# Inkling 2 Small vs ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) (slim)

> ThinkingCap scores 61 (C) to Inkling 2 Small's 58.8 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) scores 61 (C) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 58.8 (C), and leads in 1 of 4 scored categories. Inkling 2 Small leads on risk, agent interface and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Inkling 2 Small: C 58.8, rank #102 of 161 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inkling-2-small.min.md
- ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B): C 61, rank #58 of 161 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thinkingcap-qwen3-8-27b.min.md
- Inkling 2 Small, good for Teams with 512 GB or more of datacentre GPU memory who want Thinking Machines' newest open multimodal agent model and can run a runtime's pre-release image. Ahead on Risk, 65 against 45; Agent interface, 85 against 70; Documentation and upkeep, 67 against 53.
- ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B), good for Small teams and individuals running Qwen3.8-27B for agent or reasoning work who want shorter thinking traces on one 24 GB GPU or Mac. Ahead on Reach, 75 against 40.

| Category | Inkling 2 Small | ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 40 | 75 |
| Risk (20%) | 65 | 45 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 70 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 67 | 53 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Inkling 2 Small | ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Thinking Machines Lab | BottleCap AI |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | PolyForm-Small-Business-1.0.0 |
| Last release | 2026-11-12 | 2026-10-06 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-01-21 |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Reach, ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) +35: Inkling 2 Small 40 (Memory 0 of 30, the smallest build is Thinking Machines' NVFP4 checkpoint at 393.5 GB, about 472 GB with a fifth added, above the 256 GB line.); ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 75 (Memory 25 of 30, BottleCap's IQ4_XS GGUF is 15.5 GB, 18.6 GB with a fifth added, which fits 24 GB.)
- Risk, Inkling 2 Small +20: Inkling 2 Small 65 (File safety 25, safetensors only and no repository code to run.); ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 45 (File safety 25, safetensors only and no code in the repository.)
- Agent interface, Inkling 2 Small +15: Inkling 2 Small 85 (Chat template 20, a Jinja file in the repository.); ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 70 (Chat template 20, the same Jinja template as Qwen3.8-27B, in the repository.)
- Documentation and upkeep, Inkling 2 Small +14: Inkling 2 Small 67 (Model card 17 of 20, everything but a dated knowledge cut-off.); ThinkingCap (Qwen3.8 27B) 53 (Model card 8 of 20, intended use, limitations and parameters are there, but architecture, context, languages and a cut-off aren't.)