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Head-to-head comparison

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Inkling Small

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct (Meta) and Inkling Small (Thinking Machines) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, Inkling Small holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#31 vs #173); Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is 3.8× cheaper per output token ($0.32/1M vs $1.20/1M); Inkling Small offers the longer context window (524K vs 131K tokens); and Inkling Small ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Llama 3.3 70B Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $0.32/1M output tokens against $1.20/1M, about 3.8× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.10/1M against $0.45/1M.
  • you want provider choice — 12 listed API providers against 2.

Choose Inkling Small if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #31 against #173 (58.9 vs 20.6 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 524K tokens against 131K.
  • you want to self-host: Inkling Small ships open weights while Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is gated access.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Inkling Small was listed 30 July 2026, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 6 December 2024.

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Inkling Small: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and Inkling Small
FieldLlama 3.3 70B InstructMetaInkling SmallThinking Machines
ModelCap Index position#173#31
Index score20.658.9
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.10$0.45
Output price / 1M tokens$0.32$1.20
Context window131K tokens524K tokens
Max output tokens16K262K
API providers listed122
Weight accessGated accessOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image, Audio
First listed6 December 202430 July 2026
PublisherMetaThinking Machines

Evidence: 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Inkling Small

Public benchmark boards where Llama 3.3 70B Instruct or Inkling Small has a published result
BoardLlama 3.3 70B InstructInkling SmallLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13461339–1352—Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation—40.1%X-HighOnly one result
BFCL V4UC Berkeley (Gorilla)31.9Function calling—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—41.2intelligence-indexOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Inkling Small: common questions

Is Llama 3.3 70B Instruct better than Inkling Small?

Inkling Small ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #31 against #173. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Llama 3.3 70B Instruct cheaper than Inkling Small?

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $0.32/1M against $1.20/1M. Input tokens are $0.10/1M for Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and $0.45/1M for Inkling Small. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small has the larger context window: 524K tokens against 131K.

Which is better for coding, Llama 3.3 70B Instruct or Inkling Small?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and Inkling Small open-weight models?

Llama 3.3 70B Instruct: Gated access. Inkling Small: Open weights. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and Inkling Small?

ModelCap currently lists 12 API providers for Llama 3.3 70B Instruct and 2 for Inkling Small, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Llama 3.3 70B Instruct vs Inkling Small comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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