Inkling Small vs Mistral Small 3.2
Which is better for the money: Inkling Small by Thinking Machines or Mistral Small 3.2 by Mistral? 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 18.7 points higher (25.7 vs 7.0) but costs 2.0× as much to run the benchmark ($241 vs $122; both mid-range class). Pick Inkling Small when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Mistral Small 3.2.
| Metric | Inkling Small | Mistral Small 3.2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 25.7 | 7.0 | −72.8% Mistral Small 3.2 is 72.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $240.85 | $121.78 | −49.4% Mistral Small 3.2 is 49.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 12.67s | 12.50s | −1.3% Mistral Small 3.2 is 1.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.07 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 3.2 vs Inkling Small: 72.8% less intelligence, 49.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Mistral Small 3.2 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
Inkling SmallMistral Small 3.2Today'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/inkling-small/mistral-small-3-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/inkling-small/mistral-small-3-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill