Compare/Step 3.5 Flash vs Ling 2.6 Flash

Step 3.5 FlashvsLing 2.6 Flash

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

StepFun

Step 3.5 Flash

Input
$0.1/M
Output
$0.3/M
Speed
193 tok/s
TTFT
0.91s
InclusionAI

Ling 2.6 Flash

Input
$0.1/M
Output
$0.3/M
Speed
TTFT

Winner by Category

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

Pricing Comparison

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

Speed Comparison

Output Speed (tokens/s) — higher is better
Step 3.5 Flash
193 tok/s
Ling 2.6 Flash
Time to First Token (seconds) — lower is better
Step 3.5 Flash
0.91s
Ling 2.6 Flash

Benchmark Comparison

Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks

Intelligence Index
37.826.2
Coding Index
31.623.2
Math Index
GPQA Diamond
83.1%59.3%
MMLU-Pro
LiveCodeBench
AIME 2025
MATH-500
Humanity's Last Exam
19.1%6.2%
SciCode
40.4%27.1%
IFBench
64.6%57.4%
TerminalBench
27.3%21.2%
Step 3.5 Flash7 wins
0 winsLing 2.6 Flash

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Step 3.5 Flash or Ling 2.6 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?

Step 3.5 Flash generates tokens faster at 193 tok/s vs 0 tok/s. However, Ling 2.6 Flash has lower time-to-first-token (0.00s vs 0.91s).

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

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