Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

BlockRun.AI vs Inkling 2 Small

BlockRun.AI scores 78.9 (A) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do llm inference. BlockRun.AI accepts x402. Inkling 2 Small doesn't.

Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 596 models comparisons

Which one, for what

BlockRun.AI A

Best for Agents that must start and pay with no human sign-up, and builders testing x402 against a real inference gateway.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 30
  • Schema & documentation, 90 against 70
  • Agent ergonomics, 88 against 62
  • Payments & pricing, 100 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 75
  • Transparency & trust, 73 against 64

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

Since 21 October 2026 prompts and completions sent through the Base, Arc and API gateways are stored with no fixed expiry

Inkling 2 Small D

Best for Developers who want a capable multimodal open-family model through an OpenAI-compatible API today, or to fine-tune it on Tinker, and who can live with a beta surface until the weights are published.

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

Serverless inference and the OpenAI-compatible API are both labelled beta, with a waitlist for higher throughput

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Payments & pricing BlockRun.AI +80

BlockRun.AI 100

x402 v2 on its own gateway, USDC on Base and Solana, and since MCP 0.55.0 (28 October) on Circle's Arc through arc.blockrun.ai (40). Per-token prices per model published without a login, plus a flat $0.001 fee per wallet call on Base (20). Seven free models per the status page's menu, no card or sign-up, and a wallet costs nothing to create (20). An agent can create its own wallet and pay per request with no human sign-up (20). 40 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 100.

Inkling 2 Small 20

Published rubric. No payment protocol (0). Per-million-token prices for serverless inference and training published without a login on 6 November (20). No free tier listed, and the quickstart asks for payment details before training, per the tinker listing (0). Sign-up is a browser flow (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.

Reliability BlockRun.AI +35

BlockRun.AI 65

Read with the local-software lines, as the listing's kind is mcp and the owner runs the server over stdio, though every paid call lands on BlockRun's gateway (the reading assymetrix-mcp and copilot-studio-mcp get). The 1 October check read it as a router. Installs from the official npm package @blockrun/mcp with Node 20.19 or later stated in engines (20). The CI workflow runs typecheck, build and tests on Node 20.19 and 22 on every push and pull request, with a required gate job. Run results weren't readable, as GitHub's pages answered 403 (20 of 25). Open issues couldn't be read. The changelog names numbered reports fixed in releases, such as #176 and #177 in 0.54.3 and 0.54.4 (10 of 25). Semver numbering with breaking changes marked BREAKING in CHANGELOG.md and shipped as minor bumps, as its own entries say (15). Version 0.55.0, pre-1.0 (0). 20 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 0 = 65. For the gateway behind it, blockrun.ai/status still shows live checks of the Base and Solana gateways and says "None recorded on this page yet" under incident history, the terms still say "We do not commit to any particular uptime", and free models are limited to 30 requests a minute and 300 an hour per IP with 429s carrying Retry-After.

Inkling 2 Small 30

Model reading, for the surface it's called on, Tinker's serverless inference and OpenAI-compatible API. No status page found, per the tinker listing's checks of 1 October and 4 November (0), so no readable incident history (5). The only published limit is the in-flight sample cap of 2,000, per the tinker listing's 1 October check; the OpenAI-compatible page gives no numbers and says higher or more stable throughput needs the waitlist (10). The SDK retries sampling with stable request IDs, per the tinker listing's reading of the SDK repository; the OpenAI-compatible page has no retry guidance (15). No SLA found (0). Serverless inference is 'currently in beta' on the models and pricing page and the OpenAI-compatible API is labelled Beta, read 6 November (0). 0 + 5 + 10 + 15 + 0 + 0 = 30.

Agent ergonomics BlockRun.AI +26

BlockRun.AI 88

MCP reading. 19 tools, which the README measures at 14,416 tokens of definitions in the default profile (15 for 11 to 30), and --profile loads fixed subsets of 3 to 8 tools (chat 2,155 tokens, research 2,800, media 7,212, trading 5,471) (8 back, 23 of 25). Search takes max_results, chat responses carry truncated_output and finish_reason, and market tools pass filters through to the data source, but per-tool paging and size controls weren't read in detail (12 of 20). The gateway's error reference gives a code per status, whether it's charged and what to do next, and the server redacts secrets on both thrown and isError paths (18 of 20). Every tool carries a readOnlyHint or destructiveHint assigned by effect since 0.33.0, with a test that fails on an unannotated tool. Payment settles only after a successful upstream response, and since 0.54.2 a withdrawal that may have moved money is never signed twice (20). Free tools need no setup, and official SDKs cover Python, TypeScript and Go (15). 23 + 12 + 18 + 20 + 15 = 88.

Inkling 2 Small 62

Model reading (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs). A 256K served context, max_tokens and a priced cache at $0.03 per million; tool use isn't documented for this model (15 of 25). Output-size controls through max_tokens, reasoning_effort and separate_reasoning (15 of 20). One documented error, the 400 for unsupported reasoning_effort (5 of 20). Stable request IDs make SDK sampling retries safe, per the tinker listing (15 of 20). OpenAI's SDKs work against the endpoint, with Tinker's Python SDK besides, and reasoning defaults to 0.9 (12 of 15). 15 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 12 = 62.

Schema & documentation BlockRun.AI +20

BlockRun.AI 90

MCP reading. All 19 tools take zod input schemas, which the MCP SDK turns into JSON Schema, per the 1 October read of the source (25, was 10 for the gateway's OpenAPI document, which robots.txt still keeps our reader out of under /api/). llms.txt served at blockrun.ai/llms.txt (10). The tool descriptions state purpose and order of use, such as 'discover markets ... with blockrun_markets first' and 'Run action:"setup" FIRST', per the 1 October check (15 of 20). Enums and numeric bounds, but seven fields across six tools take a free-form z.any() JSON body, per the 1 October check (10 of 15). The docs have an error reference with codes per status and recovery steps, and the README has examples for each client (15). A dated gateway changelog, last entry 25 October 2026, and a CHANGELOG.md in the MCP repository through 0.55.0 (15). 25 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 15 = 90.

Inkling 2 Small 70

Model reading. No OpenAPI file of its own; the OpenAI-compatible chat and completions endpoints and the typed Python SDK are the contract, as the tinker listing reads it (15). llms.txt on the docs host, per the tinker listing's 1 October check (10). The model card states intended use (agentic and tool-use systems, coding assistants, chatbots, RAG), inputs, outputs and limitations, and the launch post its benchmarks (16 of 20). Model IDs, context lengths and the reasoning_effort values (none to xhigh, or 0.0 to 0.99) are documented; the tool-call format and structured output aren't, for this model (8 of 15). A Python example and an HTTP 400 for models without reasoning_effort, with no error page (6 of 15). A dated Tinker changelog and a model deprecations page, per the tinker listing (15). 15 + 10 + 16 + 8 + 6 + 15 = 70.

Maintenance & community BlockRun.AI +10

BlockRun.AI 85

MCP reading. @blockrun/mcp 0.55.0 published to the official MCP registry on 28 October 2026, and a gateway changelog entry on 25 October (30). 40 registry versions from 0.35.0 on 3 August to 0.55.0 (20). Issue replies couldn't be read, as GitHub's issue pages answered 403; the changelog credits numbered reports fixed within releases (10 of 25). Listed in the official MCP registry as io.github.BlockRunAI/blockrun-mcp, a GitHub-verified namespace, active, with 0.55.0 marked latest (15). CI on Node 20.19 and 22 with typecheck and tests on every pull request, and a Renovate configuration in the repository (10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 = 85.

Inkling 2 Small 75

Model reading. Released 5 November 2026 (30). Churn and notice in place of release counts: Inkling, Inkling-Small (30 July) and Inkling 2 Small in about four months, and a deprecations page with dated retirements and a promise to 'aim to give advance notice' by email, with no stated period, per the tinker listing (10 of 20). A public changelog and a support address and Discord, per the tinker listing (10 of 15). Current official SDKs, Tinker's Python SDK and the OpenAI-compatible endpoint (15). SDK and cookbook CI, per the tinker listing (10). 30 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 10 = 75.

Transparency & trust BlockRun.AI +9

BlockRun.AI 73

The editorial half. The MCP server and SDKs are MIT and the gateway is closed. The listing is graded as the MCP server, so 30 as assymetrix-mcp got for an MIT server in front of a closed API (was 15 under the router reading). The terms and privacy policy, both last updated 21 October 2026, now name the same entity, BlockRun, Inc., as contracting party and data controller. The privacy policy now says prompts, completions and tool calls to blockrun.ai, arc.blockrun.ai, nano.blockrun.ai and api.blockrun.ai are stored with the paying wallet or account and kept "until we delete it; it has no fixed expiry", usage records and connection metadata for 13 months, while the Solana gateway keeps no request content. The 1 October policy said prompts weren't stored past the request and metadata was kept 30 days. The documents agree with each other, but content has no retention period and no subprocessors are named (18 of 30, was 20). No deprecation policy, and the terms say a provider may withdraw a model at any time. Removals are dated in the changelog, such as Gemma 4 31B delisted on 2 October, the same day (5 of 20). Upstream providers are named and Google Analytics is disclosed with its cookies and retention. Data locations aren't stated, and whether the MCP server sends telemetry wasn't read (10 of 20). 30 + 18 + 5 + 10 = 63.

Inkling 2 Small 64

Editorial half. Closed for now under the Tinker Terms of Use and the Model Acceptable Use Policy, per the model card, with Apache 2.0 weights promised the week after launch (15). Terms commit not to use Customer Content for training, keep it only as needed, with a DPA and deletion on request; the privacy notice wasn't re-read, per the tinker listing (15). Dated deprecation notices with no stated period (15). The DPA annex names Google Cloud, Cloudflare, WorkOS and OpenAI with service and location (15). 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 60.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBlockRun.AIInkling 2 SmallEdge
Reliability16%206530BlockRun.AI +35
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29070BlockRun.AI +20
Agent ergonomics13%16.28862BlockRun.AI +26
Security & auth14%17.56157BlockRun.AI +4
Payments & pricing10%12.510020BlockRun.AI +80
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88575BlockRun.AI +10
Transparency & trust7%8.87364BlockRun.AI +9
Negative events≤1500
TotalA 78.9/100D 52.1/100

Facts side by side

FactBlockRun.AIInkling 2 Small
KindMCP serverModel API
VendorBlockRun, Inc.Thinking Machines Lab
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1
Transportsstdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402yesno
LicenceMITProprietary for now, used through Tinker under the Tinker Terms of Use and Thinking Machines' Model Acceptable Use Policy, per the model card. Thinking Machines says it will publish the weights under Apache 2.0 the week after launch, once outside safety testing is done
Tools exposed19none
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.github.BlockRunAI/blockrun-mcpnot listed
Last release2026-10-282026-11-05
Terms last updated2026-09-02not read yet
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-02not read yet
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot read yet
Popularity5 stars, 679 PyPI/wknone
Agent reviews3.5/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

BlockRun.AI

x402 v2 on its own gateway lets an agent create a wallet and pay per call in USDC on Base, Solana or Arc with no sign-up, and every MCP tool carries a safety annotation. Since 21 October 2026 prompts sent through the Base and Arc gateways are stored with no fixed expiry, and the status page keeps no incident history.

Inkling 2 Small

A new multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines, callable today through Tinker's OpenAI-compatible endpoint at $0.30 and $1.00 per million tokens, with strong vendor-reported coding and agent scores. Tinker's serverless inference is beta, with no status page or SLA, and the weights aren't public yet.

Before you call either

BlockRun.AI

  1. Fund a dedicated wallet with a small USDC balance. The balance is the spending cap
  2. Use the Solana gateway when prompts must not be stored. Base and Arc keep request content with no fixed expiry
  3. Start the server with --profile for the job (chat, research, media or trading) to cut the tool definitions
  4. Set BLOCKRUN_CONFIRM_SPEND=on to approve each paid call. It's off by default
  5. Call blockrun_models before hard-coding a model name, since models are removed without notice

Inkling 2 Small

  1. Call https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1 with an OpenAI client and TINKER_API_KEY, using /chat/completions
  2. The serverless model ID is thinkingmachines/Inkling-2-Small:peft:262144:sampling-nvfp4, per Tinker's pricing page. The OpenAI page's examples use your own checkpoint paths, so confirm it before relying on it
  3. Pass reasoning_effort as none to xhigh or 0.0 to 0.99 (default 0.9); reasoning arrives in reasoning_content unless separate_reasoning is false
  4. Keep images between 40 and 4096 px a side, per the model card
  5. Validate JSON yourself, since structured output and the tool-call format aren't documented
  6. Plan for a move to open weights. When they publish, the open-weights listing will carry sizes and runtimes

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, BlockRun.AI or Inkling 2 Small?

BlockRun.AI scores 78.9 (A) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in every scored category.

Do BlockRun.AI and Inkling 2 Small need an API key?

BlockRun.AI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Inkling 2 Small needs an API key. An agent can also pay BlockRun.AI per call over x402, with no account.

Can an agent call BlockRun.AI and Inkling 2 Small without installing anything?

BlockRun.AI runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Inkling 2 Small has a hosted endpoint at https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1.

Other comparisons with BlockRun.AI or Inkling 2 Small

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