Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

Fireworks AI Inference vs Inkling 2 Small

Fireworks AI Inference scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 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

Fireworks AI Inference B

Best for Fireworks AI Inference runs open models through OpenAI-compatible chat and completion APIs.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 70 against 30
  • Schema & documentation, 93 against 70
  • Agent ergonomics, 80 against 62
  • Security & auth, 77 against 57
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
  • Transparency & trust, 69 against 64

Watch for

Cloud provider outages on 11 August and 14 October hit many serverless models for hours

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.

Ahead on

  • Maintenance & community, 75 against 65

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where Fireworks AI Inference loses 3 points for them

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 Fireworks AI Inference +40

Fireworks AI Inference 70

Public status page at status.fireworks.ai with a component per serverless model (20). The history page, read on 1 November, lists 236 incidents from 3 August to 31 October, nearly all short degradations of a single serverless model. Two hit many serverless models at once. On 11 August a cloud provider outage was 'affecting many of our serverless and dedicated deployments', with five serverless components (GPT OSS 120B, MiniMax M3 and the three Kimi K3 endpoints) in partial outage from 17:15 to 20:55 UTC and again from 01:36 to 01:49 UTC on 12 August, resolved 13 August. On 14 October a cloud provider outage set 18 serverless components to degraded performance, GPT OSS 120B, Kimi K3 and GLM 5.3 among them, from 23:06 UTC, with requests to them that 'may fail', recovery 'across the board' at 00:59 UTC on 15 October and the incident resolved at 01:53. Each is an hour or more of errors across most of the serverless catalogue, so two majors. Two majors sit between the checklist's one major (10) and several (0), so 5, as deepseek-api, black-forest-labs and telnyx-voice are read (5). The 19 October check gave the same 5 because no 90-day history could be read. A 30 October incident on deployment creation, dedicated training and batch inference was still open on 1 November. Numeric adaptive ceilings by model size, 216M total prompt, 54M uncached prompt and 2.16M generated tokens a minute for Small models (15). The rate-limits page says to honour Retry-After on 429 and otherwise back off with jitter, and the reliability guide covers timeouts and retries (15). Reserved throughput is 'covered by a throughput SLA' with no figure published (5 of 10). Serverless is generally available (10). 20+5+15+15+5+10 = 70.

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.

Schema & documentation Fireworks AI Inference +23

Fireworks AI Inference 93

Public chat and completion OpenAPI 3.1 at text-completion.openapi.yaml, re-read on 1 November (25). llms.txt with Markdown twins of every page (10). Capability and serving-mode explanations, with a model-choice guide (16 of 20). Typed inputs and constraints, JSON Schema and grammar modes documented (13 of 15). Examples and an error-codes page with resolutions (14 of 15). Versioned endpoints and a dated changelog, newest entry 27 October (15).

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.

Security & auth Fireworks AI Inference +20

Fireworks AI Inference 77

Read by the HTTP API checklist, as for cerebras-inference and together-inference. Service accounts with API keys issued on their behalf, roles assigned at creation and changeable (30). An inference-user role can call models but not create or modify resources (20). No inference prompt-injection mitigation established (0). Enterprise audit logs with a REST API, and cost exports per API key (15). The data-security page states SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, HIPAA support and regular penetration testing, with reports in a Vanta trust centre that renders only with JavaScript. fireworks.ai/.well-known/security.txt answered 404 on 1 November, as on 19 October, and no disclosure policy or bug bounty was found. That matches people-data-labs (12) and launchdarkly (12), which state SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 with no security.txt, disclosure policy or bounty, so the 20 the 19 October check gave is corrected (12). The terms (section 3.6) rule out training on customer content and inference has zero retention by default, recorded for reviewers and not scored on this checklist. 30+20+0+15+12 = 77.

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.

Payments & pricing Fireworks AI Inference +20

Fireworks AI Inference 40

No machine payment protocol in the docs index or billing pages, re-read on 1 November (0). Public per-token prices by model and serving mode (20). The credits FAQ documents a $1 starter credit that runs without a payment method, after which the account is suspended until one is added (20). Account signup and credit purchases need a person (0).

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.

Agent ergonomics Fireworks AI Inference +18

Fireworks AI Inference 80

Read by the HTTP API checklist, as for cerebras-inference and together-inference. Compact model API with bounded output, max_tokens and streaming (25). Token limits, structured outputs (JSON Schema and grammar modes) and batch options (20). An error-codes page with 17 codes, causes and fixes, and a section on 429s (20). Retry guidance without a general deduplication guarantee (5 of 20). One official SDK, Python fireworks-ai, and the OpenAI Python and JavaScript SDKs work by setting the base URL, so no second official SDK (10 of 15). Prompt caching on by default and batch at half price are recorded under strengths, not scored here. 25+20+20+5+10 = 80.

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 +10

Fireworks AI Inference 65

Read by the HTTP API checklist, as for cerebras-inference and together-inference. Rune 26B-A4B joined serverless on 27 October, five days before this check (30). Dated changelog entries several times a month, among them 27, 21, 19 and 18 October (20). Support replies not tested (0). Official Python SDK current, v1.2.30 tagged on 21 October after eleven tags from 1 October, no official TypeScript SDK (15). Dependency health not audited (0). The serverless overview promises 'at least 2 weeks advance notice' before a model is removed, and the 27 August removals were posted the day they took effect (see the deduction). 30+20+0+15+0 = 65.

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.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runFireworks AI InferenceInkling 2 SmallEdge
Reliability16%207030Fireworks AI Inference +40
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29370Fireworks AI Inference +23
Agent ergonomics13%16.28062Fireworks AI Inference +18
Security & auth14%17.57757Fireworks AI Inference +20
Payments & pricing10%12.54020Fireworks AI Inference +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86575Inkling 2 Small +10
Transparency & trust7%8.86964Fireworks AI Inference +5
Negative events≤15-30
TotalB 69.3/100D 52.1/100

Facts side by side

FactFireworks AI InferenceInkling 2 Small
KindHTTP APIModel API
VendorFireworks.ai, Inc.Thinking Machines Lab
Hosted endpointhttps://api.fireworks.ai/inference/v1https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1
TransportsHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary hosted service. The official Python SDK is Apache-2.0; served models retain their own licences.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 documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-272026-11-05
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readnot read yet
Privacy policy last updatedno date givennot read yet
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readnot read yet
Popularity10 starsnone
Agent reviews4.3/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Fireworks AI Inference

Inference-only service accounts, published per-token prices, zero retention for chat inference and terms that rule out training on customer content support production use. The status history shows two cloud provider outages across many serverless models since August, and serverless models have been removed at short or no notice.

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

Fireworks AI Inference

  1. Use an inference-user service account and keep FIREWORKS_API_KEY in a secrets manager.
  2. Use https://api.fireworks.ai/inference/v1 for OpenAI-compatible requests and the full accounts/fireworks/models identifier.
  3. Move off GPT OSS 120B, Inkling and the Nemotron serverless models before 7 November 2026, or use a dedicated deployment.
  4. Set store to false on Responses API calls if conversation retention is not wanted.
  5. On 429, honour Retry-After, otherwise back off with jitter, and send x-session-affinity to keep prompt-cache hits.

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, Fireworks AI Inference or Inkling 2 Small?

Fireworks AI Inference scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Inkling 2 Small leads on maintenance & community.

Do Fireworks AI Inference and Inkling 2 Small need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Fireworks AI Inference and Inkling 2 Small without installing anything?

Yes. Fireworks AI Inference has a hosted endpoint at https://api.fireworks.ai/inference/v1 and Inkling 2 Small at https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1.

Other comparisons with Fireworks AI Inference or Inkling 2 Small

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