Muse Spark 1.3 vs Reka Flash 3.1

Meta · US  |  Reka AI · US · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

Pick Muse Spark 1.3 for agentic coding with ~20% fewer tool calls and ~25% fewer tokens than muse spark 1.2 or deepswe v1.1 long-horizon software engineering (75.4). Pick Reka Flash 3.1 for a 21b-parameter reasoning model, small enough for local/on-device deployment (a 3.5-bit quantized build exists) or strong base for fine-tuning agentic tasks - notably improved coding since the original flash 3. Choose Reka Flash 3.1 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Muse Spark 1.3 if you want a managed API.

Muse Spark 1.3 (Meta) and Reka Flash 3.1 (Reka AI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Muse Spark 1.3 is meta's September 2, 2026 agentic-coding model update, cutting tool calls and token usage versus Muse Spark 1.2 while its highest-reasoning mode remains gated for safety review. Reka Flash 3.1 is reka AI's compact 21B open-weight reasoning model - small enough to run locally, from a team of DeepMind and Meta alumni. 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

Side-by-side specs

SpecMuse Spark 1.3Reka Flash 3.1
ProviderMeta (US) Reka AI (US)
ReleasedSeptember 2, 2026 July 2025
Context window1M tokens (~1,500 pages) 32K (~49 pages)
Price (in/out)$1.25/$4.25 per 1M tokens Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight?No — API only Yes — self-hostable
Modalitiestext, image, video text, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M98.1% Not published

Who wins what

Agentic coding with ~20% fewer tool calls and ~25% fewer tokens than Muse Spark 1.2

Muse Spark 1.3

Its 1M tokens window holds about 31× more than Reka Flash 3.1's 32K in a single prompt.

DeepSWE v1.1 long-horizon software engineering (75.4)

Muse Spark 1.3

Meta's September 2, 2026 agentic-coding model update, cutting tool calls and token usage versus Muse Spark 1.2 while its highest-reasoning mode remains gated for safety review — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.

Near-perfect long-context retrieval (MRCR v2 512K-1M: 98.1)

Muse Spark 1.3

Reka Flash 3.1 is comparatively weak here — a relatively small 32K context window next to million-token frontier models

A 21B-parameter reasoning model, small enough for local/on-device deployment (a 3.5-bit quantized build exists)

Reka Flash 3.1

Open weights make this possible at all — Muse Spark 1.3 is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.

Strong base for fine-tuning agentic tasks - notably improved coding since the original Flash 3

Reka Flash 3.1

Muse Spark 1.3 is comparatively weak here — strongest 'max' reasoning configuration still gated pending additional safety testing

Fully open weights (Apache 2.0) from a frontier-caliber research team

Reka Flash 3.1

Muse Spark 1.3 is comparatively weak here — not yet open-weight, despite Meta roadmapping a future Muse Spark weights release

Lowest cost at scale

Reka Flash 3.1

Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Muse Spark 1.3's $1.25/$4.25 per 1M tokens.

Largest single-prompt input

Muse Spark 1.3

Its 1M tokens window is about 31× larger than Reka Flash 3.1's 32K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.

Which should you pick?

A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume

Reka Flash 3.1

At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Muse Spark 1.3, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.

Someone analysing very long documents or codebases

Muse Spark 1.3

Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.

A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs

Reka Flash 3.1

Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Muse Spark 1.3 is API-only.

Anyone whose priority is agentic coding with ~20% fewer tool calls and ~25% fewer tokens than muse spark 1.2

Muse Spark 1.3

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is a 21b-parameter reasoning model, small enough for local/on-device deployment (a 3.5-bit quantized build exists)

Reka Flash 3.1

That is its strongest area.

Muse Spark 1.3: where it fits

Meta's September 2, 2026 agentic-coding model update, cutting tool calls and token usage versus Muse Spark 1.2 while its highest-reasoning mode remains gated for safety review. Released September 2, 2026 by Meta, it is built for agentic coding with ~20% fewer tool calls and ~25% fewer tokens than Muse Spark 1.2, deepSWE v1.1 long-horizon software engineering (75.4), near-perfect long-context retrieval (MRCR v2 512K-1M: 98.1), and ranks third overall on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (score 61, xhigh variant; the limited-preview max variant scores 62) - behind only Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Opus 5.

Its trade-offs are real: strongest 'max' reasoning configuration still gated pending additional safety testing, not yet open-weight, despite Meta roadmapping a future Muse Spark weights release, and no official SWE-bench Verified score published. At $1.25 in / $4.25 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.

Reka Flash 3.1: where it fits

Reka AI's compact 21B open-weight reasoning model - small enough to run locally, from a team of DeepMind and Meta alumni. Released July 2025 by Reka AI, it is built for a 21B-parameter reasoning model, small enough for local/on-device deployment (a 3.5-bit quantized build exists), strong base for fine-tuning agentic tasks - notably improved coding since the original Flash 3, fully open weights (Apache 2.0) from a frontier-caliber research team, and built by alumni from Google DeepMind and Meta's AI labs.

Its trade-offs: a relatively small 32K context window next to million-token frontier models, smaller and less capable overall than flagship frontier models from major labs, and reka's broader roadmap has shifted toward robotics/world models after merging with Moonvalley in June 2026, raising questions about ongoing LLM investment. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.

The bottom line for this matchup

The defining split here is open vs. closed. Reka Flash 3.1 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Muse Spark 1.3 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 Muse Spark 1.3 and Reka Flash 3.1 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 pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is Muse Spark 1.3 or Reka Flash 3.1 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, Muse Spark 1.3 leans toward agentic coding with ~20% fewer tool calls and ~25% fewer tokens than muse spark 1.2 while Reka Flash 3.1 leans toward a 21b-parameter reasoning model, small enough for local/on-device deployment (a 3.5-bit quantized build exists), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, Muse Spark 1.3 or Reka Flash 3.1?

Reka Flash 3.1 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Muse Spark 1.3 is API-metered at $1.25/$4.25 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?

Muse Spark 1.3 — 1M tokens vs 32K, about 31× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.

Can I use both Muse Spark 1.3 and Reka Flash 3.1 together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Muse Spark 1.3, Reka Flash 3.1 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, Muse Spark 1.3 or Reka Flash 3.1?

Muse Spark 1.3 — released September 2, 2026, about 14 months after Reka Flash 3.1.

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.