, putting MiniMax M3 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Inkling and MiniMax M3 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Inkling and MiniMax M3 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Inkling and MiniMax M3 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.