Thinking Machines: Inkling Small vs Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free): Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (thinkingmachines/inkling-small) vs Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) (dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (thinkingmachines/inkling-small) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Thinking Machines: Inkling Small: Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0.225/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) (dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free): Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (API ID: thinkingmachines/inkling-small) vs Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) (API ID: dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free), Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) offers lower standard input pricing at $0/1M tokens ($0/1M output), while Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) leads in cached prefix economics at $0/1M tokens (50% discount). Thinking Machines: Inkling Small achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
| Specification / FinOps Dimension | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small | Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | thinkingmachines/inkling-small | dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0.45 / $1.2 | $0 / $0 | Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.225/1M (50% Off) | $0/1M (50% Off) | Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) |
| Context Window / Max Output | 512K In / 256K Out | 500K In / 450K Out | Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (-0ms) |
Inkling Small is an open-weight multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines Lab, with 12B active parameters out of 276B total. It is positioned as the smaller, more
Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free)
API ID: dots-studio/dots-3-note-preview:free • Live RegistryDots3-Note Preview is an open-weight mixture-of-experts model from Dots Studio, with 16B active parameters out of 280B total. It is the lightest model in the Dots 3 family and is..
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from Thinking Machines: Inkling Small to Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free)
Dots3-Note Preview is an open-weight mixture-of-experts model from Dots Studio, with 16B active parameters out of 280B total. It is the lightest model in the Dots 3 family and is.. Verified P90 latency of 280ms.