Hermes 3 405B vs Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 3.8. Inkling 2 Small is 2.1x cheaper per token.
Nous Research · Thinking Machines Lab · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 3.8, ranking #41 overall.
On price, Inkling 2 Small is roughly 2.1x 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 Hermes 3 405B
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Inkling 2 Small
- overall performance matters — it scores 47.1 and ranks #41 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- cost matters — it's about 2.1x 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
13 reported for Hermes 3 405B · 11 for Inkling 2 Small
Hermes 3 405B 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, Hermes 3 405B ($1.00/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Hermes 3 405B ($1.00/1M tokens) costs the same as Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Hermes 3 405B 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 189.0B more parameters than Hermes 3 405B, making it 46.7% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Inkling 2 Small accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Hermes 3 405B's 131,072 tokens. Only Hermes 3 405B specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Inkling 2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas Hermes 3 405B does not.
Inkling 2 Small can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Hermes 3 405B
Inkling 2 Small
License
Usage and distribution terms
Hermes 3 405B 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
Hermes 3 405B was released on 2024-10-09, while Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05.
Inkling 2 Small is 25 months newer than Hermes 3 405B.
Oct 9, 2024
2.1 years ago
Nov 5, 2026
4 days ago
2.1yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Hermes 3 405B is available from DeepInfra. Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab.
Hermes 3 405B
Inkling 2 Small
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Hermes 3 405B and Inkling 2 Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Hermes 3 405B vs Inkling 2 Small.