Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking vs Inkling Small (free)
| Signal | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Delta | Inkling Small (free) |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 83 | +17 | |
Benchmarks | 66 | -1 | |
Pricing | 96 | -4 | |
Context window size | 81 | -14 | |
Recency | 64 | -36 | |
Output Capacity | 72 | -14 | |
| Overall Result | 1 wins | of 6 | 5 wins |
Score History
69.2
current score
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
right now
68.7
current score
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Alibaba
Inkling Small (free)
thinkingmachines
Inkling Small (free) saves you $240.00/month
That's $2880.00/year compared to Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Inkling Small (free) | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69 | 69 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Rank | #173 | #175 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Quality Rank | #173 | #175 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Adoption Rank | #173 | #175 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Parameters | 235B | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 131K | 1049K | Inkling Small (free) |
| Pricing | $0.40/$4.00/M | Free | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 83 | 67 | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
| Benchmarks | 66 | 67 | Inkling Small (free) |
| Pricing | 96 | 100 | Inkling Small (free) |
| Context window size | 81 | 96 | Inkling Small (free) |
| Recency | 64 | 100 | Inkling Small (free) |
| Output Capacity | 72 | 87 | Inkling Small (free) |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 69/100 (rank #173), placing it in the top 41% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 69/100 (rank #175), placing it in the top 40% of all 290 models tracked.
With only a 1-point gap, these models are in the same performance tier. The practical difference in output quality is minimal - your choice should depend on pricing, latency requirements, and specific feature needs.
Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking when you need:
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Choose Inkling Small (free) when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
- Processing long documents or large codebases (1049K token context)
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Both models are priced similarly, so the decision comes down to quality and features rather than cost.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Inkling Small (free) also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (1049K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.00/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (69/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking and Inkling Small (free) are extremely close in overall performance (only 0.5 points apart). Your best choice depends entirely on which specific strengths matter most for your use case.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Inkling Small (free)
100% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by Alibaba
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Inkling Small (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Modediffers | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Web Search | ||
| Image Output |
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Alibaba
Inkling Small (free)
thinkingmachines
Inkling Small (free) saves you $5.52/month
That's 100% cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | Inkling Small (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 131K | 1.0M |
| Max Output Tokens | 32,768 | 262,144 |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| Created | Sep 23, 2025 | Jul 30, 2026 |