Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Inkling 2 Small
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Inkling 2 Small tie on coding at 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling 2 Small costs 2.5x less per output token ($1.00 vs $2.50 per million). Updated November 14, 2026; 38 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Inkling 2 Small: which to pick
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Inkling 2 Small are level for coding, 48.9 against 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index, so price and context decide.
Pick Inkling 2 Small for output tokens 2.5x cheaper ($1.00 vs $2.50 per million) and work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads. Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for work measured by LMArena Text: software and IT or LMArena Text: hard prompts, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 38
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only
- 55
- Inkling 2 Small only
- 13
- 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
Level: 48.9 against 48.9, inside 2 points.
3 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads, 30.6 against 11.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a AA Agentic Index result, 14.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a GPQA Diamond result, 83.8%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a MMLU Pro result, 85.8%.
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 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015, Inkling 2 Small $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the number, $0.41.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 48.9 from 3 benchmarks, Inkling 2 Small 48.9 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 27.3 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- ARC-AGI-2: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 10.3% against Inkling 2 Small 81.7%, 71.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $2.50 against Inkling 2 Small $1.00 per million output tokens, 2.5x 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 3.5 Flash Lite | Bars | Inkling 2 Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 9 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 3 | ||
| Reasoning | 2 | 6 | ||
| Knowledge | 2 | 1 | ||
| General | 10 | 3 | ||
| All shared boards | 15 | 23 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index19
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1432 | 1647 | Inkling 2 Small |
| AA Coding Index | 49.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 79.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 75.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.6% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 37.2% | 81.5% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 6.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 0.5% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 50.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 59.1% | 72.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| SciCode | 41.3% | 52.3% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Artificial Analysis run) | 1.0% | 13.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| FrontierCode 2.0 | 6.0% | 25.4% | Inkling 2 Small |
| WeirdML | 39.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ALE-Bench | 765.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1453 | 1455 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1450 | 1443 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1407 | 1660 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1661 | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1449 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SciCode | 6.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SWE-Bench Pro V2 | Not measured | 97.7% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| GameBench 2 | 36.9 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 11.7 | 30.6 | Inkling 2 Small |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.6 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 14.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 1.9% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 47.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 7.2% | 38.9% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 13.9% | 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) | 43.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 | 29.3% | 46.8% | Inkling 2 Small |
| MCP Atlas | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Toolathlon-Verified | 57.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index26
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.2% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 83.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 18.8% | 44.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| HLE-Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 9.9% | 28.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| CritPt v2, hard subset (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.5% | 35.0% | Inkling 2 Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI | 53.5% | 96.5% | Inkling 2 Small |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 10.3% | 81.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Chess puzzles | 21.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 19.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1441 | 1421 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1433 | 1478 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1440 | 1424 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1279 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1289 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 71.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 26.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProofBench | 13.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1434 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1431 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MathArena | Not measured | 42.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index21
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 85.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 84.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 72.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 43.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| AA-Omniscience | 6.9 | 16.1 | Inkling 2 Small |
| LMArena Text: science | 1450 | 1409 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1438 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1430 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1422 | 1415 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 53.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index103
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 56.1% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 51.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 79.5% | 88.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 70.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 76.0% | 83.3% | Inkling 2 Small |
| GDPval-AA | 994 | 1630 | Inkling 2 Small |
| DTBench | 83.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMCA | 37.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text | 1435 | 1403 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1419 | 1408 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1420 | 1348 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision | 1268 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1438 | 1418 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1427 | 1390 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1468 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1452 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1426 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1404 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1448 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1441 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1445 | 1377 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1438 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1445 | 1408 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1435 | 1403 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1427 | 1381 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1414 | 1359 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1268 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1312 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1278 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1274 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1255 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | 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
Inkling 2 Small costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Inkling 2 Small 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 3.5 Flash Lite | Thinking Machines Inkling 2 Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Thinking Machines | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | July 21, 2026 | November 9, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | 48.9 | 48.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.41 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Inkling 2 Small for coding?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and Inkling 2 Small are level for coding, 48.9 against 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index, so price and context decide. Pick Inkling 2 Small for output tokens 2.5x cheaper ($1.00 vs $2.50 per million) and work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads. Pick Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite for work measured by LMArena Text: software and IT or LMArena Text: hard prompts, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Inkling 2 Small?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Inkling 2 Small?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Inkling 2 Small comparison based on?
38 benchmarks have a result for both models as of November 14, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite'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.