Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite by Google or Inkling Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Inkling Small
Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: 15.8% more intelligence, 34.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 35.0% slower end-to-end.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 22.2 | 25.7 | +15.8% Inkling Small is 15.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $365.63 | $240.85 | −34.1% Inkling Small is 34.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 9.59s | 12.95s | +35.0% Inkling Small is 35.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $2.50 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image, Speech |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteInkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-5-flash-lite/inkling-small · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-5-flash-lite/inkling-small?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill