Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) vs Google: Gemini Pro Latest: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) (thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free) vs Google: Gemini Pro Latest (~google/gemini-pro-latest). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) (thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free): Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
Google: Gemini Pro Latest (~google/gemini-pro-latest) — Google AI Startup Credits ($350K) & 50% Cache Promo
Google DeepMind is currently subsidizing Gemini 4 Argon at 50% off standard rates ($2.00/1M input & $10.00/1M output instead of $4/$20) until November 30, 2026, alongside 95% off Context Caching ($0.10/1M) and up to $350,000 in Google for Startups Cloud/Vertex AI credits.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) (API ID: thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free) vs Google: Gemini Pro Latest (API ID: ~google/gemini-pro-latest), Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) offers lower standard input pricing at $0/1M tokens ($0/1M output), while Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) leads in cached prefix economics at $0/1M tokens (50% discount). Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
| Specification / FinOps Dimension | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) | Google: Gemini Pro Latest | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free | ~google/gemini-pro-latest | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0 / $0 | $2 / $10 | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0/1M (50% Off) | $1/1M (50% Off) | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) |
| Context Window / Max Output | 1024K In / 256K Out | 1024K In / 64K Out | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) (-0ms) |
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free)
API ID: thinkingmachines/inkling-small:free • Live RegistryInkling Small is an open-weight multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines Lab, with 12B active parameters out of 276B total. It is positioned as the smaller, more
This model always redirects to the latest model in the Gemini Pro family.
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) to Google: Gemini Pro Latest
This model always redirects to the latest model in the Gemini Pro family. Verified P90 latency of 280ms.