Enter opens the highlighted result. Esc closes.

Kimi K2.5 vs Inkling Small

Kimi K2.5 leads Inkling Small on coding, 38.6 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling Small costs 2.4x less per output token ($1.20 vs $2.85 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 65 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Kimi K2.5 Replace Inkling Small
Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI
Coding
38.6
Overall
44.8
Output $/M
$2.85
47
T Inkling SmallThinking Machines
Coding
27.3
Overall
43.6
Output $/M
$1.20
18
vs boards won of 65 shared

Kimi K2.5 or Inkling Small: which to pick

Pick Kimi K2.5 for coding: it scores 38.6 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 3 benchmarks against 4.

Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 2.4x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.85 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $0.24).

Model AKimi K2.5Moonshot AI38.6/1003 independent benchmarks$0.24 per solved taskModel BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task
Shared results
65
Kimi K2.5 only
34
Inkling Small only
19
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.

At a glance

Coding index
Kimi K2.5 38.6 from 3 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category
Reasoning, 7.8 points apart on average over 10 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
ARC-AGI-2: Kimi K2.5 11.8% against Inkling Small 40.1%, 28.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Kimi K2.5 $2.85 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 2.4x apart.
Context window
Kimi K2.5 takes 262K 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
CategoryKimi K2.5BarsInkling SmallTies
Coding66
Intelligence02
Agentic work03
Reasoning64
Math20
Knowledge82
General251
All shared boards4718
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index66
Coding benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
SWE-bench Verified70.8%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
SWE-bench Multilingual67.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena WebDev14371409Kimi K2.5
AA Coding Index46.852.9Inkling Small
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)83.9%85.9%Inkling Small
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)70.0%82.2%Inkling Small
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)Not measured0.0%Only Inkling Small measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)17.5%19.1%Inkling Small
Code migration (Vals AI)7.0%13.7%Inkling Small
ProgramBench (Vals AI)Not measured0.5%Only Inkling Small measured
IOI (Vals AI)Not measured9.3%Only Inkling Small measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)42.0%55.1%Inkling Small
SkillsBench (Vals AI)Not measured33.6%Only Inkling Small measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)Not measured64.1%Only Inkling Small measured
SciCodeNot measured49.7%Only Inkling Small measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)34.8%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Terminal-Bench43.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
WeirdML45.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
ALE-Bench821.6Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: coding14831450Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: software and IT14711447Kimi K2.5
LMArena WebDev: React14291399Kimi K2.5
LMArena WebDev: HTML14261398Kimi K2.5
LMArena WebDev: from an image14391410Kimi K2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
Intelligence benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
AA Intelligence Index23.525.7Inkling Small
Epoch Capabilities Index148.1150.3Inkling Small
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
Agentic work benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
AA Agentic IndexNot measured23.5Only Inkling Small measured
Design Arena: agents building web apps1136Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps1114Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps1147Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps1118Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building Godot games1219Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)35.8%41.3%Inkling Small
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)Not measured15.4%Only Inkling Small measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)15.9%25.5%Inkling Small
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured2.9%Only Inkling Small measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)28.5%31.8%Inkling Small
τ²-Bench Telecom95.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
OSWorld63.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Vending-Bench 2$1,198Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index64
Reasoning benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
GPQA Diamond84.1%83.6%Kimi K2.5
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)84.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)87.9%89.5%Inkling Small
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)30.7%33.3%Inkling Small
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)Not measured88.5%Only Inkling Small measured
ARC-AGI65.3%84.0%Inkling Small
ARC-AGI-211.8%40.1%Inkling Small
SimpleBench46.8%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Mystery game puzzlesNot measured6.0%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14531423Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: expert14661441Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14601429Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: diagrams12821251Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: homework12971257Kimi K2.5
Kagi LLM Benchmark78.5%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Math benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
AIME95.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
OTIS Mock AIMENot measured90.0%Only Inkling Small measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3Not measured46.3%Only Inkling Small measured
FrontierMath, tier 4Not measured17.1%Only Inkling Small measured
ProofBenchNot measured6.0%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: math14701459Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: mathematical work14731441Kimi K2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index82
Knowledge benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
MMLU Pro85.9%85.6%Kimi K2.5
LegalBench (Vals AI)Not measured83.0%Only Inkling Small measured
CaseLaw (Vals AI)58.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)68.3%69.6%Inkling Small
TaxEval (Vals AI)74.2%75.5%Inkling Small
MortgageTax (Vals AI)66.5%62.3%Kimi K2.5
MedQA (Vals AI)94.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)39.3%37.9%Kimi K2.5
SimpleQA Verified34.3%19.1%Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: science14591428Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14481413Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: legal and government14411415Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: business and finance14271413Kimi K2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
Design Arena: websites1248Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: UI components1236Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: game dev1207Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: data viz1219Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: 3D1205Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: all code categories1236Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: SVG1149Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: ASCII art1166Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index251
General benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
Vals IndexNot measured27.6%Only Inkling Small measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)Not measured59.4%Only Inkling Small measured
SAGE (Vals AI)49.9%32.7%Kimi K2.5
MedScribe (Vals AI)76.4%84.1%Inkling Small
Vals Multimodal IndexNot measured50.0%Only Inkling Small measured
IFBench70.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)78.0%75.7%Kimi K2.5
Fiction.LiveBench86.1%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
CL-bench19.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
CL-bench Life13.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text14451413Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: instruction following14311399Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: creative writing14221334Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision12691237Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: English14531421Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: non-English14331401Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Chinese14941464Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: German14411408Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Japanese14231401Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Korean14121367Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: French14541435Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Spanish14501422Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Russian14351394Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Polish14451428Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: multi-turn14441416Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: longer queries14451402Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: writing and language14251357Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14171352Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: English12741243Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: Chinese13281292Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: reading text12761243Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: humor12841207Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: captioning1257Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing things1285Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing12691205Kimi K2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.5Inkling SmallLeader
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

Kimi K2.5$0.0020Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Kimi K2.5$0.035Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Kimi K2.5$0.135Fits 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 Kimi K2.5 and Inkling Small
SpecificationMoonshotAI Kimi K2.5Thinking Machines Inkling Small
MakerMoonshot AIThinking Machines
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedJanuary 27, 2026July 30, 2026
Context window262K524K
Input $/Mtok$0.532$0.45
Output $/Mtok$2.85$1.20
Coding index38.627.3
Independent measurements behind it34
Cost per solved task$0.24$0.16
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Kimi K2.5 better than Inkling Small for coding?

Pick Kimi K2.5 for coding: it scores 38.6 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 3 benchmarks against 4. Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 2.4x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.85 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $0.24).

Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.5 or Inkling Small?

Kimi K2.5 costs $0.532 per million input tokens and $2.85 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K2.5 costs $0.24 and Inkling Small $0.16.

Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2.5 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2.5 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?

65 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Kimi K2.5's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

Compare next

Embed this comparison on your site

Free under CC BY 4.0, while the source link stays visible. Preview the frame · Terms and other embeds

<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/kimi-k2-5-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small" title="Kimi K2.5 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/kimi-k2-5-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small">LLMBenchmark.ai, Kimi K2.5 vs Inkling Small</a></p>