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DeepSeek VL2 vs Inkling 2 Small

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 2.3.

DeepSeek · Thinking Machines Lab · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 2.3, ranking #39 overall.

Inkling 2 Small also accepts a larger context window (256,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek VL2

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Inkling 2 Small

  • overall performance matters — it scores 47.2 and ranks #39 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 256,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek VL2
DeepSeek
Inkling 2 Small
Thinking Machines Lab
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
2.3
#353
47.2
#39
Reasoning
-2.4
#372
47.9
#24
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
— / M
$1.00 / M
Context window
129,280
256,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
DeepSeek VL2
Inkling 2 Small
Vision
1.7#199
29.4#45
Multimodal
4.5#162
28.9#42
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 · 11 for Inkling 2 Small

No common benchmarks found

DeepSeek VL2 and Inkling 2 Smalldon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

567.0B diff

Inkling 2 Small has 567.0B more parameters than DeepSeek VL2, making it 2100.0% larger.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2
27.0Bparameters
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
594.0Bparameters
27.0B
DeepSeek VL2
594.0B
Inkling 2 Small

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Inkling 2 Small accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to DeepSeek VL2's 129,280 tokens. Only DeepSeek VL2 specifies output context (129,280 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2
Input129,280 tokens
Output129,280 tokens
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Nov 08 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both DeepSeek VL2 and Inkling 2 Small support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

DeepSeek VL2

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Inkling 2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 is licensed under deepseek, while Inkling 2 Small uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek VL2

deepseek

Open weights

Inkling 2 Small

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 was released on 2024-12-13, while Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05.

Inkling 2 Small is 23 months newer than DeepSeek VL2.

DeepSeek VL2

Dec 13, 2024

1.9 years ago

Inkling 2 Small

Nov 5, 2026

3 days ago

1.9yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

DeepSeek VL2 is available from Replicate. Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab.

DeepSeek VL2

replicate logo
Replicate

Inkling 2 Small

thinking-machines logo
Unknown Organization
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 and Inkling 2 Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek VL2
✓ Preferred
Inkling 2 Small
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 vs Inkling 2 Small.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 or Inkling 2 Small?

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 2.3. DeepSeek VL2 is made by DeepSeek and Inkling 2 Small is made by Thinking Machines Lab. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek VL2 compare to Inkling 2 Small in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 scores DocVQA: 93.3%, ChartQA: 86.0%, TextVQA: 84.2%, AI2D: 81.4%, OCRBench: 81.1%. Inkling 2 Small scores GPQA: 93.0%, BrowseComp: 90.2%, CharXiv-R: 85.6%, MCP Atlas: 85.0%, SWE-Bench Verified: 82.2%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek VL2 and Inkling 2 Small?

DeepSeek VL2 supports 129K tokens and Inkling 2 Small supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek VL2 and Inkling 2 Small?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (2.3 vs 47.2), context window (129K vs 256K), licensing (deepseek vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 and Inkling 2 Small?

DeepSeek VL2 is developed by DeepSeek and Inkling 2 Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab.

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