Hunyuan Hy3 vs Inkling

Tencent · China  |  Thinking Machines Lab · US · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

Pick Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost or runs a 295b model at the cost of a 21b — only 21b parameters active per token. Pick Inkling for the first model release from mira murati's thinking machines lab (ex-openai cto) - one of the most closely-watched new labs in ai or a 975b-parameter moe (41b active) with native text, image, and audio reasoning in one model.

Hunyuan Hy3 (Tencent, China) and Inkling (Thinking Machines Lab, US) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Hunyuan Hy3 is a 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Inkling is mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab debuts with Inkling - a 975B open-weight MoE with native multimodal reasoning and a dialable thinking-effort control. Their biggest split is context window, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.

Key differences at a glance

Side-by-side specs

SpecHunyuan Hy3Inkling
ProviderTencent (China) Thinking Machines Lab (US)
ReleasedJuly 6, 2026 July 15, 2026
Context window256K (~384 pages) 1M (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)Open weight (self-host / free) Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight?Yes — self-hostable Yes — self-hostable
Modalitiestext, code text, image, audio, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1MNot published Not published

Who wins what

Frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost

Hunyuan Hy3

Hunyuan Hy3 lists frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost among its strengths; Inkling does not.

Runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token

Hunyuan Hy3

Hunyuan Hy3 lists runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token among its strengths; Inkling does not.

Clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out

Hunyuan Hy3

Hunyuan Hy3 lists clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out among its strengths; Inkling does not.

The first model release from Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab (ex-OpenAI CTO) - one of the most closely-watched new labs in AI

Inkling

Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab debuts with Inkling - a 975B open-weight MoE with native multimodal reasoning and a dialable thinking-effort control — and it carries the larger 1M context.

A 975B-parameter MoE (41B active) with native text, image, and audio reasoning in one model

Inkling

Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab debuts with Inkling - a 975B open-weight MoE with native multimodal reasoning and a dialable thinking-effort control — and it is the newer of the two.

A dialable 'thinking effort' knob (0.2-0.99) that lets you trade speed for depth of reasoning per-request

Inkling

Inkling lists a dialable 'thinking effort' knob (0.2-0.99) that lets you trade speed for depth of reasoning per-request among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy3 does not.

Largest single-prompt input

Inkling

Its 1M window is about 3.9× larger than Hunyuan Hy3's 256K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.

Which should you pick?

Someone analysing very long documents or codebases

Inkling

Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.

Anyone whose priority is frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost

Hunyuan Hy3

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is the first model release from mira murati's thinking machines lab (ex-openai cto) - one of the most closely-watched new labs in ai

Inkling

That is its strongest area.

An enterprise with regional data-residency rules

Inkling or Hunyuan Hy3

Origin (China vs US) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.

Hunyuan Hy3: where it fits

A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Released July 6, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token, clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out, and broad day-one ecosystem support plus an FP8 checkpoint.

Its trade-offs are real: benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion, and the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.

Inkling: where it fits

Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab debuts with Inkling - a 975B open-weight MoE with native multimodal reasoning and a dialable thinking-effort control. Released July 15, 2026 by Thinking Machines Lab, it is built for the first model release from Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab (ex-OpenAI CTO) - one of the most closely-watched new labs in AI, a 975B-parameter MoE (41B active) with native text, image, and audio reasoning in one model, a dialable 'thinking effort' knob (0.2-0.99) that lets you trade speed for depth of reasoning per-request, and fully open weights (Apache 2.0) at frontier scale - unusual for a model this large and this new.

Its trade-offs: a brand-new lab's first release - no multi-generation track record yet, no official hosted API price - available via third-party hosts only at launch, and independent third-party benchmark verification is still limited given how recently it shipped. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.

The bottom line for this matchup

This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." Hunyuan Hy3 (China) and Inkling (US) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.

Want both Hunyuan Hy3 and Inkling without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is Hunyuan Hy3 or Inkling better for coding?

Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Hunyuan Hy3 leans toward frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost while Inkling leans toward the first model release from mira murati's thinking machines lab (ex-openai cto) - one of the most closely-watched new labs in ai, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy3 or Inkling?

They are priced almost identically, so cost will not decide between them.

Which has the bigger context window?

Inkling — 1M vs 256K, about 3.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.

Can I use both Hunyuan Hy3 and Inkling together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy3, Inkling and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.

Which is newer, Hunyuan Hy3 or Inkling?

Inkling — released July 15, 2026, about 9 days after Hunyuan Hy3.

Related comparisons

Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.