DeepSeek V3.2 vs Inkling Small
Updated October 21, 2026. 47 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick DeepSeek V3.2 for coding: it scores 54.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 29.9 for Inkling Small.
Pick Inkling Small when a solved task costs $0.16 against $0.99, or when the context window is larger, 524K against 164K tokens.
- Shared results
- 47
- DeepSeek V3.2 only
- 28
- Inkling Small only
- 37
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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, four public coding benchmarks
DeepSeek V3.2
DeepSeek V3.2 scores 54.4 against 29.9.
2 and 1 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 25.7 against 21.5.
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
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 83.6% against 80.3%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only DeepSeek V3.2 has a AIME result, 84.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 85.6% against 84.9%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only DeepSeek V3.2 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1175.
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 164K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V3.2
DeepSeek V3.2 $0.0005, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Inkling Small
DeepSeek V3.2 $0.99, Inkling Small $0.16.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V3.2 54.4 from 2 benchmarks, Inkling Small 29.9 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Reasoning, 10.7 points apart on average over 8 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- ARC-AGI-2: DeepSeek V3.2 4.0% against Inkling Small 40.1%, 36.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V3.2 $0.42 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 2.9x apart.
- Context window
- DeepSeek V3.2 takes 164K 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 | DeepSeek V3.2 | Bars | Inkling Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 7 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 2 | 6 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 3 | 5 | ||
| General | 13 | 5 | ||
| All shared boards | 20 | 27 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index27
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 70.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| SWE-bench Multilingual | 59.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1362 | 1409 | Inkling Small |
| AA Coding Index | 44.2 | 52.9 | Inkling Small |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 80.7% | 85.9% | Inkling Small |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 67.6% | 82.2% | Inkling Small |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 5.1% | 19.1% | Inkling Small |
| 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) | 86.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 49.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 35.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 39.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1453 | 1450 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1449 | 1447 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1350 | 1399 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1371 | 1398 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1410 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 21.5 | 25.7 | Inkling Small |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.1 | 150.3 | Inkling Small |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | 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 | 90.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| APEX-Agents | 21.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $1,034 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 30 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index26
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 80.3% | 83.6% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.0% | 89.5% | Inkling Small |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 24.6% | 33.3% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 88.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI | 57.0% | 84.0% | Inkling Small |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 4.0% | 40.1% | Inkling Small |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1434 | 1423 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1436 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1446 | 1429 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| 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 9 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 84.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 86.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| AA Math Index | 92.0 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 92.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 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 | 1435 | 1459 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1440 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index35
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 84.9% | 85.6% | Inkling Small |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 76.1% | 83.0% | Inkling Small |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 51.0% | 69.6% | Inkling Small |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 68.2% | 75.5% | Inkling Small |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 62.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 93.9% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 86.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1446 | 1428 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1440 | 1413 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1425 | 1415 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1410 | 1413 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1175 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1149 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1132 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1158 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1133 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1164 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1032 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1082 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index135
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | 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 | 60.7% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 73.3% | 75.7% | Inkling Small |
| DTBench | 85.6% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| LMCA | 28.8% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| CL-bench | 12.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| CL-bench Life | 7.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3.2 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1425 | 1413 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1413 | 1399 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1400 | 1334 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1237 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1439 | 1421 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1409 | 1401 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1455 | 1464 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: German | 1413 | 1408 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1374 | 1401 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1370 | 1367 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: French | 1429 | 1435 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1424 | 1422 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1424 | 1394 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1419 | 1428 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1427 | 1416 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1428 | 1402 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1407 | 1357 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1395 | 1352 | DeepSeek V3.2 |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1243 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| 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 12 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3.2 | 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
DeepSeek V3.2 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V3.2 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V3.2 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 | DeepSeek V3.2 | Thinking Machines Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | December 1, 2025 | July 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 164K | 524K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.28 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.42 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | 54.4 | 29.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.99 | $0.16 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V3.2 better than Inkling Small for coding?
Pick DeepSeek V3.2 for coding: it scores 54.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 29.9 for Inkling Small. Pick Inkling Small when a solved task costs $0.16 against $0.99, or when the context window is larger, 524K against 164K tokens.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V3.2 or Inkling Small?
DeepSeek V3.2 costs $0.28 per million input tokens and $0.42 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, DeepSeek V3.2 costs $0.99 and Inkling Small $0.16.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V3.2 or Inkling Small?
Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 164K.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V3.2 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?
47 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. DeepSeek V3.2's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.