Inkling 2 Small vs o3-mini
Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 20.6. Inkling 2 Small is 4.1x cheaper per token.
Thinking Machines Lab · OpenAI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 20.6, ranking #41 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, Inkling 2 Small is roughly 4.1x 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 and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 4.1x 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 o3-mini
- you want predictable pricing at $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output
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 · 25 for o3-mini
Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified), while o3-mini 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 3.7x cheaper than o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens) is 4.4x cheaper than o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o3-mini is more expensive than Inkling 2 Small.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Inkling 2 Small accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to o3-mini's 200,000 tokens. Only o3-mini specifies output context (100,000 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Inkling 2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas o3-mini 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
o3-mini
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05, while o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30.
Inkling 2 Small is 21 months newer than o3-mini.
Nov 5, 2026
4 days ago
1.8yr newerJan 30, 2025
1.8 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm o3-mini's training data extends to 2023-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date.
—
Sep 2023
Provider Availability
Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab. o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI.
Inkling 2 Small
o3-mini
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and o3-mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs o3-mini.