Model comparison
Inkling-Small vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
Inkling-Small is the stronger model overall, scoring 46.5 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 7.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Inkling-Small's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.
NVIDIASummary
- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Inkling-Small scores higher in 8 categories and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Inkling-Small leads 38.6 to 26.8.
- Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.45 / $1.20 for Inkling-Small.
- Inkling-Small accepts more context: 524K tokens versus 262K.
Side by side
| Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Thinking Machines Lab | NVIDIA |
| Noometry Index | 46.5 | 40.0 |
| Released | 2026-07-15 | 2026-08-11 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 524K | 262K |
| Max output | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.45 | $0.05 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.20 | $0.20 |
| Results tracked | 33 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 43.6 (#85), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 40.4 (#141)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1451 | 1375 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1409 | — |
| SciCode | 48.7% | — |
Reasoning Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 38.6 (#63), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 26.8 (#127)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1423 | 1337 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 40.1% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 84% | — |
| CritPt | 8.3% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 18% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 6% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 150.15 | — |
Math Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 45.1 (#77), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#155)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1459 | 1359 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 46.3% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 17.1% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 90% | — |
| ProofBench | 6% | — |
Knowledge Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 48.2 (#77), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 37.5 (#154)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1442 | 1356 |
| GPQA Diamond | 88.5% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 19.1% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Inkling-Small: 39.1 (#62), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: —
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1235 | — |
Multilingual Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 51.7 (#104), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 44.0 (#180)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1402 | 1295 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1465 | 1359 |
| LMArena French | 1436 | 1366 |
| LMArena German | 1405 | 1282 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1405 | 1206 |
| LMArena Korean | 1363 | 1238 |
| LMArena Russian | 1391 | 1253 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1428 | 1345 |
Instruction Following Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 73.8 (#114), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 69.6 (#170)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1399 | 1318 |
Long Context Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 42.7 (#118), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 39.9 (#165)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1401 | 1314 |
Writing & Preference Inkling-Small leads
Inkling-Small: 59.6 (#107), Nemotron 3.5 Lightning: 48.5 (#201)
| Benchmark | Inkling-Small | Nemotron 3.5 Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1414 | 1327 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1331 | 1254 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1491 | 1280 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1418 | 1328 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Inkling-Small better than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Inkling-Small is the stronger model overall, scoring 46.5 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning costs 7.3× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Inkling-Small's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Inkling-Small or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning?
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Inkling-Small lists at $0.45 and $1.20.
Is Inkling-Small or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning better for coding?
Inkling-Small scores higher on coding benchmarks: 43.6 versus 40.4 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Inkling-Small does, with 524K tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do Inkling-Small and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning share?
18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Inkling-Small has 33 scored results on Noometry and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning has 18.