The AI arena is free today

Open Superagent

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling-Small

Gemini 3.6 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 44.4 to 39.3. Inkling-Small is 5.7x cheaper per token.

Google · Thinking Machines Lab · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Gemini 3.6 Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 44.4 to 39.3, ranking #29 overall.

In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Gemini 3.6 Flash wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Inkling-Small is roughly 5.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Gemini 3.6 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 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 Gemini 3.6 Flash

  • overall performance matters — it scores 44.4 and ranks #29 on LLM Stats
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 3 exact shared results
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window

Choose Inkling-Small

  • cost matters — it's about 5.7x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Gemini 3.6 Flash
Google
Inkling-Small
Thinking Machines Lab
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
44.4
#29
39.3
#53
Reasoning
41.1
#43
39.0
#52
Coding
32.1
#43
31.1
#45
Agents
30.0
#29
24.8
#45
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
3 of 3
0 of 3
Input price
$1.50 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$7.50 / M
$1.20 / M
Context window
1,048,576
256,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Inkling-Small
Vision
32.3#19
19.6#64
Multimodal
33.1#13
17.8#68
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

7 reported for Gemini 3.6 Flash · 24 for Inkling-Small

3 shared

Gemini 3.6 Flash outperforms in 3 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, SWE-Bench Pro, Terminal-Bench 2.1), while Inkling-Small is better at 0 benchmarks.

Gemini 3.6 Flash significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Aug 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Inkling-Small costs less

For input processing, Gemini 3.6 Flash ($1.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Inkling-Small ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Gemini 3.6 Flash ($7.50/1M tokens) is 6.3x more expensive than Inkling-Small ($1.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Gemini 3.6 Flash is more expensive than Inkling-Small.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Aug 28 2026 • llm-stats.com
Google
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Input tokens$1.50
Output tokens$7.50
Best providerGoogle
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling-Small
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerUnknown Organization
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Inkling-Small's 256,000 tokens. Inkling-Small can generate longer responses up to 256,000 tokens, while Gemini 3.6 Flash is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Google
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling-Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
Fri Aug 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling-Small support multimodal inputs.

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

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Inkling-Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemini 3.6 Flash is licensed under a proprietary license, while Inkling-Small uses Apache 2.0.

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

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Inkling-Small

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 3.6 Flash was released on 2026-07-21, while Inkling-Small was released on 2026-07-30.

Inkling-Small is 0 month newer than Gemini 3.6 Flash.

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Jul 21, 2026

1 months ago

Inkling-Small

Jul 30, 2026

4 weeks ago

1w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 3.6 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-03-31, while Inkling-Small's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 3.6 Flash's training data extends to 2026-03-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling-Small's cutoff date.

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Mar 2026

Inkling-Small

—

Provider Availability

Gemini 3.6 Flash is available from Google. Inkling-Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab.

Gemini 3.6 Flash

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $1.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $7.50/1M

Inkling-Small

thinking-machines logo
Unknown Organization
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling-Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemini 3.6 Flash
✓ Preferred
Inkling-Small
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling-Small.

Which is better, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling-Small?

Gemini 3.6 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 44.4 to 39.3. Gemini 3.6 Flash is made by Google and Inkling-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 Gemini 3.6 Flash compare to Inkling-Small in benchmarks?

Gemini 3.6 Flash scores CharXiv-R: 89.4%, OSWorld-Verified: 83.0%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 78.0%, MLE-Bench: 63.9%, SWE-Bench Pro: 58.7%. Inkling-Small scores AIME 2026: 95.5%, VoiceBench Avg: 90.1%, GPQA: 89.5%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 86.7%, ARC-AGI: 84.0%.

Is Gemini 3.6 Flash cheaper than Inkling-Small?

Inkling-Small is 5.0x cheaper for input tokens. Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.50/M input and $7.50/M output via google. Inkling-Small costs $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output via thinking-machines.

What are the context window sizes for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling-Small?

Gemini 3.6 Flash supports 1.0M tokens and Inkling-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 Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling-Small?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (44.4 vs 39.3), context window (1.0M vs 256K), input pricing ($1.50 vs $0.30/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling-Small?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is developed by Google and Inkling-Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab.

Related comparisons