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Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Small 4 vs Inkling Small

Mistral Small 4 (Mistral AI) 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 22 September 2026

As of 22 September 2026, Inkling Small holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#86 vs #88); Mistral Small 4 is 2× cheaper per output token ($0.60/1M vs $1.20/1M); and Inkling Small offers the longer context window (1M vs 262K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Mistral Small 4 if…

  • API cost matters — $0.60/1M output tokens against $1.20/1M, about 2× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.15/1M against $0.45/1M.

Choose Inkling Small if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #86 against #88 (54.0 vs 53.1 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 262K.
  • you want provider choice — 3 listed API providers against 1.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Inkling Small was listed 30 July 2026, Mistral Small 4 16 March 2026.

Mistral Small 4 vs Inkling Small: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Small 4 and Inkling Small
FieldMistral Small 4Mistral AIInkling SmallThinking Machines
ModelCap Index position#88#86
Index score53.154.0
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.15$0.45
Output price / 1M tokens$0.60$1.20
Context window262K tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens210K262K
API providers listed13
Weight accessOpen weightsOpen weights
Input modalitiesText, ImageText, Image, Audio
First listed16 March 202630 July 2026
PublisherMistral AIThinking Machines

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mistral Small 4 vs Inkling Small

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Small 4 or Inkling Small has a published result
BoardMistral Small 4Inkling SmallLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14741466–1483Only one result
LMArena AgentLMArena—-9.2%-10.5%–-7.8%Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation—40.1%X-HighOnly one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis11.3intelligence-index:v4.3:reasoning-unspecified—Only one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—33.3%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Inkling Small":reasoning=trueOnly 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.

Mistral Small 4 vs Inkling Small: common questions

Is Mistral Small 4 better than Inkling Small?

Inkling Small ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 22 September 2026: #86 against #88. 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. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is Mistral Small 4 cheaper than Inkling Small?

Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on output tokens: $0.60/1M against $1.20/1M. Input tokens are $0.15/1M for Mistral Small 4 and $0.45/1M for Inkling Small. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.60 for Mistral Small 4 versus $1.50 for Inkling Small. Mistral Small 4 costs 60.0% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Small 4 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 262K.

Which is better for coding, Mistral Small 4 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 Mistral Small 4 and Inkling Small open-weight models?

Mistral Small 4: Open weights. 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 Mistral Small 4 and Inkling Small?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mistral Small 4 and 3 for Inkling Small, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mistral Small 4 vs Inkling Small comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 22 September 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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