ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Inkling vs Inkling Small

Inkling Small comes out ahead, 70 to 59 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Thinking Machines

    Inkling

    Released Jul 15, 2026

    59/100
    • ECI148.6
    • Price$3.74 / $9.36
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling
  2. Our pick

    Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

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

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Inkling Small is our pick

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Inkling (59). It leads on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 · Inkling 148.6
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.675 · Inkling $5.14 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameInkling 1,048,576 · Inkling Small 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsInkling: Text, Images, Audio · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightInklingInkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7678
Price25%1658
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6161
Overall100%59/10070/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Inkling vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationInklingThinking MachinesInkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)148.6150.2 (best)
ECI rank#57 of 148#47 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.3%88.5% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics33.3%46.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics88.9%90.0% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions40.3% (best)19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$3.74$0.50 (best)
Output$9.36$1.20 (best)
Cached input$0.748—
Blended (3:1)$5.14$0.675 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Thinking Machines APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesYes
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · maxYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0OpenApache-2.0
API model IDthinkingmachines/Inkling:peft:262144—
API providers23 (best)11
ReleasedJul 15, 2026Jul 30, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
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$56.12
  • Inkling Small$7.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Inkling or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against Inkling (59). It leads on capability and price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Inkling or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Inkling costs $3.74 input / $9.36 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines 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 $5.14 for Inkling (7.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148) and Inkling 148.6 (#57 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–152.1 vs 145.7–150.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Inkling Small 88.5%, Inkling 88.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Inkling Small 46.3%, Inkling 33.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling Small 90.0%, Inkling 88.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Inkling 40.3%, Inkling Small 19.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling 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?

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

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Inkling accepts text, images and audio; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Inkling Small is the newest, released Jul 30, 2026. Inkling came out Jul 15, 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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