AI model comparison
Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Side by side comparison of Inkling Small and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.
Inkling Small is an open-weight multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines Lab, with 12B active parameters out of 276B total.
- Input / 1M
- $0.45
- Output / 1M
- $1.20
- Context
- 524K
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite is a high-efficiency model from Google with upgraded agentic capabilities.
- Input / 1M
- $0.30
- Output / 1M
- $2.50
- Context
- 1.05M
Comparing image generators? Compare image models
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Inkling Small
1.2x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Inkling Small
12.9 vs 11.7 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
1.05M vs 524K tokens
Newer release
Inkling Small
Released July 30, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite11.7Coding index
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite49.3Agentic index
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite14.3Pricing
Inkling Small vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.45 | $0.30 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.20 | $2.50 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.10 | $0.03 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | $0.08 |
| Web searchPer request | Not available | $0.014 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$1.85Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$19$10.90 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite$50$9.50 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 524K tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 262K tokens | 66K tokens |
| Input types | Audio, Image, Text | Audio, File, Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Max, High, Medium, Low, Minimal, None | High, Medium, Low, Minimal |
| Default reasoning effort | High | Minimal |
| Release date | July 30, 2026 | July 21, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Not supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Not supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
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- Inkling Small vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
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Gemini 3.5 Flash LiteView full model details- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax M3
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Inkling
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Muse Glimmer 30B
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Command A+
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Hy4 preview
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 3.7 Flash
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
Our take
Inkling Small is 1.2x cheaper for a typical chat. Inkling Small scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (12.9 vs 11.7). Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has the larger context window (1.05M vs 524K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Inkling Small or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite cheaper?
Inkling Small is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Inkling Small costs $0.45 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, while Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Inkling Small or Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 524K for Inkling Small.
Is Inkling Small smarter than Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Inkling Small scores 12.9 and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite scores 11.7, putting Inkling Small ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Inkling Small and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Inkling Small and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Inkling Small and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.