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Qwen3.6 Plus vs Inkling Small

Qwen3.6 Plus leads Inkling Small on coding, 44.1 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling Small costs 1.6x less per output token ($1.20 vs $1.95 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 63 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Qwen3.6 Plus Replace Inkling Small
Qwen3.6 PlusQwen
Coding
44.1
Overall
56.2
Output $/M
$1.95
45
T Inkling SmallThinking Machines
Coding
27.3
Overall
43.6
Output $/M
$1.20
18
vs boards won of 63 shared

Qwen3.6 Plus or Inkling Small: which to pick

Pick Qwen3.6 Plus for coding: it scores 44.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 3 benchmarks against 4.

Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 1.6x cheaper ($1.20 vs $1.95 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $1.19).

Model AQwen3.6 PlusQwen44.1/1003 independent benchmarks$1.19 per solved taskModel BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task
Shared results
63
Qwen3.6 Plus only
20
Inkling Small only
21
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
Qwen3.6 Plus 44.1 from 3 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category
Knowledge, 5.1 points apart on average over 11 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
SimpleQA Verified: Qwen3.6 Plus 44.1% against Inkling Small 19.1%, 25.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Qwen3.6 Plus $1.95 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 1.6x apart.
Context window
Qwen3.6 Plus takes 1M 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
CategoryQwen3.6 PlusBarsInkling SmallTies
Coding94
Intelligence11
Agentic work13
Reasoning53
Math22
Knowledge83
General192
All shared boards4518
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index94
Coding benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
LMArena WebDev14611409Qwen3.6 Plus
AA Coding Index54.552.9Qwen3.6 Plus
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)86.0%85.9%Qwen3.6 Plus
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)73.4%82.2%Inkling Small
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)Not measured0.0%Only Inkling Small measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)25.6%19.1%Qwen3.6 Plus
Code migration (Vals AI)11.1%13.7%Inkling Small
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)53.2%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)43.9%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
ALE-Bench670.1Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
LMArena Text: coding14671450Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: software and IT14621447Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena WebDev: React14541399Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena WebDev: HTML14631398Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena WebDev: from an image14721410Qwen3.6 Plus
Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
Intelligence benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
AA Intelligence Index27.025.7Qwen3.6 Plus
Epoch Capabilities Index147.3150.3Inkling Small
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13
Agentic work benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
AA Agentic IndexNot measured23.5Only Inkling Small measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)40.9%41.3%Inkling Small
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)7.7%15.4%Inkling Small
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)14.9%25.5%Inkling Small
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured2.9%Only Inkling Small measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)32.9%31.8%Qwen3.6 Plus
τ²-Bench Telecom97.7%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Vending-Bench 2$5,115Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index53
Reasoning benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
GPQA Diamond87.4%83.6%Qwen3.6 Plus
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)84.2%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)88.2%89.5%Inkling Small
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)27.8%33.3%Inkling Small
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)88.4%88.5%Inkling Small
ARC-AGINot measured84.0%Only Inkling Small measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured40.1%Only Inkling Small measured
Chess puzzles14.0%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Mystery game puzzles12.0%6.0%Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: hard prompts14481423Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: expert14541441Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14551429Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1251Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1257Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index22
Math benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
AIME94.6%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
OTIS Mock AIME93.3%90.0%Qwen3.6 Plus
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 338.2%46.3%Inkling Small
FrontierMath, tier 4Not measured17.1%Only Inkling Small measured
ProofBenchNot measured6.0%Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: math14491459Inkling Small
LMArena Text: mathematical work14481441Qwen3.6 Plus
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index83
Knowledge benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
MMLU Pro87.7%85.6%Qwen3.6 Plus
LegalBench (Vals AI)84.2%83.0%Qwen3.6 Plus
CaseLaw (Vals AI)51.5%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)61.9%69.6%Inkling Small
TaxEval (Vals AI)74.7%75.5%Inkling Small
MortgageTax (Vals AI)68.0%62.3%Qwen3.6 Plus
MedCode (Vals AI)36.9%37.9%Inkling Small
SimpleQA Verified44.1%19.1%Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: science14391428Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14421413Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: legal and government14371415Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: business and finance14301413Qwen3.6 Plus
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 Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
Design Arena: websites1243Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: UI components1233Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: game dev1211Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: data viz1228Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: 3D1202Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: all code categories1236Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: SVG1161Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Design Arena: ASCII art1113Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index192
General benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling SmallLeader
Vals IndexNot measured27.6%Only Inkling Small measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)Not measured59.4%Only Inkling Small measured
SAGE (Vals AI)44.9%32.7%Qwen3.6 Plus
MedScribe (Vals AI)77.0%84.1%Inkling Small
Vals Multimodal Index51.5%50.0%Qwen3.6 Plus
IFBench75.2%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)78.3%75.7%Qwen3.6 Plus
DTBench81.9%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
LMCA33.1%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
CL-bench20.3%Not measuredOnly Qwen3.6 Plus measured
LMArena Text14361413Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: instruction following14241399Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: creative writing14041334Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena VisionNot measured1237Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: English14451421Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: non-English14241401Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: Chinese14771464Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: German14511408Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: Japanese13901401Inkling Small
LMArena Text: Korean13791367Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: French14551435Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: Spanish14321422Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: Russian14341394Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: Polish14331428Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: multi-turn14381416Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: longer queries14391402Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: writing and language14181357Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14021352Qwen3.6 Plus
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1243Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1292Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1243Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1207Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1205Only Inkling Small measured
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
Image generation benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
BenchmarkQwen3.6 PlusInkling 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

Qwen3.6 Plus$0.0013Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Qwen3.6 Plus$0.022Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

Qwen3.6 Plus costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Qwen3.6 Plus$0.085Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.102Fits in one request

Qwen3.6 Plus 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 Qwen3.6 Plus and Inkling Small
SpecificationQwen3.6 PlusThinking Machines Inkling Small
MakerQwenThinking Machines
WeightsNo public weights listedOpen weights
ReleasedApril 2, 2026July 30, 2026
Context window1M524K
Input $/Mtok$0.325$0.45
Output $/Mtok$1.95$1.20
Coding index44.127.3
Independent measurements behind it34
Cost per solved task$1.19$0.16
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Qwen3.6 Plus better than Inkling Small for coding?

Pick Qwen3.6 Plus for coding: it scores 44.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small, though on 3 benchmarks against 4. Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 1.6x cheaper ($1.20 vs $1.95 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $1.19).

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Plus or Inkling Small?

Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.325 per million input tokens and $1.95 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Qwen3.6 Plus costs $1.19 and Inkling Small $0.16.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6 Plus or Inkling Small?

Qwen3.6 Plus, with 1M tokens against 524K.

How many benchmarks is the Qwen3.6 Plus vs Inkling Small comparison based on?

63 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Qwen3.6 Plus'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/qwen3-6-plus-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling-small">LLMBenchmark.ai, Qwen3.6 Plus vs Inkling Small</a></p>