Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Inkling Small
Updated October 21, 2026. 64 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Inkling Small for coding: it scores 29.9 on the Vibe Coding Index against 9.2 for Mistral Medium 3.5.
Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 when what matters is LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 64
- Mistral Medium 3.5 only
- 16
- Inkling Small only
- 20
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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, four public coding benchmarks
Inkling Small
Inkling Small scores 29.9 against 9.2.
One benchmark behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 25.7 against 14.2.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 23.5 against 7.0.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 83.6% against 34.9%.
Same board, both measured
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 85.6% against 75.3%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3.5 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1142.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a Vals Index result, 27.6%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Inkling Small
Inkling Small takes 524K tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Inkling Small
Mistral Medium 3.5 $0.0053, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Inkling Small
Mistral Medium 3.5 $6.02, Inkling Small $0.16.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mistral Medium 3.5 9.2 from 1 benchmark, Inkling Small 29.9 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 14.7 points apart on average over 5 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- GPQA Diamond: Mistral Medium 3.5 34.9% against Inkling Small 83.6%, 48.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mistral Medium 3.5 $7.50 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 6.3x apart.
- Context window
- Mistral Medium 3.5 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.
| Category | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Bars | Inkling Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 9 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 5 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 5 | ||
| Math | 1 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 3 | 6 | ||
| General | 16 | 10 | ||
| All shared boards | 25 | 39 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index29
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1264 | 1409 | Inkling Small |
| AA Coding Index | 46.9 | 52.9 | Inkling Small |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 66.4% | 82.2% | Inkling Small |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 2.9% | 19.1% | Inkling Small |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 5.1% | 13.7% | Inkling Small |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 9.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 39.0% | 55.1% | Inkling Small |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SciCode | 40.2% | 49.7% | Inkling Small |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 33.3% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 764.0 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1460 | 1450 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1458 | 1447 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1254 | 1399 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1308 | 1398 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1410 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 14.2 | 25.7 | Inkling Small |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 141.4 | 150.3 | Inkling Small |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 7.0 | 23.5 | Inkling Small |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 32.1% | 41.3% | Inkling Small |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 4.5% | 15.4% | Inkling Small |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 9.1% | 25.5% | Inkling Small |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 11.2% | 31.8% | Inkling Small |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 94.2% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index35
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 34.9% | 83.6% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 74.8% | 89.5% | Inkling Small |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.8% | 33.3% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 88.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 84.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 40.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1436 | 1423 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1432 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1445 | 1429 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1254 | 1251 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1230 | 1257 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 90.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 46.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 17.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ProofBench | 9.0% | 6.0% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: math | 1431 | 1459 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1440 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index36
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 75.3% | 85.6% | Inkling Small |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 44.2% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 58.8% | 69.6% | Inkling Small |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 68.0% | 75.5% | Inkling Small |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 28.9% | 62.3% | Inkling Small |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 33.8% | 37.9% | Inkling Small |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1428 | 1428 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1409 | 1413 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1437 | 1415 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1426 | 1413 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| 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
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1142 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1079 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1079 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1120 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1061 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1122 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 949 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1062 | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1610
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 27.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.4% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 37.6% | 32.7% | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 67.7% | 84.1% | Inkling Small |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 34.8% | 50.0% | Inkling Small |
| IFBench | 68.8% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 69.3% | 75.7% | Inkling Small |
| DTBench | 75.5% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMCA | 26.1% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 26.9% | Not measured | Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1421 | 1413 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1415 | 1399 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1374 | 1334 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision | 1222 | 1237 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: English | 1433 | 1421 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1404 | 1401 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1444 | 1464 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: German | 1453 | 1408 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1401 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1384 | 1367 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: French | 1448 | 1435 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1411 | 1422 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1395 | 1394 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1430 | 1428 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1423 | 1416 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1415 | 1402 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1384 | 1357 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1382 | 1352 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1240 | 1243 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1244 | 1292 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1233 | 1243 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1216 | 1207 | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1198 | 1205 | Inkling Small |
| 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
| Benchmark | Mistral Medium 3.5 | 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
Inkling Small costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Inkling Small costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
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.
| Specification | Mistral Medium 3.5 | Thinking Machines Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Mistral AI | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | April 30, 2026 | July 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 524K |
| Input $/Mtok | $1.50 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $7.50 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | 9.2 | 29.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $6.02 | $0.16 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mistral Medium 3.5 better than Inkling Small for coding?
Pick Inkling Small for coding: it scores 29.9 on the Vibe Coding Index against 9.2 for Mistral Medium 3.5. Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 when what matters is LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Inkling Small?
Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $6.02 and Inkling Small $0.16.
Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Inkling Small?
Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?
64 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Mistral Medium 3.5's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Inkling Small's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.