DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Inkling Small

Inkling Small leads llmrun Score 119.6 to 115.3 (ranges overlap); neither fits 24 GB.

Run Inkling Small in the cloud →

Model A · DeepSeek

DeepSeek V4 Flash

115.3llmrun Score

290.9B · 14.1B active · 1M context · MIT · Apr 2026

Chat

Model B · Thinking Machines

Inkling Small

119.6llmrun Score

266.0B · 1.7B active · Apache 2.0 · Jul 2026

VisionChat

Which should you choose?

Choose Inkling Small if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
119.6 vs 115.3, ranges overlap
Stronger at reasoning
122.6 vs 110.9
Stronger at science
118.2 vs 111.2
Also does vision
DeepSeek V4 Flash doesn't list it
Newer release
Jul 2026 vs Apr 2026

DeepSeek V4 Flash: no clear edge over Inkling Small in the data we have.

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemoryDeepSeek V4 FlashInkling Small

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 80.5 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Q2_K · ~41 tok/s

124.1 GB · up to 32K

Inkling Small

Q2_K · ~97 tok/s

116.2 GB · up to 32Kfaster

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

DeepSeek V4 Flash Inkling Small

Overall

DeepSeek V4 Flash

115.3111–119

Inkling Small

119.6117–122

Coding

DeepSeek V4 Flash

114.3109–120

Inkling Small

no data

Math

DeepSeek V4 Flash

no data

Inkling Small

117.1113–121

Science

DeepSeek V4 Flash

111.292–131

Inkling Small

118.2107–129

Reasoning

DeepSeek V4 Flash

110.9105–117

Inkling Small

122.6119–126

DeepSeek V4 Flash · #24 of 106 open models · #8 of 82 that fit ≤192 GB

Inkling Small · #16 of 106 open models · #6 of 82 that fit ≤192 GB

Benchmarks

2 shared boards: DeepSeek V4 Flash leads 0, Inkling Small leads 2 · Benchmarks imported Nov 2026

BoardDeepSeek V4 FlashInkling Small

SciCode

DeepSeek V4 Flash

44.9%#28/72 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Inkling Small

49.6%#19/72 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

CritPt

DeepSeek V4 Flash

7.1%#19/84 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Apr 2026

Inkling Small

8.3%#17/84 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

26 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

LMArena Text

DeepSeek V4 Flash

1438.7#21/188 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Inkling Small

1405.5#47/188 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

LMArena WebDev

DeepSeek V4 Flash

1581.8#14/55 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Inkling Small

1409.1#29/55 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Only DeepSeek V4 Flash (15)

Only Inkling Small (9)

VRAM by quantization

Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.

QuantDeepSeek V4 FlashInkling Small

Q2_K

DeepSeek V4 Flash

124 GB107.0 GB file

32K 124 GB · 128K 125 GB

Inkling Small

114 GB~113.0 GB file

32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB

Q3_K_M

DeepSeek V4 Flash

142 GB129.3 GB file

32K 143 GB · 128K 144 GB

Inkling Small

130 GB119.4 GB file

32K 136 GB · 128K 153 GB

Q4_K_M

DeepSeek V4 Flash

175 GB174.9 GB file

32K 175 GB · 128K 176 GB

Inkling Small

160 GB162.5 GB file

32K 166 GB · 128K 182 GB

Q5_K_M

DeepSeek V4 Flash

208 GB~207.3 GB file

32K 208 GB · 128K 209 GB

Inkling Small

190 GB196.1 GB file

32K 195 GB · 128K 212 GB

Q6_K

DeepSeek V4 Flash

240 GB~240.0 GB file

32K 241 GB · 128K 242 GB

Inkling Small

220 GB218.9 GB file

32K 225 GB · 128K 242 GB

Q8_0

DeepSeek V4 Flash

291 GB302.3 GB file

32K 292 GB · 128K 293 GB

Inkling Small

267 GB280.3 GB file

32K 272 GB · 128K 289 GB

13 more quants

IQ2_XXS

DeepSeek V4 Flash

80.3 GB90.9 GB file

32K 80.7 GB · 128K 81.8 GB

Inkling Small

73.8 GB82.3 GB file

32K 79.1 GB · 128K 96.0 GB

IQ2_XS

DeepSeek V4 Flash

87.6 GB87.0 GB file

32K 88.0 GB · 128K 89.0 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ2_S

DeepSeek V4 Flash

91.2 GB88.0 GB file

32K 91.6 GB · 128K 92.7 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ2_M

DeepSeek V4 Flash

98.5 GB90.9 GB file

32K 98.9 GB · 128K 99.9 GB

Inkling Small

90.4 GB82.4 GB file

32K 95.7 GB · 128K 113 GB

IQ3_XXS

DeepSeek V4 Flash

113 GB103.0 GB file

32K 113 GB · 128K 114 GB

Inkling Small

104 GB97.9 GB file

32K 109 GB · 128K 126 GB

Q2_K_S

DeepSeek V4 Flash

117 GB98.6 GB file

32K 117 GB · 128K 118 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ3_S

DeepSeek V4 Flash

124 GB117.3 GB file

32K 124 GB · 128K 125 GB

Inkling Small

114 GB107.5 GB file

32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB

IQ3_M

DeepSeek V4 Flash

131 GB136.1 GB file

32K 132 GB · 128K 133 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ4_XS

DeepSeek V4 Flash

157 GB137.9 GB file

32K 157 GB · 128K 158 GB

Inkling Small

144 GB127.4 GB file

32K 149 GB · 128K 166 GB

IQ4_NL

DeepSeek V4 Flash

164 GB137.9 GB file

32K 164 GB · 128K 165 GB

Inkling Small

150 GB130.1 GB file

32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB

Q4_K_S

DeepSeek V4 Flash

not listed

Inkling Small

150 GB152.3 GB file

32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB

Q5_K_S

DeepSeek V4 Flash

not listed

Inkling Small

184 GB184.2 GB file

32K 189 GB · 128K 206 GB

BF16

DeepSeek V4 Flash

582 GB~581.9 GB file

32K 583 GB · 128K 584 GB

Inkling Small

533 GB527.4 GB file

32K 538 GB · 128K 555 GB

How to run each

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/teamblobfish/DeepSeek-V4-Flash-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run DeepSeek V4 Flash →

Inkling Small

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Inkling-Small-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Inkling Small →

Specifications

Specifications of DeepSeek V4 Flash and Inkling Small
Spec	DeepSeek V4 Flash	Inkling Small
Publisher	DeepSeek	Thinking Machines
Parameters	290.9B	266.0B
Active parameters	14B per token	1.7B per token
Architecture	DeepseekV4ForCausalLM	InklingForConditionalGeneration
Context	1M tokens	—
Modalities	Chat	Vision, Chat
License	MIT	Apache 2.0
Released	Apr 2026	Jul 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, DeepSeek V4 Flash or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small leads llmrun Score 119.6 to 115.3 (ranges overlap); neither fits 24 GB. Choose Inkling Small for higher llmrun Score and stronger at reasoning.

Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek V4 Flash or Inkling Small?

At Q4_K_M, DeepSeek V4 Flash requires 174.9 GB while Inkling Small needs 160.2 GB, making Inkling Small the easier model to run on your local setup.

Can I run DeepSeek V4 Flash or Inkling Small on a 16 GB GPU?

DeepSeek V4 Flash does not fit (smallest quant needs 80.5 GB); Inkling Small does not fit (smallest quant needs 76.3 GB).