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Kimi K2.6 vs Inkling Small

Kimi K2.6 leads Inkling Small on coding, 52.1 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling Small costs 3.3x less per output token ($1.20 vs $4.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 76 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Kimi K2.6 Replace Inkling Small
Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI
Coding
52.1
Overall
60.5
Output $/M
$4.00
66
T Inkling SmallThinking Machines
Coding
27.3
Overall
43.6
Output $/M
$1.20
10
vs boards won of 76 shared

Kimi K2.6 or Inkling Small: which to pick

Pick Kimi K2.6 for coding: it scores 52.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 3 benchmarks against 4.

Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 3.3x cheaper ($1.20 vs $4.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $0.35).

Model AKimi K2.6Moonshot AI52.1/1003 independent benchmarks$0.35 per solved taskModel BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task
Shared results
76
Kimi K2.6 only
33
Inkling Small only
8
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 K2.6 52.1 from 3 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category
Coding, 9.3 points apart on average over 14 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI): Kimi K2.6 57.9% against Inkling Small 31.8%, 26.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Kimi K2.6 $4.00 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 3.3x apart.
Context window
Kimi K2.6 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 K2.6BarsInkling SmallTies
Coding113
Intelligence20
Agentic work23
Reasoning100
Math60
Knowledge92
General262
All shared boards6610
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index113
Coding benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
LMArena WebDev15091409Kimi K2.6
AA Coding Index61.852.9Kimi K2.6
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)86.8%85.9%Kimi K2.6
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)76.2%82.2%Inkling Small
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)Not measured0.0%Only Inkling Small measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)37.9%19.1%Kimi K2.6
Code migration (Vals AI)27.8%13.7%Kimi K2.6
ProgramBench (Vals AI)0.0%0.5%Inkling Small
IOI (Vals AI)Not measured9.3%Only Inkling Small measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)53.6%55.1%Inkling Small
SkillsBench (Vals AI)Not measured33.6%Only Inkling Small measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)Not measured64.1%Only Inkling Small measured
SciCode51.5%49.7%Kimi K2.6
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)43.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
WeirdML55.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
ALE-Bench1092.7Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
LMArena Text: coding14891450Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: software and IT14841447Kimi K2.6
LMArena WebDev: React15051399Kimi K2.6
LMArena WebDev: HTML14851398Kimi K2.6
LMArena WebDev: from an image15211410Kimi K2.6
Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Intelligence benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
AA Intelligence Index27.025.7Kimi K2.6
Epoch Capabilities Index150.9150.3Kimi K2.6
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index23
Agentic work benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
AA Agentic Index20.523.5Inkling Small
Design Arena: agents building web apps1268Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps1155Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps1157Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps1160Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: agents building Godot games1120Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: agents building games1141Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: HTML slides1184Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides1128Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: spreadsheets1276Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)44.9%41.3%Kimi K2.6
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)12.4%15.4%Inkling Small
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)57.9%31.8%Kimi K2.6
τ²-Bench Telecom95.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
OSWorld 2.04.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Vending-Bench 2$6,205Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index100
Reasoning benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
GPQA Diamond89.1%83.6%Kimi K2.6
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)86.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)91.1%89.5%Kimi K2.6
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)37.5%33.3%Kimi K2.6
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)90.8%88.5%Kimi K2.6
ARC-AGINot measured84.0%Only Inkling Small measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured40.1%Only Inkling Small measured
Chess puzzles20.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Mystery game puzzles18.0%6.0%Kimi K2.6
EBR-bench2.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14701423Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: expert14911441Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14711429Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: diagrams12981251Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: homework13101257Kimi K2.6
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
Math benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
OTIS Mock AIME96.1%90.0%Kimi K2.6
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 357.2%46.3%Kimi K2.6
FrontierMath, tier 425.6%17.1%Kimi K2.6
ProofBench16.0%6.0%Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: math14741459Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: mathematical work14801441Kimi K2.6
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 Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
MMLU Pro87.6%85.6%Kimi K2.6
LegalBench (Vals AI)84.7%83.0%Kimi K2.6
CaseLaw (Vals AI)61.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)66.7%69.6%Inkling Small
TaxEval (Vals AI)74.7%75.5%Inkling Small
MortgageTax (Vals AI)65.8%62.3%Kimi K2.6
MedCode (Vals AI)40.1%37.9%Kimi K2.6
SimpleQA Verified34.9%19.1%Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: science14681428Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14571413Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: legal and government14621415Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: business and finance14451413Kimi K2.6
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
Design Arena: websites1269Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: UI components1266Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: game dev1251Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: data viz1249Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: 3D1268Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: all code categories1272Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: SVG1181Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Design Arena: ASCII art1165Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index262
General benchmarks for Kimi K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling SmallLeader
Vals IndexNot measured27.6%Only Inkling Small measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)56.6%59.4%Inkling Small
SAGE (Vals AI)50.2%32.7%Kimi K2.6
MedScribe (Vals AI)78.2%84.1%Inkling Small
Vals Multimodal Index56.4%50.0%Kimi K2.6
IFBench76.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)81.0%75.7%Kimi K2.6
DTBench90.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
LMCA37.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
Furniture assembly21.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
ExploitBench18.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
LMArena Text14551413Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: instruction following14511399Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: creative writing14341334Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision12821237Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: English14601421Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: non-English14461401Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Chinese15201464Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: German14511408Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Japanese14431401Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Korean14271367Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: French14711435Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Spanish14641422Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Russian14461394Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Polish14381428Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: multi-turn14531416Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: longer queries14681402Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: writing and language14391357Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14281352Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: English12871243Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: Chinese13461292Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: reading text12911243Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: humor12801207Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: creative writing12731205Kimi K2.6
LMArena Document1451Not measuredOnly Kimi K2.6 measured
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 K2.6 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Inkling 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 K2.6$0.0029Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Kimi K2.6$0.059Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Kimi K2.6$0.230Fits 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 K2.6 and Inkling Small
SpecificationMoonshotAI Kimi K2.6Thinking Machines Inkling Small
MakerMoonshot AIThinking Machines
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedApril 20, 2026July 30, 2026
Context window262K524K
Input $/Mtok$0.95$0.45
Output $/Mtok$4.00$1.20
Coding index52.127.3
Independent measurements behind it34
Cost per solved task$0.35$0.16
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Kimi K2.6 better than Inkling Small for coding?

Pick Kimi K2.6 for coding: it scores 52.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 3 benchmarks against 4. Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 3.3x cheaper ($1.20 vs $4.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $0.35).

Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.6 or Inkling Small?

Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95 per million input tokens and $4.00 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K2.6 costs $0.35 and Inkling Small $0.16.

Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2.6 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2.6 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?

76 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Kimi K2.6'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.

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<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/kimi-k2-6-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small">LLMBenchmark.ai, Kimi K2.6 vs Inkling Small</a></p>