ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash comes out ahead, 72 to 68 on our weighted score, though Inkling Small is 47% cheaper per token.

  1. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI150.5
    • Price$0.58 / $1.44
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.6 Flash

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    72/100
    • ECI154.7
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.6 Flash

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.6 Flash is our pick

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Inkling Small (68). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Inkling Small wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3.6 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.7 · Inkling Small 150.5
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.795 · Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameInkling Small 1,048,576 · Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashInkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · Gemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightInkling SmallGemini 3.6 Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7782
Price25%5240
Inputs & features15%70100
Context window10%6161
Overall100%68/10072/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.6 Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationInkling SmallThinking MachinesGemini 3.6 FlashGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)150.5154.7 (best)
ECI rank#58 of 165#42 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.5%94.1% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics46.3%59.0% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics90.0%94.2% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions19.1%66.2% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.58 (best)$0.75
Output$1.44 (best)$3.75
Cached input$0.116$0.075 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.795 (best)$1.50
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Thinking Machines APIOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output1,048,576 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioYesYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · maxYesminimal · low · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Proprietary
API model IDthinkingmachines/Inkling-Smallgemini-3.6-flash
API providers1231 (best)
ReleasedJul 30, 2026Jul 21, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 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.

  • Inkling Small$8.68
  • Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Inkling Small or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against Inkling Small (68). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Inkling Small wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Inkling Small or Gemini 3.6 Flash?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.58 input / $1.44 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines API price). Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.795 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $1.50 for Gemini 3.6 Flash (1.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.7 (#42 of 165) and Inkling Small 150.5 (#58 of 165). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (153.0–156.7 vs 147.7–152.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.1%, Inkling Small 88.5%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Gemini 3.6 Flash 59.0%, Inkling Small 46.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 3.6 Flash 94.2%, Inkling Small 90.0%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2%, Inkling Small 19.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling Small and Gemini 3.6 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.6 Flash 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?

Inkling Small and Gemini 3.6 Flash share the same 1,048,576-token context window. Maximum output per response: Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 3.6 Flash 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 3.6 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Inkling Small is the newest, released Jul 30, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash came out Jul 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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