Compare/Ling 2.6 Flash vs Step 3.5 Flash

Ling 2.6 FlashvsStep 3.5 Flash

Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.

InclusionAI

Ling 2.6 Flash

Input
$0.1/M
Output
$0.3/M
Speed
207 tok/s
TTFT
0.68s
StepFun

Step 3.5 Flash

Input
$0.1/M
Output
$0.3/M
Speed
168 tok/s
TTFT
0.83s

Winner by Category

Cheaper
Tie
Faster (tok/s)
Ling 2.6 Flash
Lower Latency
Ling 2.6 Flash
Benchmarks (0-7)
Step 3.5 Flash

Pricing Comparison

MetricLing 2.6 FlashStep 3.5 Flash
Input ($/M tokens)$0.1$0.1
Output ($/M tokens)$0.3$0.3
Cost for 1M input + 100K output tokens:
Ling 2.6 Flash$0.13
Step 3.5 Flash$0.13

Speed Comparison

Output Speed (tokens/s) — higher is better
Ling 2.6 Flash
207 tok/s
Step 3.5 Flash
168 tok/s
Time to First Token (seconds) — lower is better
Ling 2.6 Flash
0.68s
Step 3.5 Flash
0.83s

Benchmark Comparison

Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks

Intelligence Index
26.237.8
Coding Index
23.231.6
Math Index
GPQA Diamond
59.3%83.1%
MMLU-Pro
LiveCodeBench
AIME 2025
MATH-500
Humanity's Last Exam
6.2%19.1%
SciCode
27.1%40.4%
IFBench
57.4%64.6%
TerminalBench
21.2%27.3%
Ling 2.6 Flash0 wins
7 winsStep 3.5 Flash

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Ling 2.6 Flash or Step 3.5 Flash?

Both models have similar pricing. Check the detailed breakdown above for input vs output token costs.

Which model performs better on benchmarks?

Step 3.5 Flash wins 7 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Ling 2.6 Flash. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.

Which is faster for real-time applications?

Ling 2.6 Flash generates tokens faster at 207 tok/s vs 168 tok/s. Ling 2.6 Flash also has lower time-to-first-token (0.68s vs 0.83s).

When should I use Ling 2.6 Flash vs Step 3.5 Flash?

Choose based on your priorities: both are similarly priced, Step 3.5 Flash for stronger benchmark performance, and Ling 2.6 Flash for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.