Qwen3.6 27B vs Inkling Small
Qwen3.6 27B leads Inkling Small on coding, 36.8 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling Small costs 2.3x less per output token ($1.20 vs $2.70 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 18 benchmarks have a result for both.
Qwen3.6 27B or Inkling Small: which to pick
Pick Qwen3.6 27B for coding: it scores 36.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 2 benchmarks against 4.
Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 2.3x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.70 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $1.30).
- Shared results
- 18
- Qwen3.6 27B only
- 6
- Inkling Small only
- 66
- 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
Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B scores 36.8 against 27.3.
2 and 4 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 25.7 against 21.4.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 23.5 against 18.5.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Inkling Small has a GPQA Diamond result, 83.6%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Inkling Small has a MMLU Pro result, 85.6%.
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
Qwen3.6 27B $0.0018, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Inkling Small
Qwen3.6 27B $1.30, Inkling Small $0.16.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Qwen3.6 27B 36.8 from 2 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 7.3 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- SAGE (Vals AI): Qwen3.6 27B 45.6% against Inkling Small 32.7%, 12.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Qwen3.6 27B $2.70 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 2.3x apart.
- Context window
- Qwen3.6 27B 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 | Qwen3.6 27B | Bars | Inkling Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 3 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 3 | ||
| Math | 1 | 1 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 2 | ||
| General | 2 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 6 | 12 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index13
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1409 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| AA Coding Index | 53.7 | 52.9 | Qwen3.6 27B |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 70.0% | 82.2% | Inkling Small |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 11.9% | 19.1% | Inkling Small |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 13.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| 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) | Not measured | 55.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SciCode | 42.8% | 49.7% | Inkling Small |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 34.8% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1450 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1447 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1399 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1398 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1410 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 20 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 21.4 | 25.7 | Inkling Small |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.2 | 150.3 | Inkling Small |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 18.5 | 23.5 | Inkling Small |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 41.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 15.4% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 94.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 83.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.2% | 89.5% | Inkling Small |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.1% | 33.3% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 85.9% | 88.5% | Inkling Small |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 84.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 40.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 7.0% | 6.0% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1423 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1441 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1429 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1251 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1257 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 91.1% | 90.0% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 35.1% | 46.3% | Inkling Small |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 17.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1459 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1441 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 53.2% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 62.3% | 69.6% | Inkling Small |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.3% | 75.5% | Inkling Small |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.3% | 62.3% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1428 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1413 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1415 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1413 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | 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) | 45.6% | 32.7% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 50.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| IFBench | 67.6% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 77.3% | 75.7% | Qwen3.6 27B |
| DTBench | 78.1% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMCA | 34.5% | Not measured | Only Qwen3.6 27B measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1413 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1399 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1334 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1237 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1421 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1401 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1464 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1408 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1401 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1367 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1435 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1422 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1394 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1428 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1416 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1402 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1357 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1352 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1243 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1292 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1243 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1207 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1205 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 27B | 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 | Qwen3.6 27B | Thinking Machines Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Qwen | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | April 27, 2026 | July 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 524K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.45 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.70 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | 36.8 | 27.3 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.30 | $0.16 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Qwen3.6 27B better than Inkling Small for coding?
Pick Qwen3.6 27B for coding: it scores 36.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 2 benchmarks against 4. Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 2.3x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.70 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $1.30).
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 27B or Inkling Small?
Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.45 per million input tokens and $2.70 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Qwen3.6 27B costs $1.30 and Inkling Small $0.16.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6 27B or Inkling Small?
Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Qwen3.6 27B vs Inkling Small comparison based on?
18 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Qwen3.6 27B's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.