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Inkling 2 Small vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 4.1.

Thinking Machines Lab · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 4.1, ranking #41 overall.

In the 1 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Inkling 2 Small wins 1; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

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 — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 1 of 1 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

Choose Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

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

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Inkling 2 Small
Thinking Machines Lab
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
47.1
#41
4.1
#344
Reasoning
47.8
#26
4.7
#335
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
$0.30 / M
— / M
Output price
$1.00 / M
— / M
Context window
256,000
—

Individual benchmarks

11 reported for Inkling 2 Small · 7 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

1 shared

Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Inkling 2 Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Nov 11 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

586.0B diff

Inkling 2 Small has 586.0B more parameters than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1, making it 7325.0% larger.

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
594.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
8.0Bparameters
594.0B
Inkling 2 Small
8.0B
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Inkling 2 Small specifies input context (256,000 tokens).

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output- tokens
NVIDIA
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Wed Nov 11 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Inkling 2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 does not.

Inkling 2 Small can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Inkling 2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Inkling 2 Small is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 uses Llama 3.1 Community License.

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

Inkling 2 Small

Proprietary

Closed source

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Llama 3.1 Community License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 was released on 2025-03-18.

Inkling 2 Small is 20 months newer than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1.

Inkling 2 Small

Nov 5, 2026

5 days ago

1.6yr newer
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Mar 18, 2025

1.6 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-31, while Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1's training data extends to 2023-12-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date.

Inkling 2 Small

—

Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1

Dec 2023

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Inkling 2 Small
✓ Preferred
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1.

Which is better, Inkling 2 Small or Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 4.1. Inkling 2 Small is made by Thinking Machines Lab and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Inkling 2 Small compare to Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 in benchmarks?

Inkling 2 Small scores GPQA: 93.0%, BrowseComp: 90.2%, CharXiv-R: 85.6%, MCP Atlas: 85.0%, SWE-Bench Verified: 82.2%. Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 scores MATH-500: 95.4%, MBPP: 84.6%, MT-Bench: 81.0%, IFEval: 79.3%, BFCL v2: 63.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Inkling 2 Small and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

Inkling 2 Small supports 256K tokens and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Inkling 2 Small and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (47.1 vs 4.1), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Llama 3.1 Community License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Inkling 2 Small and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1?

Inkling 2 Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B V1 is developed by NVIDIA.

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