Thinking Machines: Inkling Small
Analysis Summary
Thinking Machines Inkling Small is a multimodal model with an intelligence index of 41.2 and coding index of 52.9. It accepts text, images, and audio, supports tool use and function calling, and provides a 524K context window for long documents, sizeable repositories, and detailed creative briefs. Its pricing is $0.45 input and $1.20 output per million tokens.
The model suits software engineering assistance, document analysis, multimodal content preparation, and structured client operations where a human remains in the loop. Its coding capability is strong, but the agentic index of 31.9 points to a weaker fit for extended autonomous execution and complex tool chains. It is a useful secondary model for teams seeking a balance between capability, context capacity, and cost.
Assessed August 9, 2026
Editorial notes
Inkling Small pairs strong coding with a 524K context window, vision, audio input, tool use, and function calling. Its lower agentic capability makes it better for assisted workflows than fully autonomous agents.
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DFO Verdict
Inkling Small pairs strong coding with a 524K context window, vision, audio input, tool use, and function calling. Its lower agentic capability makes it better for assisted workflows than fully autonomous agents.
How Thinking Machines: Inkling Small compares
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small ranks #58 of 427 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #59 of 200 for coding, #50 of 182 for agentic tasks. Its 1M-token context window is larger than 95% of the models we list. At $0.45 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 40% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Strongest on business fit. The pulled-in technical corner is the trade-off, and if the shape matters more than the price, this is your model.
Compare shapes side-by-side →Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.45 | $0.000450 |
| Output | $1.20 | $0.001200 |
What would Thinking Machines: Inkling Small cost your business?
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A website chatbot handling around 100 customer conversations a day, a few short messages each.
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These numbers get smaller with the right architecture.
We route routine calls to cheap models and save Thinking Machines: Inkling Small for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamAbout Thinking Machines: Inkling Small
Inkling Small is an open-weight multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines Lab, with 12B active parameters out of 276B total. It is positioned as the smaller, more efficient member of..
Frequently asked questions about Thinking Machines: Inkling Small
How much does Thinking Machines: Inkling Small cost?
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small costs $0.45 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens.
What is the context window of Thinking Machines: Inkling Small?
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small has a context window of 1,048,576 tokens (1M).
Is Thinking Machines: Inkling Small good for coding?
On our coding benchmark index, Thinking Machines: Inkling Small ranks #59 of 200 models, placing it in the broader range of the field for code generation and debugging.
What can Thinking Machines: Inkling Small do?
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small supports image/vision input, tool use, and function calling.
Who created Thinking Machines: Inkling Small?
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small is developed by Thinking Machines and was released on July 30, 2026.