DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Inkling 2 Small
Practical read: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs about a ninth as much. One API key runs both.
No card required. Start with 1 million free tokens.
Side by side:
| Attribute | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Inkling 2 Small |
|---|---|---|
| Price, 1M in + out | $0.16 Engy, cheapest route | $1.37 Cloudflare Workers AI, cheapest route |
| Best for | Low cost | |
| Input / output, 1M | $0.032 / $0.13 | $0.32 / $1.06 |
| Cached input | $0.01/1M to $0.1899/1M | $0.1055/1M |
| Context window | 1.05M 1,048,576 tokens | 1.05M 1,048,576 tokens |
| First token, p50 | 0.82 s via Tinfoil | Measuring |
| Throughput | 243 tok/s via CoralBricks | Measuring |
| AI IQ | IQ 125 #28 on AI IQ | IQ 126 #27 on AI IQ |
| Provider routes | 21 with failover | 2 with failover |
| Privacy | Confidential E2EE and zero retention route | Zero retention route |
| Recent route uptime range | 100.00% | not enough data |
| Publisher | DeepSeek | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Modes | chat decide | chat |
| More detail |
Price adds one million input and one million output tokens on the cheapest route. Prices and speed change: see the monthly reports and run a small eval before you choose a default.
Test both with your agent
Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent.
Compare DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling 2 Small in this project through TrustedRouter.
1. Read https://trustedrouter.com/docs/llms.txt
2. Point the OpenAI-compatible client at
https://api.trustedrouter.com/v1 and read the key from
TRUSTEDROUTER_API_KEY.
3. Run our eval prompts on deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash, then on thinkingmachines/inkling-2-small.
4. Show me cost, latency and quality side by side before changing the default.
import os
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.trustedrouter.com/v1",
api_key=os.environ["TRUSTEDROUTER_API_KEY"],
)
for model in ("deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash", "thinkingmachines/inkling-2-small"):
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model=model,
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "What is the capital of France?"}],
)
print(model, response.choices[0].message.content)
for model in deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash thinkingmachines/inkling-2-small; do
curl https://api.trustedrouter.com/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TRUSTEDROUTER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d "{\"model\": \"$model\", \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"What is the capital of France?\"}]}"
done
Questions
Which should I use, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Thinking Machines: Inkling 2 Small?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has the lower published input-plus-output rate and more Credits provider routes. Their context windows are the same size. There is not enough recent probe data to compare speed.
Is DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Thinking Machines: Inkling 2 Small cheaper?
The current cheapest TrustedRouter route is $0.15825/1M for DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and $1.3715/1M for Thinking Machines: Inkling 2 Small. The comparison uses current catalog prices and updates as provider pricing changes.
Is DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Thinking Machines: Inkling 2 Small faster?
Current measured p50 time to first token is 822 ms for DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and not enough data for Thinking Machines: Inkling 2 Small. These are routed probe measurements, not vendor-advertised speeds, and update as new samples arrive.
Can I test DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Thinking Machines: Inkling 2 Small with the same API?
Yes. Use the same OpenAI-compatible TrustedRouter base URL and API key, then change only the model id between deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash and thinkingmachines/inkling-2-small. This makes side-by-side evals possible without maintaining two provider integrations.
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Try DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Inkling 2 Small with one key.
TrustedRouter is useful when you know the model you want, but still need provider rollover, budget limits, usage records, and a prompt path you can verify.
No card required. Start with 1 million free tokens.