# Inkling-Small vs Step 3.7 Flash (slim)

> Inkling-Small scores 67 (B) to Step 3.7 Flash's 59.8 (C) for open-weight models you run yourself. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inkling-small-vs-step-3-7-flash.md (~9,300 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inkling-small-vs-step-3-7-flash.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inkling-small-vs-step-3-7-flash
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-10
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Inkling-Small scores 67 (B) on agent readiness against Step 3.7 Flash's 59.8 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. Step 3.7 Flash leads on reach. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

- Inkling-Small: B 67, rank #13 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/inkling-small.min.md
- Step 3.7 Flash: C 59.8, rank #93 of 160 open-weight models · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/step-3-7-flash.min.md
- Inkling-Small, good for Teams with 256 GB or more of datacentre GPU memory who want an open multimodal agent model with audio input and adjustable thinking. Ahead on Risk, 70 against 45; Documentation and upkeep, 87 against 39.
- Step 3.7 Flash, good for Teams with a GPU server or a provider account that want an open, long-context agent model with vision Ahead on Reach, 70 against 55.

| Category | Inkling-Small | Step 3.7 Flash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capability (35%) | pending | pending |
| Reach (25%) | 55 | 70 |
| Risk (20%) | 70 | 45 |
| Agent interface (10%) | 85 | 85 |
| Documentation and upkeep (10%) | 87 | 39 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Inkling-Small | Step 3.7 Flash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Thinking Machines Lab | StepFun |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (metadata and card; no LICENSE file) |
| Last release | 2026-07-31 | 2026-06-03 |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Documentation and upkeep, Inkling-Small +48: Inkling-Small 87 (Model card 17 of 20, everything but a dated knowledge cut-off, counting Thinking Machines' own model card page.); Step 3.7 Flash 39 (Model card 14, Intended use, the architecture, the parameters, the context and the language (in the metadata) are on the card.)
- Risk, Inkling-Small +25: Inkling-Small 70 (File safety 25, safetensors only and no repository code to run.); Step 3.7 Flash 45 (File safety 15, safetensors and GGUF only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25).)
- Reach, Step 3.7 Flash +15: Inkling-Small 55 (Memory 5 of 30, the smallest 4-bit build is Thinking Machines' NVFP4 at 170.8 GB, about 205 GB with a fifth added, so it needs 256 GB.); Step 3.7 Flash 70 (Memory 5, the smallest build at 4 bits is StepFun's IQ4_XS GGUF, 104.99 GB with the 3.97 GB projector, and 108.96 GB × 1.2 = 130.8 GB, over what the reference m…)