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Inkling 2 Small vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 23.9. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 1.3x cheaper per token.

Thinking Machines Lab · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 23.9, 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, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is roughly 1.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct also accepts a larger context window (262,144 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 agents — 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 Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

  • cost matters — it's about 1.3x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Core performance indexes
47.1
#41
23.9
#203
47.8
#26
21.8
#209
33.3
#39
12.1
#136
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 2
0 of 2
Input price
$0.30 / M
$0.20 / M
Output price
$1.00 / M
$0.88 / M
Context window
256,000
262,144

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Inkling 2 Small
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
29.2#47
17.7#107
28.9#44
20.1#89
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

11 reported for Inkling 2 Small · 50 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

2 shared

Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 2 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, MMMU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Inkling 2 Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Nov 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs less

For input processing, Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.20/1M tokens).

For output processing, Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens) is 1.1x more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct ($0.88/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Inkling 2 Small is more expensive than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Nov 09 2026 • llm-stats.com
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input tokens$0.20
Output tokens$0.88
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

358.0B diff

Inkling 2 Small has 358.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, making it 151.7% larger.

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
594.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
236.0Bparameters
594.0B
Inkling 2 Small
236.0B
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Inkling 2 Small's 256,000 tokens. Only Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct specifies output context (262,144 tokens).

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Mon Nov 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Inkling 2 Small and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Inkling 2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Inkling 2 Small is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct uses Apache 2.0.

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

Inkling 2 Small

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05, while Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct was released on 2025-09-22.

Inkling 2 Small is 14 months newer than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Inkling 2 Small

Nov 5, 2026

4 days ago

1.1yr newer
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Sep 22, 2025

1.1 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Novita.

Inkling 2 Small

thinking-machines logo
Unknown Organization
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.00/1M

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.20/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.88/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Inkling 2 Small and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Inkling 2 Small
✓ Preferred
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct.

Which is better, Inkling 2 Small or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.1 to 23.9. Inkling 2 Small is made by Thinking Machines Lab and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. 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 Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 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%. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct scores DocVQAtest: 97.1%, ScreenSpot: 95.4%, MMLU-Redux: 92.2%, OCRBench: 92.0%, MMBench-V1.1: 89.9%.

Is Inkling 2 Small cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is 1.5x cheaper for input tokens. Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30/M input and $1.00/M output via thinking-machines. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.20/M input and $0.88/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Inkling 2 Small and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Inkling 2 Small supports 256K tokens and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct supports 262K 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 Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (47.1 vs 23.9), context window (256K vs 262K), input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.20/M), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Inkling 2 Small and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?

Inkling 2 Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.