Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 1.8. Inkling 2 Small is 1.1x cheaper per token.
IBM · Thinking Machines Lab · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 1.8, ranking #40 overall.
On price, Inkling 2 Small is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
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 Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Inkling 2 Small
- overall performance matters — it scores 47.2 and ranks #40 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
- 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.
Individual benchmarks
14 reported for Granite 3.3 8B Instruct · 11 for Inkling 2 Small
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct 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
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 2.0x cheaper than Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is more expensive than Inkling 2 Small.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Inkling 2 Small has 586.0B more parameters than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct, making it 7325.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Inkling 2 Small accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Granite 3.3 8B Instruct's 128,000 tokens. Only Granite 3.3 8B Instruct specifies output context (8,192 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Inkling 2 Small support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Inkling 2 Small
License
Usage and distribution terms
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Inkling 2 Small uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct was released on 2025-04-16, while Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05.
Inkling 2 Small is 19 months newer than Granite 3.3 8B Instruct.
Apr 16, 2025
1.6 years ago
Nov 5, 2026
1 weeks ago
1.6yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-04-01, while Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Granite 3.3 8B Instruct's training data extends to 2024-04-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date.
Apr 2024
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Provider Availability
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct is available from Replicate. Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab.
Granite 3.3 8B Instruct
Inkling 2 Small
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Granite 3.3 8B Instruct and Inkling 2 Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Granite 3.3 8B Instruct vs Inkling 2 Small.