API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewQwen3.8 27B vs Inkling Small

Pick Inkling Small when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-08-22T21:07:49Z Data confirmed: 2026-08-23T13:07:49Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Inkling Small when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Inkling Small is estimated at $1.05 vs $1.9 for Qwen3.8 27B, saving $0.85 (44.7% lower).

Cost-first pickInkling Small

Context-first pickInkling Small

Sample savings$0.8544.7%

10x traffic gap$8.5

Inkling Small is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $8.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Inkling Small stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Qwen3.8 27B	Inkling Small
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Inkling Small	$3.5	$2.85
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Inkling Small	$3.4	$1.65
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Inkling Small	$15.4	$6.45

Cheaper input Qwen3.8 27B $0.4 vs $0.45 / 1M

Qwen3.8 27B is $0.05 cheaper per 1M input tokens (11.1% lower; 1.12x difference).

Cheaper output Inkling Small $3 vs $1.2 / 1M

Inkling Small is $1.8 cheaper per 1M output tokens (60% lower; 2.5x difference).

Larger context Inkling Small 1M vs 1.05M

Inkling Small has 48.58K more context (1.05x larger).

Sample workload Inkling Small $1.9 vs $1.05

Inkling Small is $0.85 cheaper on the standard workload (44.7% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Qwen3.8 27B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Inkling Small Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Qwen3.8 27B has the lower input price; Inkling Small has the lower output price; Inkling Small offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Inkling Small is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $1.9 for Qwen3.8 27B and $1.05 for Inkling Small.

Best Fit

Choose Qwen3.8 27B when you care most about lower input-token price.

Choose Inkling Small when you care most about lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Inkling Small is estimated at $1.05 vs $1.9 for Qwen3.8 27B, saving $0.85 (44.7% lower).
Inkling Small is $0.85 cheaper on the standard workload (44.7% lower).
Qwen3.8 27B is $0.05 cheaper per 1M input tokens (11.1% lower; 1.12x difference).
Inkling Small is $1.8 cheaper per 1M output tokens (60% lower; 2.5x difference).
Inkling Small has 48.58K more context (1.05x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	NewQwen3.8 27B (Qwen)	Inkling Small (Thinking Machines)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.4	$0.45
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$3	$1.2
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$1.9	$1.05
Context Window	1M	1.05M
Release Date	2026-08-14	2026-07-30

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Inkling Small	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Inkling Small is estimated at $1.05 vs $1.9 for Qwen3.8 27B, saving $0.85 (44.7% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3.8 27B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Inkling Small	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Inkling Small	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) can replace Qwen3.8 27B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) can replace Qwen3.8 27B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Qwen3.7 Flash can replace Qwen3.8 27B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507 can replace Qwen3.8 27B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.14.

Larger context near this budget

DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers 1.31M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.11 sample workload cost.
Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.25 sample workload cost.
MiMo-V2.5 offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 · DeepSeek · #1
MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #2
Hy3 · Tencent · #3
Ox Alpha · stealth · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Qwen catalog

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Thinking Machines catalog

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Open Thinking Machines models

Qwen3.8 27B

Qwen3.8 27B is an open-weight dense vision-language model from Qwen. It is suited for coding, professional workflows, research, multimodal interaction, and long-running agent tasks, with flexible thinking that can be...

Inkling Small

Inkling 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 efficient member of...