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Inkling-Small vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Inkling-Small leads the LLM Stats Score 38.2 to 29.6.

Thinking Machines Lab · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Inkling-Small leads the overall LLM Stats Score 38.2 to 29.6, ranking #83 overall.

In the 7 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Inkling-Small wins 6; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Inkling-Small

  • overall performance matters — it scores 38.2 and ranks #83 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 6 of 7 exact shared results

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Core performance indexes
38.2
#83
29.6
#146
37.6
#84
28.9
#146
28.2
#74
14.4
#154
22.5
#77
11.9
#127
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
6 of 7
1 of 7
Input price
$0.30 / M
— / M
Output price
$1.20 / M
— / M
Context window
256,000
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Inkling-Small
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
33.0#60
23.4#140
18.5#80
5.4#169
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

24 reported for Inkling-Small · 10 for Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

7 shared

Inkling-Small outperforms in 6 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, MCP Atlas, SciCode, Terminal-Bench 2.1), while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is better at 1 benchmark (Tau3 Banking).

Inkling-Small significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

202.0B diff

Inkling-Small has 202.0B more parameters than Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB), making it 273.0% larger.

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling-Small
276.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
74.0Bparameters
276.0B
Inkling-Small
74.0B
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Inkling-Small specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Inkling-Small specifies output context (256,000 tokens).

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling-Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output256,000 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) support multimodal inputs.

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

Inkling-Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Inkling-Small is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

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

Inkling-Small

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Inkling-Small was released on 2026-07-30, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) was released on 2026-10-15.

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is 3 months newer than Inkling-Small.

Inkling-Small

Jul 30, 2026

2 months ago

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Oct 15, 2026

1 weeks ago

2mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-05-01, while Inkling-Small's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)'s training data extends to 2026-05-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling-Small's cutoff date.

Inkling-Small

—

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

May 2026

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Inkling-Small
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Inkling-Small vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB).

Which is better, Inkling-Small or Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Inkling-Small leads the LLM Stats Score 38.2 to 29.6. Inkling-Small is made by Thinking Machines Lab and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Inkling-Small compare to Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) in benchmarks?

Inkling-Small scores AIME 2026: 95.5%, VoiceBench Avg: 90.1%, GPQA: 89.5%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 86.7%, ARC-AGI: 84.0%. Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) scores PinchBench: 87.8%, GPQA: 86.4%, BrowseComp: 66.8%, AA-LCR: 64.1%, MCP Atlas: 52.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Inkling-Small supports 256K tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (38.2 vs 29.6), licensing (Apache 2.0 vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Inkling-Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is developed by NVIDIA.