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Inkling vs Qwen3.6-27B

Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B are closely matched at 37.5 and 35.6 on the LLM Stats Score. Qwen3.6-27B is 1.7x cheaper per token.

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

Which is better?

Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 37.5 and 35.6.

The models split the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models evenly.

On price, Qwen3.6-27B is roughly 1.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Inkling also accepts a larger context window (524,288 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

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 524,288 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Qwen3.6-27B

  • cost matters — it's about 1.7x cheaper per token

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Core performance indexes
37.5
#66
35.6
#81
37.3
#66
36.3
#72
27.5
#58
26.0
#65
20.7
#58
16.3
#77
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 4
2 of 4
Input price
$0.95 / M
$0.32 / M
Output price
$4.05 / M
$3.20 / M
Context window
524,288
262,144

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Inkling
Qwen3.6-27B
29.2#87
34.3#48
15.8#88
24.7#48
19.6#69
27.7#36
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

16 reported for Inkling · 44 for Qwen3.6-27B

4 shared

Inkling outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2026, SWE-Bench Verified), while Qwen3.6-27B is better at 2 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, MMMU-Pro).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Wed Sep 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Qwen3.6-27B costs less

For input processing, Inkling ($0.95/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Qwen3.6-27B ($0.32/1M tokens).

For output processing, Inkling ($4.05/1M tokens) is 1.3x more expensive than Qwen3.6-27B ($3.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Inkling is more expensive than Qwen3.6-27B.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Wed Sep 09 2026 • llm-stats.com
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling
Input tokens$0.95
Output tokens$4.05
Best providerDeepinfra
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-27B
Input tokens$0.32
Output tokens$3.20
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

947.2B diff

Inkling has 947.2B more parameters than Qwen3.6-27B, making it 3409.5% larger.

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling
975.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-27B
27.8Bparameters
975.0B
Inkling
27.8B
Qwen3.6-27B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Inkling accepts 524,288 input tokens compared to Qwen3.6-27B's 262,144 tokens. Inkling can generate longer responses up to 524,288 tokens, while Qwen3.6-27B is limited to 262,144 tokens.

Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling
Input524,288 tokens
Output524,288 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-27B
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Wed Sep 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B support multimodal inputs.

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

Inkling

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.6-27B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under Apache 2.0.

Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.

Inkling

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Qwen3.6-27B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Inkling was released on 2026-07-21, while Qwen3.6-27B was released on 2026-04-21.

Inkling is 3 months newer than Qwen3.6-27B.

Inkling

Jul 21, 2026

1 months ago

3mo newer
Qwen3.6-27B

Apr 21, 2026

4 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 is available from DeepInfra. Qwen3.6-27B is available from DeepInfra, Novita.

Inkling

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.95/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.05/1M

Qwen3.6-27B

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.32/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.20/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.60/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.60/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Inkling
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.6-27B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Inkling vs Qwen3.6-27B.

Which is better, Inkling or Qwen3.6-27B?

Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 37.5 and 35.6. Inkling is made by Thinking Machines Lab and Qwen3.6-27B 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 compare to Qwen3.6-27B in benchmarks?

Inkling scores AIME 2026: 97.1%, VoiceBench Avg: 91.4%, Global-MMLU-Lite: 88.7%, IFBench: 79.8%, CharXiv-R: 78.1%. Qwen3.6-27B scores CountBench: 97.8%, VLMsAreBlind: 97.0%, V*: 94.7%, AIME 2026: 94.1%, HMMT 2025: 93.8%.

Is Inkling cheaper than Qwen3.6-27B?

Qwen3.6-27B is 3.0x cheaper for input tokens. Inkling costs $0.95/M input and $4.05/M output via deepinfra. Qwen3.6-27B costs $0.32/M input and $3.20/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B?

Inkling supports 524K tokens and Qwen3.6-27B 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 and Qwen3.6-27B?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (37.5 vs 35.6), context window (524K vs 262K), input pricing ($0.95 vs $0.32/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Inkling and Qwen3.6-27B?

Inkling is developed by Thinking Machines Lab and Qwen3.6-27B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.