Inkling Small vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B
Inkling Small comes out ahead, 70 to 67 and 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Thinking MachinesInkling Small
70/100- ECI150.2
- Price$0.50 / $1.20
- Context1.05M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Max Preview
54/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.30 / $7.80
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.8 27B
67/100- ECI149.4
- Price$0.40 / $2.50
- Context262K
Inkling Small is our pick
Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Qwen3.8 27B (67) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price and context window. Qwen3.8 27B wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 · Qwen3.8 27B 149.4 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
- Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.675 · Qwen3.8 27B $0.925 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextInkling SmallInkling Small 1,048,576 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · Qwen3.8 27B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsInkling Small and Qwen3.8 27BInkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · Qwen3.8 27B: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingInkling Small and Qwen3.8 27BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Inkling Small | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | Qwen3.8 27B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 78 | 77 | 77 |
| Price | 25% | 58 | 28 | 51 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 35 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 70/100 | 54/100 | 67/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Inkling SmallThinking Machines | Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 150.2 (best) | 149.2 | 149.4 |
| ECI rank | #47 of 148 (best) | #54 of 148 | #53 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 88.5% (best) | 87.4% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 46.3% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 90.0% | 91.1% (best) | — |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 76.7% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 19.1% | 52.0% (best) | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 | $1.30 | $0.40 (best) |
| Output | $1.20 (best) | $7.80 | $2.50 |
| Cached input | — | $0.13 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.675 (best) | $2.92 | $0.925 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 11 providers | Official Alibaba API | Median of 39 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | qwen3.6-max-preview | — |
| API providers | 11 | 10 | 41 (best) |
| Released | Jul 30, 2026 | Apr 20, 2026 | Aug 14, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2025 | — |
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$7.40
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
- Qwen3.8 27B$9.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Inkling Small, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Qwen3.8 27B?
Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Qwen3.8 27B (67) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price and context window. Qwen3.8 27B wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Inkling Small, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Qwen3.8 27B?
Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Qwen3.8 27B costs $0.40 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 39 API providers); Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $0.925 for Qwen3.8 27B (1.4× as much) and $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (4.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148), Qwen3.8 27B 149.4 (#53 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–152.1 vs 147.5–151.6), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling Small and Qwen3.8 27B 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. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Inkling Small has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview and 262,144 for Qwen3.8 27B. Maximum output per response: Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, Qwen3.8 27B up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; Qwen3.8 27B accepts text, images and video. Inkling Small handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Inkling Small and Qwen3.8 27B publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.6 Max Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.8 27B is the newest, released Aug 14, 2026. Inkling Small came out Jul 30, 2026; Qwen3.6 Max Preview came out Apr 20, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 2025.
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.
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