Inkling 2 Small vs Inkling-Small
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 37.7. Inkling 2 Small is 1.1x cheaper per token.
Thinking Machines Lab · Thinking Machines Lab · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 37.7, ranking #41 overall.
In the 11 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Inkling 2 Small wins 10; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
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.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Inkling 2 Small
- overall performance matters — it scores 47.1 and ranks #41 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 10 of 11 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026
Choose Inkling-Small
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
11 reported for Inkling 2 Small · 24 for Inkling-Small
Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 10 benchmarks (AA-Briefcase, BrowseComp, CharXiv-R, GDPval-AA, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, MCP Atlas, MMMU-Pro, SWE-Bench Verified, Tau3 Banking), while Inkling-Small is better at 1 benchmark (Artificial Analysis).
Inkling 2 Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens) costs the same as Inkling-Small ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens) is 1.2x cheaper than Inkling-Small ($1.20/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Inkling-Small 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 318.0B more parameters than Inkling-Small, making it 115.2% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 256,000 tokens. Only Inkling-Small specifies output context (256,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Inkling 2 Small and Inkling-Small support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling-Small
License
Usage and distribution terms
Inkling 2 Small 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.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05, while Inkling-Small was released on 2026-07-30.
Inkling 2 Small is 3 months newer than Inkling-Small.
Nov 5, 2026
4 days ago
3mo newerJul 30, 2026
3 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab. Inkling-Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab, DeepInfra.
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling-Small
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and Inkling-Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Inkling-Small.