Inkling 2 Small vs Llama 4 Maverick
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 14.0. Llama 4 Maverick is 1.7x cheaper per token.
Thinking Machines Lab · Meta · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 14.0, ranking #40 overall.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Inkling 2 Small wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Llama 4 Maverick is roughly 1.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Llama 4 Maverick also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 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 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
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026
Choose Llama 4 Maverick
- cost matters — it's about 1.7x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- 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 · 13 for Llama 4 Maverick
Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MMMU-Pro), while Llama 4 Maverick is better at 0 benchmarks.
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) is 1.8x more expensive than Llama 4 Maverick ($0.17/1M tokens).
For output processing, Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Llama 4 Maverick ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Inkling 2 Small is more expensive than Llama 4 Maverick.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Inkling 2 Small has 194.0B more parameters than Llama 4 Maverick, making it 48.5% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Llama 4 Maverick accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Inkling 2 Small's 256,000 tokens. Only Llama 4 Maverick specifies output context (1,000,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Inkling 2 Small and Llama 4 Maverick support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Inkling 2 Small
Llama 4 Maverick
License
Usage and distribution terms
Inkling 2 Small is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 4 Maverick uses Llama 4 Community License Agreement.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Llama 4 Community License Agreement
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05, while Llama 4 Maverick was released on 2025-04-05.
Inkling 2 Small is 19 months newer than Llama 4 Maverick.
Nov 5, 2026
1 weeks ago
1.6yr newerApr 5, 2025
1.6 years 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. Llama 4 Maverick is available from DeepInfra, Novita, Lambda, Groq, Fireworks, Together, Sambanova.
Inkling 2 Small
Llama 4 Maverick
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and Llama 4 Maverick side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Llama 4 Maverick.