Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
Side-by-side comparison of API pricing, specs, benchmarks, and capabilities
Inkling Small is 38.2% cheaper on blended cost ($0.525 vs $0.850/Mtok)
| Specification |
Inkling SmallIntro price
|
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteIntro price
by Google
|
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Status | Current budget Open weights | Current budget |
| Released | Jul 30, 2026 | Jul 21, 2026 |
| Pricing per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.300/Mtok | $0.300/Mtok |
| Output | $1.20/Mtok | $2.50/Mtok |
| Blended avg | $0.525/Mtok | $0.850/Mtok |
| Cached input | $0.060/Mtok | $0.030/Mtok |
| Specifications | ||
| Context window | 262K tokens | 1M tokens |
| Parameters | 276B total / 12B active | Proprietary |
| Speed (TPS) | — | — |
| Modalities | ||
| Input |
textimageaudio
|
textimageaudiovideo
|
| Benchmarks source: Artificial Analysis | ||
| Independent composite scores measured for both models — each on its own scale | ||
| AA Intelligence Index | 40.2 | 36.5 |
| AA Agentic Index | 30.8 | 26.8 |
| AA-Omniscience Index (−100–100) | -9 | 6.9 |
| LMSYS Chatbot Arena | 1430.5 ELO | 1456.5 ELO |
| GDPval-AA v2 | — | 1138 ELO |
| Providers | ||
| Available from |
Thinking Machines — $0.300/$1.20/Mtok
|
Google — $0.300/$2.50/Mtok
|
Cost at scale
1M tokens · 50/50 input/output| Volume | Inkling Small | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M tokens | $0.52 | $0.85 | $0.33 (38.8%) |
| 10M tokens | $5.25 | $8.5 | $3.25 (38.2%) |
| 100M tokens | $52.5 | $85 | $32.5 (38.2%) |
| 1000M tokens | $525 | $850 | $325 (38.2%) |
When to pick which
distilled from the pricing and spec data above
Pick Inkling Small if…
- cost dominates: $0.525/Mtok blended vs $0.850 — 38.2% less on the same 50/50 token mix
- you want open weights — self-host it, fine-tune it, or exit the API entirely; Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is closed
Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite if…
- your workload re-reads context (agents, RAG, long chats): cached input costs $0.030/Mtok — 90% off its list input price
- you need the longer context: 1M tokens vs 262K (3.8×)
Summary
Inkling Small by Thinking Machines costs $0.300/Mtok input and $1.20/Mtok output, with a 262K-token context window. It supports text, image, audio input.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite by Google costs $0.300/Mtok input and $2.50/Mtok output, with a 1M-token context window. It supports text, image, audio, video input.
On a blended cost basis, Inkling Small is 38.2% cheaper than Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
Note: Pricing is per million tokens. Actual costs vary with usage patterns, prompt caching, and batch discounts. Always verify against official provider pricing pages.
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