Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) by Google or Inkling Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) scores 14.1 points higher (39.8 vs 25.7) but costs 4.6× as much to run the benchmark ($1100 vs $241; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) when you need intelligence above 25.7, and Inkling Small when 25.7 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.8 | 25.7 | −35.4% Inkling Small is 35.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,100.06 | $240.85 | −78.1% Inkling Small is 78.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 12.67s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.75 / $3.75 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium): 35.4% less intelligence, 78.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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