Inkling 2 Small vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 18.5.
Thinking Machines Lab · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 18.5, ranking #39 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 47.2 and ranks #39 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — 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 Ultra 253B v1
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
11 reported for Inkling 2 Small · 6 for Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 is better at 0 benchmarks.
Inkling 2 Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Inkling 2 Small has 341.0B more parameters than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1, making it 134.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Inkling 2 Small specifies input context (256,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Inkling 2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B 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
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1
License
Usage and distribution terms
Inkling 2 Small is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 uses Llama 3.1 Community License.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
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 Ultra 253B v1 was released on 2025-04-07.
Inkling 2 Small is 19 months newer than Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.
Nov 5, 2026
4 days ago
1.6yr newerApr 7, 2025
1.6 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-12-01, while Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1's training data extends to 2023-12-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date.
—
Dec 2023
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Llama 3.1 Nemotron Ultra 253B v1.