Nova Lite 1.0 vs Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads Nova Lite 1.0 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 25.7 to 6.7, and Nova Lite 1.0 costs 5.0x less per output token ($0.24 vs $1.20 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 33 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova Lite 1.0 or Inkling Small: which to pick
Only Inkling Small has a coding score, 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova Lite 1.0 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nova Lite 1.0 for output tokens 5.0x cheaper ($0.24 vs $1.20 per million).
- Shared results
- 33
- Nova Lite 1.0 only
- 8
- Inkling Small only
- 51
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Inkling Small has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 25.7 against 6.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a AA Agentic Index result, 23.5.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Inkling Small has a GPQA Diamond result, 83.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Inkling Small has a MMLU Pro result, 85.6%.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a Vals Index result, 27.6%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Inkling Small
Inkling Small takes 524K tokens against 300K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0
Nova Lite 1.0 $0.0002, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Inkling Small has the number, $0.16.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova Lite 1.0 not benchmarked, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Reasoning, 36.6 points apart on average over 5 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Nova Lite 1.0 19.0% against Inkling Small 75.7%, 56.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova Lite 1.0 $0.24 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 5.0x apart.
- Context window
- Nova Lite 1.0 takes 300K tokens, Inkling Small 524K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Nova Lite 1.0 | Bars | Inkling Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 5 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 19 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 33 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1409 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 52.9 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 82.2% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 13.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 9.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 16.7% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 49.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 0.8% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1239 | 1450 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1241 | 1447 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1399 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1398 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1410 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 6.7 | 25.7 | Inkling Small |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 150.3 | Only Inkling Small measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 23.5 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 41.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 15.4% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 17.5% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 83.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.3% | 89.5% | Inkling Small |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.3% | 33.3% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 88.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 84.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 40.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1220 | 1423 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1201 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1226 | 1429 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1251 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1257 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 7.0 | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 7.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 90.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 46.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 17.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1227 | 1459 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1235 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 69.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 75.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 62.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MMLU | 77.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1232 | 1428 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1213 | 1413 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1238 | 1415 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1219 | 1413 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index019
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 27.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.4% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 50.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| IFBench | 34.1% | Not measured | Only Nova Lite 1.0 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 19.0% | 75.7% | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text | 1229 | 1413 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1205 | 1399 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1197 | 1334 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision | 990 | 1237 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: English | 1243 | 1421 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1208 | 1401 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1225 | 1464 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: German | 1229 | 1408 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1153 | 1401 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1153 | 1367 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: French | 1238 | 1435 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1226 | 1422 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1216 | 1394 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1428 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1199 | 1416 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1234 | 1402 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1211 | 1357 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1176 | 1352 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: English | 999 | 1243 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1292 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1243 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1207 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1205 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Lite 1.0 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nova Lite 1.0 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Amazon Nova Lite 1.0 | Thinking Machines Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | December 5, 2024 | July 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 300K | 524K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.06 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.24 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 27.3 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.16 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova Lite 1.0 better than Inkling Small for coding?
Only Inkling Small has a coding score, 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova Lite 1.0 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nova Lite 1.0 for output tokens 5.0x cheaper ($0.24 vs $1.20 per million).
Which is cheaper, Nova Lite 1.0 or Inkling Small?
Nova Lite 1.0 costs $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.24 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for Inkling Small only.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova Lite 1.0 or Inkling Small?
Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 300K.
How many benchmarks is the Nova Lite 1.0 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?
33 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova Lite 1.0's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.