Solar Mini 4 is $0.02 cheaper per 1M input tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewLing 3.1 Flash vs Solar Mini 4
Pick Solar Mini 4 when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Solar Mini 4 when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.19 for Ling 3.1 Flash, saving $0.04 (20% lower).
Cost-first pickSolar Mini 4
Context-first pickSolar Mini 4
Sample savings$0.0420%
10x traffic gap$0.37
Solar Mini 4 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.37. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Solar Mini 4 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Ling 3.1 Flash | Solar Mini 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Solar Mini 4 | $0.49 | $0.35 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Solar Mini 4 | $0.3 | $0.25 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Solar Mini 4 | $1.2 | $1.05 |
Solar Mini 4 is $0.02 cheaper per 1M output tokens (11.1% lower; 1.12x difference).
Solar Mini 4 has 262.14K more context (2x larger).
Solar Mini 4 is $0.04 cheaper on the standard workload (20% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Solar Mini 4 has the lower input price; Solar Mini 4 has the lower output price; Solar Mini 4 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Solar Mini 4 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.19 for Ling 3.1 Flash and $0.15 for Solar Mini 4.
Choose Ling 3.1 Flash when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Solar Mini 4 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.19 for Ling 3.1 Flash, saving $0.04 (20% lower).
- Solar Mini 4 is $0.04 cheaper on the standard workload (20% lower).
- Solar Mini 4 is $0.02 cheaper per 1M input tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).
- Solar Mini 4 is $0.02 cheaper per 1M output tokens (11.1% lower; 1.12x difference).
- Solar Mini 4 has 262.14K more context (2x larger).
| Feature | NewLing 3.1 Flash (inclusionAI) | Solar Mini 4 (Upstage) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.075 | $0.05 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.225 | $0.2 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.19 | $0.15 |
| Context Window | 262.14K | 524.29K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Solar Mini 4 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Solar Mini 4 is estimated at $0.15 vs $0.19 for Ling 3.1 Flash, saving $0.04 (20% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Solar Mini 4 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Solar Mini 4 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Solar Mini 4 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Ling 3.0 Flash VL (free) can replace Ling 3.1 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Ling 3.0 Flash Sante (free) can replace Ling 3.1 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Ling 3.0 Flash Fin (free) can replace Ling 3.1 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Ling 3.0 Tiny (free) can replace Ling 3.1 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- GPT-6 Luna Pro (batch) offers 1.05M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- GPT-6 Luna (batch) offers 1.05M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Step 5 Preview · StepFun · #2
- GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #3
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash · Xiaomi · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.
Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.
Open provider hubsinclusionAI catalog
Review all tracked inclusionAI models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open inclusionAI modelsUpstage catalog
Check other Upstage models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open Upstage modelsLing 3.1 Flash is a hybrid reasoning mixture-of-experts model from inclusionAI, with 25B active parameters out of 560B total.
Solar Mini 4 is Upstage's compact, cost-efficient language model, a 35B-parameter mixture-of-experts with 3B active parameters and a 524K context window. It is built for agentic use cases where response...