Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small

Gemini 3.6 Flash leads Inkling Small on coding, 62.5 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling Small costs 3.1x less per output token ($1.20 vs $3.75 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 80 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemini 3.6 Flash Replace Inkling Small

Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle

Coding: 62.5
Overall: 68.3
Output $/M: $3.75

T Inkling SmallThinking Machines

Coding: 27.3
Overall: 43.6
Output $/M: $1.20

vs boards won of 80 shared

Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling Small: which to pick

Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small.

Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 3.1x cheaper ($1.20 vs $3.75 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $1.49).

Model AGemini 3.6 FlashGoogle62.5/1004 independent benchmarks$1.49 per solved task Model BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task

80294

Shared results: 80
Gemini 3.6 Flash only: 29
Inkling Small only: 4
Like-for-like categories: 7 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
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores 62.5 against 27.3.
4 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 34.0 against 25.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 29.0 against 23.5.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 93.4% against 83.6%.
Same board, both measured
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, 89.3% against 85.6%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1300.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a Vals Index result, 27.6%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 524K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Inkling Small
Gemini 3.6 Flash $0.0026, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Inkling Small
Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.49, Inkling Small $0.16.
Published attempt cost and pass rate

At a glance

Coding index: Gemini 3.6 Flash 62.5 from 4 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category: Coding, 15.8 points apart on average over 16 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap: SimpleQA Verified: Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2% against Inkling Small 19.1%, 47.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 3.1x apart.
Context window: Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M 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.

Boards won, where both have a result
Category	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small
Coding	13	3
Intelligence	2	0
Agentic work	4	1
Reasoning	12	0
Math	6	0
Knowledge	9	2
General	26	2
All shared boards	72	8

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index133

Coding benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
LMArena WebDev	1538	1409	Gemini 3.6 Flash
AA Coding Index	69.2	52.9	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	88.1%	85.9%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	79.6%	82.2%	Inkling Small
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)	Not measured	0.0%	Only Inkling Small measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)	64.0%	19.1%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Code migration (Vals AI)	30.9%	13.7%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
ProgramBench (Vals AI)	0.0%	0.5%	Inkling Small
IOI (Vals AI)	35.1%	9.3%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)	73.8%	55.1%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
SkillsBench (Vals AI)	Not measured	33.6%	Only Inkling Small measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)	45.4%	64.1%	Inkling Small
SciCode	53.4%	49.7%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
FrontierCode	34.4%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
WeirdML	56.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
ALE-Bench	715.5	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
LMArena Text: coding	1491	1450	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: software and IT	1492	1447	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena WebDev: React	1528	1399	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena WebDev: HTML	1547	1398	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena WebDev: from an image	1545	1410	Gemini 3.6 Flash
SciCode	10.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20

Intelligence benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	34.0	25.7	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Epoch Capabilities Index	154.5	150.3	Gemini 3.6 Flash

Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index41

Agentic work benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
AA Agentic Index	29.0	23.5	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: agents building web apps	1197	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps	1181	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps	1198	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps	1204	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building games	1180	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: HTML slides	1099	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides	1121	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: spreadsheets	1071	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)	56.3%	41.3%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)	18.0%	15.4%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)	25.0%	25.5%	Inkling Small
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)	Not measured	2.9%	Only Inkling Small measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)	65.4%	31.8%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
BioMysteryBench (Vals AI)	58.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)	4.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
APEX-Agents	46.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index120

Reasoning benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
GPQA Diamond	93.4%	83.6%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)	88.4%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	92.8%	89.5%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	40.8%	33.3%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	94.1%	88.5%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
ARC-AGI	91.2%	84.0%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
ARC-AGI-2	60.4%	40.1%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Chess puzzles	42.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Mystery game puzzles	30.0%	6.0%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1486	1423	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: expert	1490	1441	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1484	1429	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: diagrams	1314	1251	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: homework	1314	1257	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here

MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60

Math benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
OTIS Mock AIME	94.2%	90.0%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	58.9%	46.3%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
FrontierMath, tier 4	22.0%	17.1%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
ProofBench	36.0%	6.0%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: math	1508	1459	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1492	1441	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here

KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index92

Knowledge benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
MMLU Pro	89.3%	85.6%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LegalBench (Vals AI)	86.7%	83.0%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
CorpFin (Vals AI)	63.3%	69.6%	Inkling Small
TaxEval (Vals AI)	74.9%	75.5%	Inkling Small
MortgageTax (Vals AI)	67.6%	62.3%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
MedCode (Vals AI)	53.1%	37.9%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
SimpleQA Verified	66.2%	19.1%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: science	1489	1428	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1469	1413	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: legal and government	1479	1415	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: business and finance	1464	1413	Gemini 3.6 Flash
FACTS Benchmark Suite	65.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here

Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared

Web design benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
Design Arena: websites	1300	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: UI components	1294	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: game dev	1263	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: data viz	1289	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: 3D	1271	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: all code categories	1289	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Design Arena: ASCII art	1281	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index262

General benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Inkling Small	Leader
Vals Index	Not measured	27.6%	Only Inkling Small measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)	56.6%	59.4%	Inkling Small
SAGE (Vals AI)	48.7%	32.7%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
MedScribe (Vals AI)	79.7%	84.1%	Inkling Small
Vals Multimodal Index	65.1%	50.0%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	80.0%	75.7%	Gemini 3.6 Flash
DTBench	95.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
LMCA	44.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Furniture assembly	23.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
LMArena Text	1480	1413	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: instruction following	1467	1399	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: creative writing	1466	1334	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision	1299	1237	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: English	1482	1421	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: non-English	1470	1401	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Chinese	1531	1464	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: German	1480	1408	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Japanese	1475	1401	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Korean	1429	1367	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: French	1503	1435	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Spanish	1476	1422	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Russian	1488	1394	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Polish	1473	1428	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1481	1416	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: longer queries	1475	1402	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: writing and language	1470	1357	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1456	1352	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: English	1295	1243	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: Chinese	1357	1292	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: reading text	1312	1243	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: humor	1289	1207	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: creative writing	1278	1205	Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Document	1456	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here

Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared

Image generation benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Benchmark	Gemini 3.6 Flash	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

Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.0026Fits in one request

Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.049Fits in one request

Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.188Fits in one request

Inkling Small$0.102Fits in one request

Inkling 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.

Specifications of Gemini 3.6 Flash and Inkling Small
Specification	Google Gemini 3.6 Flash	Thinking Machines Inkling Small
Maker	Google	Thinking Machines
Weights	No public weights listed	Open weights
Released	July 21, 2026	July 30, 2026
Context window	1.05M	524K
Input $/Mtok	$0.75	$0.45
Output $/Mtok	$3.75	$1.20
Coding index	62.5	27.3
Independent measurements behind it	4	4
Cost per solved task	$1.49	$0.16
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than Inkling Small for coding?

Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small. Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 3.1x cheaper ($1.20 vs $3.75 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $1.49).

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling Small?

Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.49 and Inkling Small $0.16.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling Small?

Gemini 3.6 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 524K.

How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small comparison based on?

80 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash's coding index rests on 4 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/gemini-3-6-flash-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small" title="Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small, LLMBenchmark.ai" width="100%" height="360" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/gemini-3-6-flash-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small">LLMBenchmark.ai, Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Inkling Small</a></p>

Gemini 3.6 Flash or Inkling Small: which to pick

Which one for your work

Coding

Intelligence

Agentic work

Reasoning

Knowledge

Web design

General

Long documents

Everyday cost

Cost per solved task

At a glance

Benchmark by benchmark

What each workload costs

Chat turn

Repository review

Agent loop

Specification differences

Questions

Compare next