Inkling 2 Small vs Mistral Large 3
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 10.0. Inkling 2 Small is 5.8x cheaper per token.
Thinking Machines Lab · Mistral AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 10.0, ranking #41 overall.
On price, Inkling 2 Small is roughly 5.8x 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 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 5.8x 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
Choose Mistral Large 3
- 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 · 8 for Mistral Large 3
Inkling 2 Small and Mistral Large 3don'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, Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens) is 6.7x cheaper than Mistral Large 3 ($2.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens) is 5.0x cheaper than Mistral Large 3 ($5.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Mistral Large 3 is more expensive than Inkling 2 Small.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Mistral Large 3 has 81.0B more parameters than Inkling 2 Small, making it 13.6% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Inkling 2 Small accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Mistral Large 3's 128,000 tokens. Only Mistral Large 3 specifies output context (8,192 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Both Inkling 2 Small and Mistral Large 3 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Inkling 2 Small
Mistral Large 3
License
Usage and distribution terms
Inkling 2 Small is licensed under a proprietary license, while Mistral Large 3 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 Mistral Large 3 was released on 2025-09-01.
Inkling 2 Small is 14 months newer than Mistral Large 3.
Nov 5, 2026
4 days ago
1.2yr newerSep 1, 2025
1.2 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. Mistral Large 3 is available from Mistral AI.
Inkling 2 Small
Mistral Large 3
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and Mistral Large 3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Mistral Large 3.