# Inkling-Small vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/inkling-small-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b
- Last updated: October 15, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 10
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5.8

## Quick Verdict

Inkling-Small leads by point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence. Choose using the category evidence and your own workload tests.

## Summary

- Inkling-Small has the higher overall point estimate 53.6 to 49.51. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.
- The clearest category separation is in instruction following, where the averages are 93.3 for Inkling-Small and 66.6 for Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B.
- The biggest single benchmark swing is HLE in Knowledge, with scores of 47.8% and 29.2%.
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B is the cheaper option on output tokens, which matters if you expect large responses or heavy interactive use.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | Thinking Machines Lab | NVIDIA |
| Type | Open Weight | Open Weight |
| Reasoning | Hybrid | Reasoning |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Overall Score | 53.6 | 49.51 |
| Benchmarks Covered | 28 | 19 |
| Pricing (input/output) | $0.58 / $1.44 | Pricing unavailable / Pricing unavailable |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Directional only
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 36.9 (Supported · #77/127)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 44.2 (Estimated · #61/127)

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 64.7% | 66.7% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B |
| BrowseComp | 77.4% | 78% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B |
| MCP Atlas | 79.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Toolathlon-Verified | 54.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals) | 55.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| τ²-bench Airline | Coming soon | 76.5% | Coming soon |
| τ³-bench results | Coming soon | 18.9% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 37.7 (Supported · #71/150)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| SWE-bench Verified | 80.2% | 71.1% | Inkling-Small |
| SWE-bench Pro | 55.9% | 51.8% | Inkling-Small |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 64.7% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SciCode | 48.7% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals) | 85.9% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench (Vals) | 82.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench v6 | Coming soon | 88.2% | Coming soon |
| SWE Multilingual | Coming soon | 67.7% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 55 (Unranked · 4 rankable rows)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 73 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| ARC-AGI-2 | 40.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CritPt | 8.3% | 10.9% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 84.00% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 67.5 (#36/54)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 62 (Unranked · 5 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| MMMU-Pro | 74% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CharXiv | 81.3% | 80.8% | Inkling-Small |
| CharXiv w/o tools | 77.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| BabyVision | Coming soon | 29.6% | Coming soon |
| MMLongBench-Doc | Coming soon | 62.8% | Coming soon |
| V* | Coming soon | 85.6% | Coming soon |
| MathVision | Coming soon | 78.2% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Directional only
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 55.1 (Supported · #59/184)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 51.8 (Estimated · #73/184)

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA | 89.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| GPQA-D | 89.5% | 89.5% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B |
| HLE | 47.8% | 29.2% | Inkling-Small |
| HLE w/o tools | 31.6% | 31.8% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B |
| GPQA Diamond (Vals) | 83.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MMLU-Pro (Vals) | 85.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

### Instruction Following

- Winner: Inkling-Small
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 93.3 (#9/146)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 66.6 (#72/146)

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| IFBench | 82.2% | 70.9% | Inkling-Small |

### Mathematics

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling-Small public-lane score: 69.8 (#5/12)
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| AIME26 | 95.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HMMT Feb 2026 | 90.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) | 46.316% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4) | 17.073% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Apex Shortlist | Coming soon | 88.4% | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Which is better overall, Inkling-Small or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B?

Inkling-Small has the higher overall point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.

### Where is the biggest gap between Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B?

The widest category gap is in instruction following, where the averages are 93.3 for Inkling-Small and 66.6 for Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B.

### How many benchmarks does Inkling-Small cover on BenchLM?

Inkling-Small currently has 28 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

### How many benchmarks does Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B cover on BenchLM?

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B currently has 19 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

## Related Comparisons

- [Inkling-Small vs Inkling](/compare/inkling-vs-inkling-small)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B vs Inkling](/compare/inkling-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b)
- [Inkling-Small vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B NVFP4](/compare/inkling-small-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-nvfp4)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B NVFP4](/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-nvfp4)

## Explore More

- [Inkling-Small profile](/models/inkling-small)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B profile](/models/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)