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Inkling 2 Small vs Step-3.5-Flash

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 36.4. Step-3.5-Flash is 2.7x cheaper per token.

Thinking Machines Lab · StepFun · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Inkling 2 Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 36.4, 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, Step-3.5-Flash is roughly 2.7x 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 47.2 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 process long inputs — it offers a 256,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

Choose Step-3.5-Flash

  • cost matters — it's about 2.7x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Inkling 2 Small
Thinking Machines Lab
Step-3.5-Flash
StepFun
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
47.2
#40
36.4
#103
Reasoning
48.0
#26
36.4
#102
Coding
36.1
#32
20.2
#127
Agents
32.9
#39
14.3
#125
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 2
0 of 2
Input price
$0.30 / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
$1.00 / M
$0.40 / M
Context window
256,000
65,536

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Inkling 2 Small
Step-3.5-Flash
Tool use
28.4#30
13.2#130
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

11 reported for Inkling 2 Small · 7 for Step-3.5-Flash

2 shared

Inkling 2 Small outperforms in 2 benchmarks (BrowseComp, SWE-Bench Verified), while Step-3.5-Flash is better at 0 benchmarks.

Inkling 2 Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Nov 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Step-3.5-Flash costs less

For input processing, Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Step-3.5-Flash ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than Step-3.5-Flash ($0.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Inkling 2 Small is more expensive than Step-3.5-Flash.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Nov 13 2026 • llm-stats.com
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.40
Best providerStepFun
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

398.0B diff

Inkling 2 Small has 398.0B more parameters than Step-3.5-Flash, making it 203.1% larger.

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
594.0Bparameters
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
196.0Bparameters
594.0B
Inkling 2 Small
196.0B
Step-3.5-Flash

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Inkling 2 Small accepts 256,000 input tokens compared to Step-3.5-Flash's 65,536 tokens. Only Step-3.5-Flash specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output- tokens
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input65,536 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Fri Nov 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Inkling 2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas Step-3.5-Flash 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

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step-3.5-Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Inkling 2 Small is licensed under a proprietary license, while Step-3.5-Flash 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

Step-3.5-Flash

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05, while Step-3.5-Flash was released on 2026-02-02.

Inkling 2 Small is 9 months newer than Step-3.5-Flash.

Inkling 2 Small

Nov 5, 2026

1 weeks ago

9mo newer
Step-3.5-Flash

Feb 2, 2026

9 months 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. Step-3.5-Flash is available from StepFun.

Inkling 2 Small

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

Step-3.5-Flash

stepfun logo
StepFun
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.40/1M
* 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 Step-3.5-Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Inkling 2 Small
✓ Preferred
Step-3.5-Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Inkling 2 Small vs Step-3.5-Flash.

Which is better, Inkling 2 Small or Step-3.5-Flash?

Inkling 2 Small leads the LLM Stats Score 47.2 to 36.4. Inkling 2 Small is made by Thinking Machines Lab and Step-3.5-Flash is made by StepFun. 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 Step-3.5-Flash 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%. Step-3.5-Flash scores AIME 2025: 97.3%, Tau-bench: 88.2%, LiveCodeBench v6: 86.4%, IMO-AnswerBench: 85.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 74.4%.

Is Inkling 2 Small cheaper than Step-3.5-Flash?

Step-3.5-Flash is 3.0x cheaper for input tokens. Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30/M input and $1.00/M output via thinking-machines. Step-3.5-Flash costs $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output via stepfun.

What are the context window sizes for Inkling 2 Small and Step-3.5-Flash?

Inkling 2 Small supports 256K tokens and Step-3.5-Flash supports 66K 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 Step-3.5-Flash?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (47.2 vs 36.4), context window (256K vs 66K), input pricing ($0.30 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Inkling 2 Small and Step-3.5-Flash?

Inkling 2 Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab and Step-3.5-Flash is developed by StepFun.

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