Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) 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.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) scores 15.2 points higher (40.9 vs 25.7) but costs 6.7× as much to run the benchmark ($1623 vs $241; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) when you need intelligence above 25.7, and Inkling Small when 25.7 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 40.9 | 25.7 | −37.2% Inkling Small is 37.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,622.73 | $240.85 | −85.2% Inkling Small is 85.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 31.19s | 12.68s | −59.3% Inkling Small is 59.3% faster |
| 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 (High): 37.2% less intelligence, 85.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 59.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (High) 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 (High)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
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