Model comparison
Inkling-Small vs Qwen3.8 Max
Qwen3.8 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 56.8 to 46.5 on the Noometry Index. Inkling-Small costs 4.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.8 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 30 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 30 benchmarks with published results for both. Inkling-Small scores higher in 1 category and Qwen3.8 Max in 8 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Qwen3.8 Max leads 73.2 to 45.1.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is ProofBench: 6% for Inkling-Small and 58% for Qwen3.8 Max.
- Inkling-Small is cheaper at $0.45 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $2 / $6 for Qwen3.8 Max.
- Qwen3.8 Max accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 524K.
- Inkling-Small has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Thinking Machines Lab | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 46.5 | 56.8 |
| Released | 2026-07-15 | 2026-08-02 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 524K | 1M |
| Max output | 1.05M | 131K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.45 | $2 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.20 | $6 |
| Results tracked | 33 | 39 |
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Category by category
Coding Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 43.6 (#85), Qwen3.8 Max: 53.5 (#29)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1409 | 1674 |
| SciCode | 48.7% | 53.2% |
| LMArena Coding | 1451 | 1502 |
| DeepSWE | — | 57.5% |
| FrontierSWE | — | 17.8% |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Inkling-Small: —, Qwen3.8 Max: 45.4 (#14)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | — | 63.3% |
| τ²-bench Banking | — | 55.1% |
| GDP.pdf | — | 23.2% |
Reasoning Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 38.6 (#63), Qwen3.8 Max: 54.4 (#26)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 8.3% | 20% |
| Chess Puzzles | 18% | 40% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1423 | 1496 |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 6% | 38% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 150.15 | 156.41 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 40.1% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 88.3% |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 84% | — |
| DTBench | — | 92% |
| LMCA | — | 46.2% |
Math Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 45.1 (#77), Qwen3.8 Max: 73.2 (#20)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 46.3% | 74.7% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 17.1% | 46.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 90% | 100% |
| ProofBench | 6% | 58% |
| LMArena Math | 1459 | 1499 |
Knowledge Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 48.2 (#77), Qwen3.8 Max: 61.7 (#27)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 88.5% | 92.7% |
| SimpleQA Verified | 19.1% | 47.3% |
| LMArena Expert | 1442 | 1507 |
Multimodal Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 39.1 (#62), Qwen3.8 Max: 37.2 (#75)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1235 | 1314 |
| Furniture Assembly | — | 20% |
Multilingual Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 51.7 (#104), Qwen3.8 Max: 56.7 (#18)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1402 | 1472 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1465 | 1538 |
| LMArena French | 1436 | 1503 |
| LMArena German | 1405 | 1483 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1405 | 1467 |
| LMArena Korean | 1363 | 1461 |
| LMArena Russian | 1391 | 1481 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1428 | 1492 |
Instruction Following Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 73.8 (#114), Qwen3.8 Max: 77.6 (#17)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1399 | 1479 |
Long Context Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 42.7 (#118), Qwen3.8 Max: 45.6 (#31)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1401 | 1489 |
Writing & Preference Qwen3.8 Max leads
Inkling-Small: 59.6 (#107), Qwen3.8 Max: 67.1 (#30)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1414 | 1483 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1479 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1418 | 1489 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1491 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Inkling-Small better than Qwen3.8 Max?
Qwen3.8 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 56.8 to 46.5 on the Noometry Index. Inkling-Small costs 4.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Qwen3.8 Max's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Inkling-Small or Qwen3.8 Max?
Inkling-Small is cheaper. It lists at $0.45 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max lists at $2 and $6.
Is Inkling-Small or Qwen3.8 Max better for coding?
Qwen3.8 Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 53.5 versus 43.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.8 Max does, with 1M tokens against 524K.
How many benchmarks do Inkling-Small and Qwen3.8 Max share?
30 benchmarks have published results for both models. Inkling-Small has 33 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.8 Max has 39.