Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run
DeepInfra vs Inkling 2 Small
DeepInfra scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Inkling 2 Small leads on maintenance & community. Both do llm inference.
Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 596 models comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Agents that want many open-weight models, embeddings, image and speech behind one OpenAI-style key at low per-token prices, with spend-capped tokens.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 75 against 30
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 62
- Security & auth, 64 against 57
Watch for
A deprecated model gets at least one week's notice, and requests are then forwarded to a replacement model under the old id. Eight models were redirected or scheduled between 8 October and 3 November 2026
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.
Ahead on
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 61
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.
Reliability DeepInfra +45
DeepInfra 75
Hosted reading. Own status page at status.deepinfra.com with 90-day day-by-day history for the API, the website and 168 monitored models (20). On 2 November 2026 the API component shows 100 per cent over 86.7 measured days and the website 99.99 per cent, with one 8-minute degradation on 19 August 2026. The Atom feed's 50 newest items, 20 August to 30 October 2026, are all automated major-outage observations on single models, "not an announced incident", among them MiMo-V2.5 from 27 August to 4 September, Qwen3-TTS for 37 and 32 hours, Nemotron-3-Ultra for 25 hours and a run of short Nemotron-3.5-Lightning outages in early September. No written incident touched the API. Each observation is one model, partial under this run's rule, as together-inference's single-model monitor downtime was read, so minor only (20). The 8 October reading of 15 sat between checklist values. 200 concurrent requests per model, published (15). 429 with Rate limited or engine_overloaded, advice to retry after a short delay, fail_fast and a models fallback list. No Retry-After header or backoff figures were found (10 of 15). No SLA found. The terms (last modified 15 October 2026) promise commercially reasonable efforts for infrastructure only (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 75.
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 DeepInfra +15
DeepInfra 77
Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Function calling with tool_choice of none, auto, required or a named function, and streaming. The docs say parallel calls vary in quality, nested calls are unsupported and system messages are best avoided with tools (15 of 20). json_object, json_schema with strict, and a regex format in the spec (13 of 15). Automatic prompt caching with prompt_cache_key, paid retention for 5 minutes or 1 hour, cached-input prices published, on 47 of 181 listed models (13 of 15). Context of 1,048,576 tokens on DeepSeek V4, Kimi K3 and GLM 5.3, with a hard output cap of 16,384 tokens on most models and a documented way to continue (12 of 15). Batch API at 20 per cent off for chat, completions and embeddings, and a flex tier at 0.8x (10). The OpenAI and Anthropic clients work with a changed base URL. The Python package deepinfra 0.3.0 dates from 12 August 2026, and npm listed 2.0.2 from May 2024 on 8 October (7 of 10). 429 carries an engine_overloaded code. Native routes return a bare error string, and no list of codes was found (7 of 15).
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.
Maintenance & community Inkling 2 Small +14
DeepInfra 61
Model reading. The docs repository changed on 26 October 2026, and on 22 October documented Nemotron 3.5 image embeddings and reranker scores (30). Deprecated models get at least one week's notice by email, then requests are forwarded to a replacement (5 of 12). Churn. In the 90 days to 2 November four redirect dates passed (8, 9, 12 and 25 October, five models), Kimi-K2.7-Code was deprecated before 28 September, and three more are scheduled for 2 and 3 November. Three or more removal dates in 90 days give 0, as groq and fireworks-inference were read (0 of 8, was 4 when the five were only scheduled). No changelog. Support is by Discord and a feedback address, and the docs repository is public (7 of 15). Replies on the SDK repositories were not examined (3 of 10). Python deepinfra 0.3.0 from 12 August 2026 with a changelog. The Node repository tagged 2.1.0 on 1 September 2026, and npm couldn't be read on 2 November, so its 8 October reading of 2.0.2 from 8 May 2024 stands (9 of 15). CI workflows in both SDK repositories (7 of 10). 30 + 5 + 0 + 7 + 3 + 9 + 7 = 61.
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.
Security & auth DeepInfra +7
DeepInfra 64
Model reading. Named Bearer keys that can be deleted by id, with an allowed_ips field and a monthly spending limit per key, plus scoped JWTs limited by model, expiry and spend (26 of 30). Less 10 because GET /v1/scoped-jwt?jwtoken= is still the documented way to inspect a JWT and puts a live token in the query string. The two deprecated routes that carried the API token in the URL path are no longer in the OpenAPI document (16 of 30). The terms say Customer Data is not used to train, fine-tune or improve any model. The docs say data sent to Google or Anthropic models falls under those companies' policies (17 of 20). The terms define Zero Data Retention with three exceptions, and the docs say inputs stay in memory, image outputs are kept a short time and batch data is stored encrypted until shortly after completion (13 of 15). Usage per key, request costs and deployment logs are in the API. No account audit log was found (8 of 15). The trust centre at trust.deepinfra.com now loads and lists SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA as compliant, with reports and policies on request, and the privacy policy says the same. No security.txt, disclosure policy or bug bounty was found (10 of 20, as other listings with certification claims and no disclosure route).
Inkling 2 Small 57
Platform readings are the tinker listing's. Revocable API keys from the console, with no per-key scopes found (20). Org, team and project permissions with no read-only role (5). The model returns its own completions, no third-party content (10). get_audit_log() for admins (15). security.txt with a reporting address and no stated acknowledgement time (7). For the model reading, Tinker's terms commit not to use Customer Content for training, recorded under transparency. 20 + 5 + 10 + 15 + 7 = 57.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | DeepInfra | Inkling 2 Small | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 75 | 30 | DeepInfra +45 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 69 | 70 | Inkling 2 Small +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 77 | 62 | DeepInfra +15 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 64 | 57 | DeepInfra +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 20 | 20 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 61 | 75 | Inkling 2 Small +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 68 | 64 | DeepInfra +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | B 63.7/100 | D 52.1/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | DeepInfra | Inkling 2 Small |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Deep Infra Inc. | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai | https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1 |
| Transports | HTTP | |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the DeepInfra Terms of Service. The Python and Node SDKs and the docs repository are MIT | Proprietary 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 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-26 | 2026-11-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-17 | not read yet |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-15 | not read yet |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Popularity | 21 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 50 PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | none |
How the scores have moved
Inkling 2 Small
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
DeepInfra
The model list, context sizes and per-token prices are readable without a key, and keys can carry an IP allowlist, a monthly spending cap and model-limited JWTs. Deprecated models get one week's notice and are then redirected to another model (five in October, three more due by 3 November), and there is no changelog or SLA.
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
DeepInfra
- Call
GET https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai/modelsat start-up for ids, context sizes and prices. No key is needed - Check the
modelfield of each response. After a deprecation date, requests to the old id are served by a replacement model - Ask the account owner for a scoped JWT limited to the models and spend the task needs, not the full API key
- Stay under 200 concurrent requests per model. On 429
engine_overloaded, retry after a delay, or sendmodelswith up to four fallbacks - Never inspect a JWT with
GET /v1/scoped-jwt?jwtoken=, which puts the token in the URL. Keep credentials in theAuthorizationheader
Inkling 2 Small
- Call https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1 with an OpenAI client and TINKER_API_KEY, using /chat/completions
- 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
- 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
- Keep images between 40 and 4096 px a side, per the model card
- Validate JSON yourself, since structured output and the tool-call format aren't documented
- 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, DeepInfra or Inkling 2 Small?
DeepInfra scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Inkling 2 Small leads on maintenance & community.
Do DeepInfra and Inkling 2 Small need an API key?
Both need an API key.
Can an agent call DeepInfra and Inkling 2 Small without installing anything?
Yes. DeepInfra has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai and Inkling 2 Small at https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1.
Other comparisons with DeepInfra or Inkling 2 Small
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- DeepInfra vs Glimpse
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- DeepInfra vs Gemini Developer API
- DeepInfra vs GroqCloud
- DeepInfra vs Jais 3
- DeepInfra vs Meta Model API
- DeepInfra vs MiniMax API
- DeepInfra vs Mistral AI API
- DeepInfra vs Muse Spark Open
- DeepInfra vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
- DeepInfra vs Novita AI
- DeepInfra vs OpenAI API
- DeepInfra vs OpenRouter
- DeepInfra vs Prism Inference
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- DeepInfra vs Beam 1.0
- DeepInfra vs RouterPlus
- DeepInfra vs SambaCloud
- DeepInfra vs SiliconFlow
- DeepInfra vs Simplismart
- DeepInfra vs StepFun API
- DeepInfra vs SWE-2 Flash
- DeepInfra vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub
- DeepInfra vs Together AI Inference
- DeepInfra vs Vercel AI Gateway
- DeepSeek API vs Inkling 2 Small
- Glimpse vs Inkling 2 Small
- Fireworks AI Inference vs Inkling 2 Small
- Gemini Developer API vs Inkling 2 Small
- GroqCloud vs Inkling 2 Small
- Inkling 2 Small vs Jais 3
- Inkling 2 Small vs Meta Model API
- Inkling 2 Small vs MiniMax API
- Inkling 2 Small vs Mistral AI API
- Inkling 2 Small vs Muse Spark Open
- Inkling 2 Small vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
- Inkling 2 Small vs Novita AI
- Inkling 2 Small vs OpenAI API
- Inkling 2 Small vs OpenRouter
- Inkling 2 Small vs Prism Inference
- Inkling 2 Small vs Router.com (Ramp Router)
- Inkling 2 Small vs Beam 1.0
- Inkling 2 Small vs RouterPlus
- Inkling 2 Small vs SambaCloud
- Inkling 2 Small vs SiliconFlow
- Inkling 2 Small vs Simplismart
- Inkling 2 Small vs StepFun API
- Inkling 2 Small vs SWE-2 Flash
- Inkling 2 Small vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub
- Inkling 2 Small vs Together AI Inference
- Inkling 2 Small vs Vercel AI Gateway
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/deepinfra-vs-inkling-2-small.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/deepinfra.json·/api/v1/tools/inkling-2-small.json - From a terminal
anchor compare deepinfra inkling-2-small(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "deepinfra", "b": "inkling-2-small"}at/mcp, no key