Inkling vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super

Thinking Machines Lab · US  |  NVIDIA · US · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

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. Pick NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super for high-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x gpt-oss-120b) or 1m-token context with strong long-context retrieval (91.6% ruler @ 1m).

Inkling (Thinking Machines Lab) and NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super (NVIDIA) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. 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. NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super is nVIDIA's open 120B-total/12B-active hybrid Mamba-Transformer MoE built for high-throughput agentic reasoning at 1M-token context. The breakdown below works through their capabilities and ideal use cases so you can match one to your task.

Key differences at a glance

Side-by-side specs

SpecInklingNVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super
ProviderThinking Machines Lab (US) NVIDIA (US)
ReleasedJuly 15, 2026 March 11, 2026
Context window1M (~1,500 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, image, audio, code text, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published 60.47%
MRCR v2 @ 1MNot published Not published

Who wins what

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 is the newer of the two.

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

Inkling

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super is comparatively weak here — text-only; no image, audio, or video input

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; NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super does not.

High-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x GPT-OSS-120B)

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super lists high-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x GPT-OSS-120B) among its strengths; Inkling does not.

1M-token context with strong long-context retrieval (91.6% RULER @ 1M)

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super lists 1M-token context with strong long-context retrieval (91.6% RULER @ 1M) among its strengths; Inkling does not.

Strong math reasoning (90.21% AIME 2025)

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super lists strong math reasoning (90.21% AIME 2025) among its strengths; Inkling does not.

Which should you pick?

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

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is high-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x gpt-oss-120b)

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super

That is its strongest area.

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 are real: 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.

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super: where it fits

NVIDIA's open 120B-total/12B-active hybrid Mamba-Transformer MoE built for high-throughput agentic reasoning at 1M-token context. Released March 11, 2026 by NVIDIA, it is built for high-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x GPT-OSS-120B), 1M-token context with strong long-context retrieval (91.6% RULER @ 1M), strong math reasoning (90.21% AIME 2025), and fully open weights, datasets, and recipes for self-hosting.

Its trade-offs: text-only; no image, audio, or video input, and requires roughly 8x H100-80GB GPUs to self-host at BF16. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.

The bottom line for this matchup

Inkling and NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. and each leads in its own area — 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, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super for high-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x gpt-oss-120b). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.

Want both Inkling and NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 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 Inkling or NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super better for coding?

Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for Inkling, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, 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 while NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super leans toward high-throughput agentic reasoning (up to 2.2x gpt-oss-120b), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, Inkling or NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super?

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

Which has the bigger context window?

Both advertise 1M (~1,500 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.

Can I use both Inkling and NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Inkling, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 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, Inkling or NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super?

Inkling — released July 15, 2026, about 4 months after NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super.

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.