Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview on coding, 48.9 to 22.7 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling 2 Small costs 1.5x less per output token ($1.00 vs $1.50 per million). Updated November 14, 2026; 25 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Inkling 2 Small: which to pick
Pick Inkling 2 Small for coding: it scores 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.7 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview.
Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview for work measured by LMArena Text: science or LMArena Text, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 25
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only
- 53
- Inkling 2 Small only
- 26
- 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
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small scores 48.9 against 22.7.
3 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads, 30.6 against 6.2.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.6.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a GPQA Diamond result, 81.1%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AIME result, 83.3%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a MMLU Pro result, 86.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a Design Arena: websites result, 1074.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Inkling 2 Small has a Vals Index result, 56.1%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Inkling 2 Small
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $0.0010, Inkling 2 Small $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has the number, $0.18.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 22.7 from 3 benchmarks, Inkling 2 Small 48.9 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 39.5 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 0.0% against Inkling 2 Small 81.5%, 81.5 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $1.50 against Inkling 2 Small $1.00 per million output tokens, 1.5x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
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 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Bars | Inkling 2 Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 7 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 1 | ||
| General | 7 | 3 | ||
| All shared boards | 8 | 17 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index07
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1256 | 1647 | Inkling 2 Small |
| AA Coding Index | 34.7 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 80.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 62.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.6% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 81.5% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 4.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 0.5% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 34.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 52.3% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 13.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| FrontierCode 2.0 | Not measured | 25.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| ALE-Bench | 797.7 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1400 | 1455 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1413 | 1443 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1244 | 1660 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1275 | 1661 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1338 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SciCode | 4.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-Bench Pro V2 | Not measured | 97.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 30 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 6.2 | 30.6 | Inkling 2 Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 1.6 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 1.9% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 30.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 3.1% | 38.9% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 3.4% | 46.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 21.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 8.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.0% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Vals Science Index | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 46.8% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| MCP Atlas | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 81.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.2% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 82.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 44.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| HLE-Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 28.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| CritPt v2, hard subset (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 35.0% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 96.5% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 81.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1408 | 1421 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1398 | 1478 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1403 | 1424 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1243 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1271 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1428 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1417 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MathArena | Not measured | 42.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 86.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 59.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 47.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| AA-Omniscience | Not measured | 16.1 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1426 | 1409 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1427 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1418 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1390 | 1415 | Inkling 2 Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1074 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1062 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1019 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1042 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1027 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1062 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1041 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1162 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index73
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 56.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.6% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 63.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 41.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 83.3% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| GDPval-AA | Not measured | 1630 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena Text | 1416 | 1403 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1378 | 1408 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1402 | 1348 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Vision | 1240 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1413 | 1418 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1411 | 1390 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1460 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1429 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1413 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1392 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1423 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1423 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1420 | 1377 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1443 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1417 | 1408 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1395 | 1403 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1408 | 1381 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1386 | 1359 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1233 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1276 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1246 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1267 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1251 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1306 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1248 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MultiChallenge | 60.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Inkling 2 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
Inkling 2 Small costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 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 | Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Thinking Machines Inkling 2 Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Thinking Machines | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | March 3, 2026 | November 9, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.25 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.50 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | 22.7 | 48.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.18 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview better than Inkling 2 Small for coding?
Pick Inkling 2 Small for coding: it scores 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.7 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview. Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview for work measured by LMArena Text: science or LMArena Text, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Inkling 2 Small?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens; Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Inkling 2 Small?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs Inkling 2 Small comparison based on?
25 benchmarks have a result for both models as of November 14, 2026. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Inkling 2 Small's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.