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Model comparison

Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Inkling

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 10 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

75.02/100
Margin
6.0pts
← winning
Inkling
Thinking Machines Lab
69/100
2 category wins4 category wins

Verified leaderboard positions: Gemini 3.5 Flash #7; Inkling #17

BenchAlign evidence: Gemini 3.5 Flash supported; Inkling not scored. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Gemini 3.5 Flash and Inkling share 10 comparable benchmark results. 6 of 8 categories are comparable. 41 results are unique to Gemini 3.5 Flash; 6 to Inkling.

Updated July 15, 2026
Shared results
10
Gemini 3.5 Flash only
41
Inkling only
6
Comparable categories
6 / 8

Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Inkling only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 10 shared benchmark results across 5 evidence categories; 6 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Gemini 3.5 Flash is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 80 to 69. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Gemini 3.5 Flash's sharpest advantage is in agentic, where it averages 77.2 against 69.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 76.2% to 63.8%. Inkling does hit back in mathematics, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

Gemini 3.5 Flash is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.50 input / $9.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens for Inkling. Gemini 3.5 Flash is the reasoning model in the pair, while Inkling is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Gemini 3.5 Flash and Inkling
CategoryGemini 3.5 FlashΔInkling
MathGemini 3.5 Flash32.9Margin→ 64.2Inkling97.1
CodingGemini 3.5 Flash53.9Margin→ 14.7Inkling68.6
AgenticGemini 3.5 Flash77.2Margin← 7.8Inkling69.4
MultimodalGemini 3.5 Flash83.8Margin← 7.3Inkling76.5
KnowledgeGemini 3.5 Flash47.2Margin→ 4.5Inkling51.7
Inst. FollowingGemini 3.5 Flash76.3Margin→ 3.5Inkling79.8
ReasoningGemini 3.5 Flash74.7MarginNo overlapInklingNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Gemini 3.5 FlashB · Inkling

  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 76.2%B 63.8%
    Winner: Gemini 3.5 FlashΔ 12.4
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Gemini 3.5 Flash scored 76.2%; Inkling scored 63.8%. Gemini 3.5 Flash wins this benchmark.

  2. MMMU-Pro

    Multimodal
    Source ↗
    A 83.6%B 73.5%
    Winner: Gemini 3.5 FlashΔ 10.1
    MMMU-Pro: Gemini 3.5 Flash scored 83.6%; Inkling scored 73.5%. Gemini 3.5 Flash wins this benchmark.

  3. HLE

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 40.2%B 46%
    Winner: InklingΔ 5.8
    HLE: Gemini 3.5 Flash scored 40.2%; Inkling scored 46%. Inkling wins this benchmark.

  4. GPQA

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 92.2%B 87.9%
    Winner: Gemini 3.5 FlashΔ 4.3
    GPQA: Gemini 3.5 Flash scored 92.2%; Inkling scored 87.9%. Gemini 3.5 Flash wins this benchmark.

  5. IFBench

    Inst. Following
    Source ↗
    A 76.3%B 79.8%
    Winner: InklingΔ 3.5
    IFBench: Gemini 3.5 Flash scored 76.3%; Inkling scored 79.8%. Inkling wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricGemini 3.5 FlashInklingComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGemini 3.5 Flash$1.5 input / $9 outputInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputInkling has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondGemini 3.5 Flash284.2 tok/sInklingNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGemini 3.5 Flash18.55 sInklingNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGemini 3.5 Flash1MInkling1MListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGemini 3.5 Flash wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 76.2%63.8%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
MCP AtlasSource 83.6%74.1%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
ToolathlonSource 56.5%—Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 78.4%—Not comparable
Finance Agent v2Source 57.9%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1349—Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 95.3%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 42.4%—Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 37.5%—Not comparable
APEX-Agents-AASource 47.1%—Not comparable
Gert LabsSource 62.80%—Not comparable
ResearchClawBenchSource 18.0%—Not comparable
AA BriefcaseSource 866—Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource 42.6%—Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 50.1%—Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 1.7%—Not comparable
AA ITBenchSource 40.3%—Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 25.4%—Not comparable
BrowseCompSource —77.1%Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource —1258Not comparable
CodingInkling wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 76.2%63.8%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
Terminal-Bench HardSource 40.9%—Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 55.1%54.3%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
SciCodeSource 53.1%—Not comparable
Vibe Code BenchSource 48.68%—Not comparable
cursorBench31Source 49.8%—Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 48.8%—Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 70.1%—Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 53.1%—Not comparable
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Source 78.7%—Not comparable
SWE-bench VerifiedSource —77.6%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
MRCRv2Source 77.3%—Not comparable
MRCR 1MSource 26.6%—Not comparable
ARC-AGI-2Source 72.1%—Not comparable
AA-LCRSource 69.3%—Not comparable
CritPtSource 13.1%—Not comparable
KnowledgeInkling wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 50.2%—Not comparable
GPQASource 92.2%87.9%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
GPQA-DSource 92.7%87.9%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
HLESource 40.2%46%Inkling leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 51.9%—Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 60.7%—Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 92.2%—Not comparable
AA-HLESource 41.0%—Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 22.7%—Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource —30%Not comparable
MathInkling wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 38.966%—Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 14.583%—Not comparable
AIME26Source —97.1%Not comparable
MultimodalGemini 3.5 Flash wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
CharXivSource 84.2%82%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
MMMU-ProSource 83.6%73.5%Gemini 3.5 Flash leads
Blueprint-Bench 2Source 33.6%—Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 84.3%—Not comparable
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1288—Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource —78.1%Not comparable
Inst. FollowingInkling wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.5 FlashInklingResult
IFBenchSource 76.3%79.8%Inkling leads
AA-IFBenchSource 76.3%—Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (7)

Which is better, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Gemini 3.5 Flash is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 80 to 69. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 76.2% and 63.8%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 51.7 versus 47.2. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 68.6 versus 53.9. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 32.9. Gemini 3.5 Flash stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Gemini 3.5 Flash has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.2 versus 69.4. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Gemini 3.5 Flash has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 83.8 versus 76.5. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, Gemini 3.5 Flash or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 79.8 versus 76.3. Inside this category, IFBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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