Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Inkling-Small: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Gemini 3.8 Flash is developed by Google, while Inkling-Small comes from Thinking Machines Lab. Inkling-Small was released in July 2026, and Gemini 3.8 Flash followed 2 months later in September 2026. Inkling-Small has a published size of about 276 billion parameters; Google has not disclosed the parameter count of Gemini 3.8 Flash.
The two models share 3 published benchmarks. Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on 3 of them. The widest gaps are on Terminal-Bench 2.1, where Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 89.4% against 64.7%; GDPval-AA, where Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 51.5% against 42.3%. Averaged across everything we track, Gemini 3.8 Flash sits at 59.2% and Inkling-Small at 60.3%.
Inkling-Small is the cheaper API at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens, roughly 3 times cheaper than Gemini 3.8 Flash at $0.75 and $3.75. Gemini 3.8 Flash takes the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared with 256K for Inkling-Small. Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, audio, and video as input, while Inkling-Small accepts text, images, and audio. On tooling, only Gemini 3.8 Flash supports function calling and only Gemini 3.8 Flash offers structured output.
| Characteristic | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Inkling-Small |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Thinking Machines Lab | |
| Release Date | September 2, 2026 | July 30, 2026 |
| Parameters | — | 276B |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 256K |
| Context (output) | 66K | 256K |
| Input Price / 1M | $0.75 | $0.30 |
| Output Price / 1M | $3.75 | $1.20 |
| Average Score | 59.2% | 60.3% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 89.4% | 64.7% |
| GDPval-AA | 51.5% | 42.3% |
| CharXiv-R | 86.2% | 77.4% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Gemini 3.8 Flash — 0.6, Inkling-Small — 0.6.
Inkling-Small is 3.0x cheaper: input $0.30/1M vs $0.75/1M tokens.
Gemini 3.8 Flash supports a larger context: 1M vs 256K tokens.
Gemini 3.8 Flash is newer: released 9/2/2026 vs 7/30/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Gemini 3.8 Flash or Inkling-Small?
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The Gemini 3.8 Flash and Inkling-Small comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Gemini 3.8 Flash or Inkling-Small page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.