Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) 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
Inkling Small scores 16.8 points higher (25.7 vs 8.9) but costs 16× as much to run the benchmark ($241 vs $14.7; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Inkling Small when you need intelligence above 8.9, and Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) when 8.9 is enough.
| Metric | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.9 | 25.7 | +188.8% Inkling Small is 2.9× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.68 | $240.85 | +1540.7% Inkling Small is 16× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.75s | 12.67s | −78.1% Inkling Small is 78.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.02 / $0.10 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning): 188.8% more intelligence, 1540.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 78.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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