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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Inkling Small

Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70, Inkling Small 70). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Google

    Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI145.1
    • Price$0.30 / $2.50
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

  2. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI150.2
    • Price$0.50 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, Inkling Small 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Inkling Small for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.675 · Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameGemini 3.5 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · Inkling Small 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.5 Flash LiteInkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7278
Price25%5358
Inputs & features15%10070
Context window10%6161
Overall100%70/10070/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.5 Flash LiteGoogleInkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.1150.2 (best)
ECI rank#79 of 148#47 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions83.3%88.5% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics26.0%46.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics71.1%90.0% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30 (best)$0.50
Output$2.50$1.20 (best)
Cached input$0.03—
Blended (3:1)$0.85$0.675 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioYesYes
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenApache-2.0
API model IDgemini-3.5-flash-lite—
API providers26 (best)11
ReleasedJul 21, 2026Jul 30, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMar 2026—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$8.00
  • Inkling Small$7.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Inkling Small?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 70/100, Inkling Small 70/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Inkling Small for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.675 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $0.85 for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148) and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 145.1 (#79 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.5–152.1 vs 142.5–146.7), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Inkling Small 88.5%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 83.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Inkling Small 46.3%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 26.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling Small 90.0%, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 71.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Inkling Small yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Inkling Small leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Inkling Small share the same 1,048,576-token context window. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite up to 65,536, Inkling Small up to 1,048,576 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Inkling Small publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Inkling Small is the newest, released Jul 30, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite came out Jul 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Mar 2026.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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