Compare / Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Inkling Small
Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Inkling Small
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 12 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Inkling Small? The short answer
- Inkling Small is cheaper: $0.64 against $2.31 per million tokens, 3.6 times less.
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 28.4 against 25.7.
- On our business benchmarks, Qwen3.6 Max Preview ranks higher for reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
- On our business benchmarks, Inkling Small ranks higher for agents and tool use.
At a glance
| Qwen3.6 Max Preview | Inkling Small | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $1.03 in · $6.16 out | $0.45 in · $1.20 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $2.31 | $0.64 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | – |
| Intelligence Index | 28.4 | 25.7 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | 173 |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 524,288 tokens |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| Developer based in | China | the US |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.
| Use case | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls | 78 of 161 | 68 of 161 |
| Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge | 56 of 195 | 58 of 195 |
| WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality | 37 of 187 | 100 of 187 |
| Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers | 45 of 153 | 126 of 153 |
| Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) | not measured | 4 of 21 |
Every shared result
| Benchmark | Metric | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,452 | 1,425 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Business, management and financeArena rating | 1,450 | 1,408 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Creative writingArena rating | 1,436 | 1,313 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Expert promptsArena rating | 1,499 | 1,445 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Instruction followingArena rating | 1,449 | 1,393 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,460 | 1,405 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Writing, literature and languageArena rating | 1,446 | 1,344 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score | 28.4 | 25.7 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | GPQA Diamond% of questions | 88.8% | 89.5% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Humanity's Last Exam% of questions | 30.8% | 33.3% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions | 80.7% | 75.7% |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI)reported | Correct answers% of questions | 52.0% | 19.1% |
Bold green marks the better value on that metric. Where a source reports ranges that overlap, the difference may not be meaningful; see the benchmark page for ranges.
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6 Max Preview better than Inkling Small?
It depends on the task. Among models available today, on our benchmarks and licensed sources, Qwen3.6 Max Preview ranks higher for reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts; Inkling Small ranks higher for agents and tool use.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Inkling Small?
Inkling Small costs $0.64 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $2.31 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
Run Qwen3.6 Max Preview and Inkling Small on your own prompt
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