GLM 5.3 Flash vs Inkling 2 Small

GLM 5.3 Flash leads Inkling 2 Small on coding, 56.2 to 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index, and GLM 5.3 Flash costs 2.0x less per output token ($0.50 vs $1.00 per million). Updated November 14, 2026; 44 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace GLM 5.3 Flash Replace Inkling 2 Small

GLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai

Coding: 56.2
Overall: 61.8
Output $/M: $0.50

T Inkling 2 SmallThinking Machines

Coding: 48.9
Overall: 56.9
Output $/M: $1.00

vs boards won of 44 shared, 1 tied

GLM 5.3 Flash or Inkling 2 Small: which to pick

Pick GLM 5.3 Flash for coding: it scores 56.2 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.9 for Inkling 2 Small.

Pick Inkling 2 Small for work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads.

Model AGLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai56.2/1006 independent benchmarks$0.02 per solved task Model BInkling 2 SmallThinking Machines48.9/1003 independent benchmarksNo cost per solved task

44717

Shared results: 44
GLM 5.3 Flash only: 71
Inkling 2 Small only: 7
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
GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash scores 56.2 against 48.9.
6 and 3 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads, 30.6 against 27.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only GLM 5.3 Flash has a AA Agentic Index result, 50.9.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only GLM 5.3 Flash has a GPQA Diamond result, 86.4%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only GLM 5.3 Flash has a MMLU Pro result, 86.1%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only GLM 5.3 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1257.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
Inkling 2 Small
Inkling 2 Small leads, 56.1% against 50.9%.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash $0.0004, Inkling 2 Small $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only GLM 5.3 Flash has the number, $0.02.
Directional only

At a glance

Coding index: GLM 5.3 Flash 56.2 from 6 benchmarks, Inkling 2 Small 48.9 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category: Coding, 12.1 points apart on average over 12 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap: Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): GLM 5.3 Flash 30.8% against Inkling 2 Small 81.5%, 50.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: GLM 5.3 Flash $0.50 against Inkling 2 Small $1.00 per million output tokens, 2.0x 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.

Boards won, where both have a result
Category	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Ties
Coding	4	8
Intelligence	0	1
Agentic work	1	4	1 tie
Reasoning	3	5
Knowledge	2	1
General	12	2
All shared boards	22	21	1 tie

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index48

Coding benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
LiveBench coding	70.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena WebDev	1609	1647	Inkling 2 Small
AA Coding Index	71.5	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	80.5%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	92.0%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)	37.4%	12.6%	GLM 5.3 Flash
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)	30.8%	81.5%	Inkling 2 Small
Code migration (Vals AI)	20.5%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
ProgramBench (Vals AI)	0.0%	0.5%	Inkling 2 Small
IOI (Vals AI)	52.5%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)	62.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI)	Not measured	43.1%	Only Inkling 2 Small measured
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)	16.0%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)	40.2%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)	67.9%	72.7%	Inkling 2 Small
SciCode	51.6%	52.3%	Inkling 2 Small
Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Artificial Analysis run)	32.8%	13.1%	GLM 5.3 Flash
FrontierCode 2.0	17.6%	25.4%	Inkling 2 Small
FrontierCode	31.8%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
FrontierSWE	18.1%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
ALE-Bench	303.6	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: coding	1509	1455	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: software and IT	1501	1443	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena WebDev: React	1628	1660	Inkling 2 Small
LMArena WebDev: HTML	1576	1661	Inkling 2 Small
LMArena WebDev: from an image	1582	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
SWE-Bench Pro V2	Not measured	97.7%	Only Inkling 2 Small measured
GameBench 2	60.8	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench 4.0	36.7%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
CursorBench 4.0	36.8%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01

Intelligence benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	27.8	30.6	Inkling 2 Small
Epoch Capabilities Index	153.8	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured

Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index14

Agentic work benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
AA Agentic Index	50.9	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LiveBench research	73.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LiveBench browser	59.8%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LiveBench long agentic	20.7%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
SREBench (Vals AI)	0.8%	1.9%	Inkling 2 Small
Finance Agent (Vals AI)	57.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)	31.6%	38.9%	Inkling 2 Small
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)	45.2%	46.6%	Inkling 2 Small
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)	10.4%	21.7%	Inkling 2 Small
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)	55.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
BioMysteryBench (Vals AI)	Not measured	70.0%	Only Inkling 2 Small measured
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)	2.9%	2.9%	Tie
Vals Science Index	Not measured	32.7%	Only Inkling 2 Small measured
APEX-Agents	52.8%	46.8%	GLM 5.3 Flash
PostTrainBench	36.8%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
MCP Atlas	Not measured	85.4%	Only Inkling 2 Small measured
Toolathlon-Verified	78.4%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index35

Reasoning benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
GPQA Diamond	86.4%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LiveBench reasoning	77.6%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
MysteryMechanism (Vals AI)	Not measured	25.2%	Only Inkling 2 Small measured
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)	86.0%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	91.2%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	39.9%	44.1%	Inkling 2 Small
HLE-Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	18.2%	28.7%	Inkling 2 Small
CritPt v2, hard subset (Artificial Analysis run)	24.5%	35.0%	Inkling 2 Small
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	90.2%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
ARC-AGI	91.0%	96.5%	Inkling 2 Small
ARC-AGI-2	65.8%	81.7%	Inkling 2 Small
Chess puzzles	21.0%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Mystery game puzzles	8.0%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1490	1421	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: expert	1511	1478	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1492	1424	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Vision: diagrams	1321	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: homework	1323	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here

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

Math benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
OTIS Mock AIME	93.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	55.8%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
FrontierMath, tier 4	17.1%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
ProofBench	21.0%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: math	1503	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1491	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash 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

Knowledge benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
MMLU Pro	86.1%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LegalBench (Vals AI)	83.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)	75.6%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
AA-Omniscience	0.7	16.1	Inkling 2 Small
LMArena Text: science	1485	1409	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1480	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: legal and government	1478	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: business and finance	1461	1415	GLM 5.3 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here

Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared

Web design benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
Design Arena: websites	1257	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: UI components	1296	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: game dev	1266	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: data viz	1258	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: 3D	1292	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: all code categories	1267	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: SVG	1271	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Design Arena: ASCII art	1269	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LiveBench design	73.7%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index122

General benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	Inkling 2 Small	Leader
Vals Index	50.9%	56.1%	Inkling 2 Small
LiveBench data analysis	76.4%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
SAGE (Vals AI)	89.3%	88.6%	GLM 5.3 Flash
MedScribe (Vals AI)	88.9%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	80.0%	83.3%	Inkling 2 Small
GDPval-AA	1648	1630	GLM 5.3 Flash
Surface Evolver Bench	52.5%	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text	1472	1403	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: instruction following	1480	1408	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: creative writing	1442	1348	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Vision	1295	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: English	1477	1418	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: non-English	1462	1390	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: Chinese	1528	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: German	1452	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Japanese	1453	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Korean	1427	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: French	1489	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Spanish	1476	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Russian	1467	1377	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: Polish	1448	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1471	1408	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: longer queries	1481	1403	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: writing and language	1457	1381	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1442	1359	GLM 5.3 Flash
LMArena Vision: English	1299	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese	1359	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: reading text	1303	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: humor	1291	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing things	1279	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing	1272	Not measured	Only GLM 5.3 Flash 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

Image generation benchmarks for GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Benchmark	GLM 5.3 Flash	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

GLM 5.3 Flash$0.0004Fits in one request

Inkling 2 Small$0.0008Fits in one request

GLM 5.3 Flash costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

GLM 5.3 Flash$0.0090Fits in one request

Inkling 2 Small$0.018Fits in one request

GLM 5.3 Flash costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

GLM 5.3 Flash$0.035Fits in one request

Inkling 2 Small$0.070Fits in one request

GLM 5.3 Flash 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 GLM 5.3 Flash and Inkling 2 Small
Specification	Z.ai GLM 5.3 Flash	Thinking Machines Inkling 2 Small
Maker	Z.ai	Thinking Machines
Weights	Open weights	Open weights
Released	August 26, 2026	November 9, 2026
Context window	1.05M	1.05M
Input $/Mtok	$0.15	$0.30
Output $/Mtok	$0.50	$1.00
Coding index	56.2	48.9
Independent measurements behind it	6	3
Cost per solved task	$0.02	Not computable
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is GLM 5.3 Flash better than Inkling 2 Small for coding?

Pick GLM 5.3 Flash for coding: it scores 56.2 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.9 for Inkling 2 Small. Pick Inkling 2 Small for work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads.

Which is cheaper, GLM 5.3 Flash or Inkling 2 Small?

GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens; Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for GLM 5.3 Flash only.

Which has the bigger context window, GLM 5.3 Flash or Inkling 2 Small?

Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.

How many benchmarks is the GLM 5.3 Flash vs Inkling 2 Small comparison based on?

44 benchmarks have a result for both models as of November 14, 2026. GLM 5.3 Flash's coding index rests on 6 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.

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<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/glm-5-3-flash-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-2-small" title="GLM 5.3 Flash vs Inkling 2 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/glm-5-3-flash-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-2-small">LLMBenchmark.ai, GLM 5.3 Flash vs Inkling 2 Small</a></p>

GLM 5.3 Flash or Inkling 2 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

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