Best model for Cline

Claude Opus 5.5 leads this Cline group on SciCode at 66.90%. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash has the lowest illustrated cost at $0.0021; DeepSeek leads configured output speed at 178.3 tokens/s.

Updated · 13 sources · Methodology

NeedPickWhy
Highest AA SciCode scoreClaude Opus 5.566.90%1
Lowest example costMiniMax-M3.1-Flash$0.0021
Output speed (tokens/s)DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017178.3 tokens/s
AA time to first answer token (s)DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 101712.41 s

Model capabilities and output performance

ProviderSciCode (%)Output speed (tokens/s)AA time to first answer token (s)
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)166.9098.3687.99
Kimi K3.1 Pro260.7635.758.90
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)355.90178.312.41
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash553.36118.918.18
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next450.5855.438.17

Prices and request cost

ProviderInput / 1M tokensOutput / 1M tokensContext window (tokens)Max output (tokens)
Claude Opus 5.5 · Anthropic6$4$201,000,0006128,0006
Kimi K3.1 Pro · Novita AI10$2$101,048,5761,048,576
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 · Novita AI9$0.3$1.21,048,576393,216
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash · Novita AI11$0.15$0.61,000,000524,288
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next · Lyceum8$0.2$0.5262,14412131,07213
API documentationNovita AI · Chat API
Cost example: 10,000 input + 1,000 billed output tokens
Claude Opus 5.5$0.06
Kimi K3.1 Pro$0.03
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017$0.0042
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash$0.0021
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next$0.0025

Cline supports bring-your-own-key cloud providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter and DeepSeek.7

Options, strengths and limitations

  1. Claude Opus 5.5

    Claude Opus 5.5 combines 66.90% SciCode with 98.3 tokens/s in this Cline comparison.1

    Input / 1M tokens
    $4
    Output / 1M tokens
    $20
    Output speed (tokens/s)
    98.3

    Strengths

    • The highest SciCode result here is 66.90%.1

    Limitations

    • The $0.06 request example is the highest cost in this group.6

    Sources:16

  2. Kimi K3.1 Pro

    For this Cline shortlist, Kimi K3.1 Pro records 60.76% SciCode and a separate 35.7 tokens/s output rate.2

    Input / 1M tokens
    $2
    Output / 1M tokens
    $10
    Output speed (tokens/s)
    35.7

    Strengths

    • SciCode is 60.76%, above DeepSeek’s 55.90%.23

    Limitations

    • Its 58.90 s first-answer wait exceeds DeepSeek’s 12.41 s.23

    Sources:210

  3. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: 55.90% SciCode; its separate AA output speed is 178.3 tokens/s for the Cline comparison.3

    Input / 1M tokens
    $0.3
    Output / 1M tokens
    $1.2
    Output speed (tokens/s)
    178.3

    Strengths

    • Its first-answer wait of 12.41 s is the shortest in this group.3

    Limitations

    • SciCode 55.90% trails Claude Opus 5.5 at 66.90%.31

    Sources:39

  4. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash

    The Cline comparison includes MiniMax-M3.1-Flash at 53.36% SciCode and 118.9 tokens/s output.5

    Input / 1M tokens
    $0.15
    Output / 1M tokens
    $0.6
    Output speed (tokens/s)
    118.9

    Strengths

    • The $0.0021 token example costs less than Claude’s $0.06.116

    Limitations

    • SciCode 53.36% trails Claude Opus 5.5 at 66.90%.51

    Sources:511

  5. Qwen3.8-Flash-Next

    In the Cline shortlist, Qwen3.8-Flash-Next has 50.58% SciCode and 55.4 tokens/s in the separate performance test.4

    Input / 1M tokens
    $0.2
    Output / 1M tokens
    $0.5
    Output speed (tokens/s)
    55.4

    Strengths

    • The $0.0025 token example costs less than Claude’s $0.06.86

    Limitations

    • SciCode 50.58% trails Claude Opus 5.5 at 66.90%.41

    Sources:48

Methodology and sources

SciCode is AA’s scientific-coding evaluation, reported as a percentage; higher is better. It is separate from the 10,000-input-token performance test and is not an in-editor Cline evaluation. Quality and performance use the configurations shown beside the model names. A current AA v5 Intelligence Index is displayed only where both models have a published value. AA performance uses the 10,000-input-token benchmark at each model’s displayed configuration; reasoning settings vary by model. Output speed is the median output rate. Answer latency measures the first answer token after reasoning, not the initial streamed reasoning chunk. For non-streamed reasoning and non-reasoning models, AA reports the same first-chunk and first-answer event. AA estimates answer latency from initial response and reasoning duration; it is not a separately sampled median. These are reference deployments, not Novita endpoint guarantees. The uncached cost example bills 10,000 input and 1,000 output tokens at each named seller’s tariff; it is not the cost of the AA benchmark. Prices, context and output limits use the cited seller sources.

  1. Artificial Analysis · Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) · quality and performance
  2. Artificial Analysis · Kimi K3.1 Pro · quality and performance
  3. Artificial Analysis · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) · quality and performance
  4. Artificial Analysis · Qwen3.8-Flash-Next · quality and performance
  5. Artificial Analysis · MiniMax-M3.1-Flash · quality and performance
  6. Anthropic · Claude Opus 5.5 · API pricing and limits
  7. Cline · provider integration documentation
  8. Lyceum · Qwen3.8-Flash-Next · API pricing and limits
  9. Novita AI · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 · endpoint pricing and limits
  10. Novita AI · Kimi K3.1 Pro · endpoint pricing and limits
  11. Novita AI · MiniMax-M3.1-Flash · endpoint pricing and limits
  12. Lyceum · Qwen3.8-Flash-Next · native context specification
  13. Lyceum · serverless request limits

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