Inkling Small vs Trinity Large Thinking
Which is better for the money: Inkling Small by Thinking Machines or Trinity Large Thinking by Arcee AI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-08-19.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Inkling Small
Trinity Large Thinking vs Inkling Small: 54.6% less intelligence, 32.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 64.2% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | Inkling Small | Trinity Large Thinking | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 41.2 | 18.7 | −54.6% Trinity Large Thinking is 54.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $192.52 | $254.72 | +32.3% Trinity Large Thinking is 32.3% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 39.30s | 14.08s | −64.2% Trinity Large Thinking is 64.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.23 / $0.88 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (max) scores 52.30 for $172.
- Trinity Large Thinking is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (max) scores 52.30 for $172.
Inkling SmallTrinity Large ThinkingToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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