# Inkling vs Inkling 2 Small

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for Inkling and Inkling 2 Small across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/inkling-vs-inkling-2-small
- Last updated: November 6, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 9
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5.8

## Quick Verdict

Inkling 2 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 2 Small has the higher overall point estimate 59.06 to 48.08. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.
- The clearest category separation is in mathematics, where the averages are 54.8 for Inkling and 85.9 for Inkling 2 Small.
- The biggest single benchmark swing is Terminal-Bench 2.1 in Agentic, with scores of 63.8% and 85.1%.
- Inkling 2 Small is the cheaper option on output tokens, which matters if you expect large responses or heavy interactive use.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | Thinking Machines Lab | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Type | Open Weight | Proprietary |
| Reasoning | Hybrid | Hybrid |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Overall Score | 48.08 | 59.06 |
| Benchmarks Covered | 24 | 25 |
| Pricing (input/output) | $1.87 / $4.68 | $0.30 / $1.00 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Inkling 2 Small
- Inkling public-lane score: 36.5 (Supported · #78/131)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 59.9 (Supported · #26/131)

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 63.8% | 85.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| BrowseComp | 77.1% | 90.2% | Inkling 2 Small |
| MCP Atlas | 74.1% | 85% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals) | 47.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CWE-bench v1 | 37.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| DeepSearchQA | Coming soon | 90.9% | Coming soon |
| JobBench | Coming soon | 70.5% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Inkling 2 Small
- Inkling public-lane score: 33.6 (Supported · #94/157)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 59.7 (Supported · #20/157)

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| SWE-bench Verified | 77.6% | 82.2% | Inkling 2 Small |
| SWE-bench Pro | 54.3% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 63.8% | 85.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| FrontierSWE v2 | 4.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals) | 85.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench (Vals) | 77.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE Multilingual | Coming soon | 81.2% | Coming soon |
| sweMarathon | Coming soon | 38.8% | Coming soon |
| DeepSWE | Coming soon | 72.1% | Coming soon |
| PostTrainBench v1.2 | Coming soon | 31.9% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling public-lane score: 76.4 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 86.1 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| LongBench v2 | Coming soon | 70.6% | Coming soon |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Directional only
- Inkling public-lane score: 65.6 (#43/59)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 86.6 (#12/59)

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| MMMU-Pro | 73.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CharXiv | 82% | 87.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| CharXiv w/o tools | 78.1% | 85.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Chartography (no tools) | Coming soon | 36.7% | Coming soon |
| Chartography (tools) | Coming soon | 80.4% | Coming soon |
| BabyVision | Coming soon | 68.6% | Coming soon |
| BabyVision w/ Python | Coming soon | 93.7% | Coming soon |
| ScreenSpot Pro | Coming soon | 83.8% | Coming soon |
| PerceptionBench | Coming soon | 64.7% | Coming soon |
| MathVision | Coming soon | 92.8% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Directional only
- Inkling public-lane score: 50.9 (Supported · #79/178)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 60.4 (Estimated · #46/178)

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA | 87.9% | 93% | Inkling 2 Small |
| GPQA-D | 87.9% | 93.0% | Inkling 2 Small |
| HLE | 46% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HLE w/o tools | 30% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| GPQA Diamond (Vals) | 87.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MMLU-Pro (Vals) | 86.3% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

### Instruction Following

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling public-lane score: 87.6 (#40/157)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| IFBench | 79.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

### Mathematics

- Winner: Not comparable
- Inkling public-lane score: 54.8 (#9/12)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 85.9 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Inkling | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| AIME26 | 97.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) | 33.333% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4) | 4.878% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HMMT Feb 2026 | Coming soon | 95.8% | Coming soon |
| Apex | Coming soon | 63.5% | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Which is better overall, Inkling or Inkling 2 Small?

Inkling 2 Small has the higher overall point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.

### Where is the biggest gap between Inkling and Inkling 2 Small?

The widest category gap is in mathematics, where the averages are 54.8 for Inkling and 85.9 for Inkling 2 Small.

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

Inkling currently has 24 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

### How many benchmarks does Inkling 2 Small cover on BenchLM?

Inkling 2 Small currently has 25 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

## Related Comparisons

- [Inkling vs Inkling-Small](/compare/inkling-vs-inkling-small)
- [Inkling 2 Small vs Inkling-Small](/compare/inkling-2-small-vs-inkling-small)
- [Inkling vs Gemini 4 Carbon](/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-inkling)
- [Inkling 2 Small vs Gemini 4 Carbon](/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-inkling-2-small)

## Explore More

- [Inkling profile](/models/inkling)
- [Inkling 2 Small profile](/models/inkling-2-small)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)