Hunyuan Hy3 vs Ling 3.1 Flash
Tencent · China | InclusionAI (Ant Group) · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost or runs a 295b model at the cost of a 21b — only 21b parameters active per token. Pick Ling 3.1 Flash for hybrid-reasoning moe — 560b total parameters, ~25b active per token, aimed at agents, tool use, and long-document work or artificial analysis intelligence index score of 41 — above average for its price tier. Choose Hunyuan Hy3 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Ling 3.1 Flash if you want a managed API.
Hunyuan Hy3 (Tencent) and Ling 3.1 Flash (InclusionAI (Ant Group)) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Hunyuan Hy3 is a 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Ling 3.1 Flash is inclusionAI's (Ant Group) September 30, 2026 hybrid-reasoning MoE model — 560B parameters aimed at agents and long documents, launched as a free trial with weights still unreleased. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Cost model: Hunyuan Hy3 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Ling 3.1 Flash is API-metered at $0.3/$0.9 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
- ▸Context window: 256K vs 262K tokens — within a few percent of each other, so treat this as a tie and test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
- ▸Recency: Ling 3.1 Flash is the newer model by about 3 months (released September 30, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Hunyuan Hy3 | Ling 3.1 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Tencent (China) | InclusionAI (Ant Group) (China) |
| Released | July 6, 2026 | September 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 256K (~384 pages) | 262K tokens (~393 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | Open weight (self-host / free) | $0.3/$0.9 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, code | text, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost
Hunyuan Hy3
Ling 3.1 Flash is comparatively weak here — announced via WeChat rather than a formal English-language technical report, so some specs are vendor-reported only
Runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token
Hunyuan Hy3
Ling 3.1 Flash is comparatively weak here — shipped as an announcement plus a two-week free trial rather than a full release — no weights, no model card, and limited independent verification at launch
Clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out
Hunyuan Hy3
A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost — and its weights are open while Ling 3.1 Flash is API-only.
Hybrid-reasoning MoE — 560B total parameters, ~25B active per token, aimed at agents, tool use, and long-document work
Ling 3.1 Flash
InclusionAI's (Ant Group) September 30, 2026 hybrid-reasoning MoE model — 560B parameters aimed at agents and long documents, launched as a free trial with weights still unreleased — and it is the newer of the two.
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index score of 41 — above average for its price tier
Ling 3.1 Flash
Ling 3.1 Flash lists artificial Analysis Intelligence Index score of 41 — above average for its price tier among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy3 does not.
First-party pricing of $0.30/$0.90 per million tokens, with an 80% cache-read discount ($0.06/MTok)
Ling 3.1 Flash
Hunyuan Hy3 is comparatively weak here — benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion
Lowest cost at scale
Hunyuan Hy3
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Ling 3.1 Flash's $0.3/$0.9 per 1M tokens.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Hunyuan Hy3
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Ling 3.1 Flash, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Ling 3.1 Flash
Larger 262K tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Hunyuan Hy3
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Ling 3.1 Flash is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost
→ Hunyuan Hy3
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is hybrid-reasoning moe — 560b total parameters, ~25b active per token, aimed at agents, tool use, and long-document work
→ Ling 3.1 Flash
That is its strongest area.
Hunyuan Hy3: where it fits
A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Released July 6, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token, clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out, and broad day-one ecosystem support plus an FP8 checkpoint.
Its trade-offs are real: benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion, and the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
Ling 3.1 Flash: where it fits
InclusionAI's (Ant Group) September 30, 2026 hybrid-reasoning MoE model — 560B parameters aimed at agents and long documents, launched as a free trial with weights still unreleased. Released September 30, 2026 by InclusionAI (Ant Group), it is built for hybrid-reasoning MoE — 560B total parameters, ~25B active per token, aimed at agents, tool use, and long-document work, artificial Analysis Intelligence Index score of 41 — above average for its price tier, first-party pricing of $0.30/$0.90 per million tokens, with an 80% cache-read discount ($0.06/MTok), and predecessor Ling 3.0 Flash shipped MIT-licensed open weights, suggesting a similar path once 3.1 clears review.
Its trade-offs: shipped as an announcement plus a two-week free trial rather than a full release — no weights, no model card, and limited independent verification at launch, context window currently served at 262K tokens even though InclusionAI's stated target is 1M — the larger window isn't live yet, not yet open-weight despite InclusionAI saying it plans to open-source the model 'soon', and announced via WeChat rather than a formal English-language technical report, so some specs are vendor-reported only. At $0.3 in / $0.9 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Hunyuan Hy3 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Ling 3.1 Flash gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both Hunyuan Hy3 and Ling 3.1 Flash without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Hunyuan Hy3 or Ling 3.1 Flash better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Hunyuan Hy3 leans toward frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost while Ling 3.1 Flash leans toward hybrid-reasoning moe — 560b total parameters, ~25b active per token, aimed at agents, tool use, and long-document work, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy3 or Ling 3.1 Flash?
Hunyuan Hy3 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Ling 3.1 Flash is API-metered at $0.3/$0.9 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Effectively neither — 256K vs 262K tokens is a difference of a few percent. Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both Hunyuan Hy3 and Ling 3.1 Flash together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy3, Ling 3.1 Flash and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Hunyuan Hy3 or Ling 3.1 Flash?
Ling 3.1 Flash — released September 30, 2026, about 3 months after Hunyuan Hy3.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.