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Model comparison

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 16 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

N/A
No comparison
Inkling
Thinking Machines Lab
67.54/100
1 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Gemini 3.6 Flash unranked (Not scored); Inkling #20 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling share 16 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 3 results are unique to Gemini 3.6 Flash; 16 to Inkling.

Updated July 21, 2026
Shared results
16
Gemini 3.6 Flash only
3
Inkling only
16
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Treat this as a split decision. Gemini 3.6 Flash makes more sense if agentic is the priority or you want the stronger reasoning-first profile; Inkling is the better fit if you want the cheaper token bill or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 16 shared benchmark results across 5 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.

Gemini 3.6 Flash is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.50 input / $7.50 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens for Inkling. Gemini 3.6 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 3.6 Flash and Inkling
CategoryGemini 3.6 FlashΔInkling
AgenticGemini 3.6 Flash83.0Margin← 13.6Inkling69.4
CodingGemini 3.6 FlashNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling68.6
KnowledgeGemini 3.6 FlashNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling51.6
MathGemini 3.6 FlashNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling97.1
MultimodalGemini 3.6 FlashNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling76.5
Inst. FollowingGemini 3.6 FlashNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling79.8

Operational comparison

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

MetricGemini 3.6 FlashInklingComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGemini 3.6 Flash$1.5 input / $7.5 outputInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputInkling has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondGemini 3.6 FlashNot availableInklingNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGemini 3.6 FlashNot availableInklingNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGemini 3.6 Flash1MInkling1MListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGemini 3.6 Flash wins
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 83%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 14211239Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA Agentic IndexSource 38.7%32.3%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
GDPval-AASource 46.1%36.9%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA BriefcaseSource 961836Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA Tau3 BankingSource 24.5%23.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
aaTerminalBench21Source 77.5%—Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source —63.8%Not comparable
BrowseCompSource —77.1%Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource —74.1%Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource —1257Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
deepSweSource 49%—Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 69.2%52.1%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA-SciCodeSource 52.7%46.1%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource —77.6%Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource —54.3%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source —63.8%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
AA-LCRSource 69.7%63.3%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
CritPtSource 10.6%5.4%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 50.1%40.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 92.8%87.2%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA-HLESource 38.3%29.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 23.5%2.1%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 50.2%40.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 53.5%63.1%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
GPQASource —87.9%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource —87.9%Not comparable
HLESource —46%Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource —30%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
AIME26Source —97.1%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
AA-MMMU-ProSource 83.2%73.5%Gemini 3.6 Flash leads
MMMU-ProSource —73.5%Not comparable
CharXivSource —82%Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource —78.1%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashInklingResult
IFBenchSource —79.8%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling?

Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling?

Gemini 3.6 Flash has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 83 versus 69.4. Inside this category, GDPval-AA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 21, 2026

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