Qwen3.8 27B vs Inkling Small

Qwen3.8 27B leads llmrun Score 122.1 to 119.6 (ranges overlap); only Qwen3.8 27B fits 24 GB (Q4_K_M); Inkling Small needs 76.3 GB even at its smallest quant.

Model A · Alibaba

Qwen3.8 27B

122.1llmrun Score

27.8B · 256K context · Apache 2.0 · Aug 2026

VisionFunctions

Model B · Thinking Machines

Inkling Small

119.6llmrun Score

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

VisionChatFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3.8 27B if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
122.1 vs 119.6, ranges overlap
Fits a 12 GB GPU
IQ3_XXS · 12 GB; Inkling Small needs 76.3 GB at its smallest quant
Fits a Mac 32 GB
Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB; Inkling Small needs 76.3 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
17.4 vs 160.2 GB at Q4_K_M

Choose Inkling Small if you want…

Stronger at science
118.3 vs 112.0
Also does chat
Qwen3.8 27B doesn't list it

On your hardware

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

MemoryQwen3.8 27BInkling Small

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Qwen3.8 27B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 8.8 GB

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Qwen3.8 27B

IQ3_XXS · ~20 tok/s

12 GB · up to 16Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Qwen3.8 27B

Q3_K_L · ~19 tok/s

15.4 GB · up to 16Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~38 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 64Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~67 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~29 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~5 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 128Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kfits

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Qwen3.8 27B

Q4_K_M · ~22 tok/s

17.9 GB · up to 256Kmore headroom

Inkling Small

IQ3_S · ~97 tok/s

116.2 GB · up to 32K

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

Qwen3.8 27B Inkling Small

Overall

Qwen3.8 27B

122.1120–124

Inkling Small

119.6117–122

Coding

Qwen3.8 27B

119.7114–125

Inkling Small

no data

Agents

Qwen3.8 27B

122.8117–129

Inkling Small

no data

Math

Qwen3.8 27B

117.5111–124

Inkling Small

117.1113–121

Science

Qwen3.8 27B

112.093–131

Inkling Small

118.3108–129

Reasoning

Qwen3.8 27B

124.0121–127

Inkling Small

122.6119–126

Qwen3.8 27B · #11 of 100 open models · #1 of 35 that fit 24 GB

Inkling Small · #13 of 100 open models · #5 of 78 that fit ≤192 GB

Benchmarks

5 shared boards: Qwen3.8 27B leads 3, Inkling Small leads 2 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

BoardQwen3.8 27BInkling Small

ARC-AGI-2

Qwen3.8 27B

42.4%#6/19 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026

Inkling Small

40.1%#7/19 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026

SciCode

Qwen3.8 27B

46.6%#19/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2026

Inkling Small

49.6%#14/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

ARC-AGI

Qwen3.8 27B

87.5%#6/19 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026

Inkling Small

84.0%#7/19 open

IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026

CritPt

Qwen3.8 27B

5.4%#15/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2026

Inkling Small

8.3%#12/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

ProofBench

Qwen3.8 27B

16.0%#16/26 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2026

Inkling Small

6.0%#19/26 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

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

LMArena Text

Qwen3.8 27B

1437.8#22/187 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Inkling Small

1404.0#46/187 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

LMArena WebDev

Qwen3.8 27B

1593.2#10/52 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Inkling Small

1409.1#27/52 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Only Qwen3.8 27B (14)

Only Inkling Small (6)

VRAM by quantization

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

QuantQwen3.8 27BInkling Small

Q2_K

Qwen3.8 27B

12.6 GB10.8 GB file

32K 13.9 GB · 128K 19.3 GB

Inkling Small

114 GB~113.0 GB file

32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB

Q3_K_S

Qwen3.8 27B

12.9 GB12.7 GB file

32K 14.2 GB · 128K 19.6 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

Q3_K_M

Qwen3.8 27B

14.3 GB13.4 GB file

32K 15.6 GB · 128K 21.0 GB

Inkling Small

130 GB119.4 GB file

32K 136 GB · 128K 153 GB

Q4_0

Qwen3.8 27B

14.6 GB~13.9 GB file

32K 16.0 GB · 128K 21.4 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

Q4_K_M

Qwen3.8 27B

17.4 GB16.5 GB file

32K 18.8 GB · 128K 24.1 GB

Inkling Small

160 GB162.5 GB file

32K 166 GB · 128K 182 GB

Q5_K_M

Qwen3.8 27B

20.5 GB19.8 GB file

32K 21.9 GB · 128K 27.3 GB

Inkling Small

190 GB196.1 GB file

32K 195 GB · 128K 212 GB

Q6_K

Qwen3.8 27B

23.7 GB22.0 GB file

32K 25.0 GB · 128K 30.4 GB

Inkling Small

220 GB218.9 GB file

32K 225 GB · 128K 242 GB

Q8_0

Qwen3.8 27B

28.5 GB29.0 GB file

32K 29.9 GB · 128K 35.2 GB

Inkling Small

267 GB280.3 GB file

32K 272 GB · 128K 289 GB

17 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Qwen3.8 27B

8.4 GB7.3 GB file

32K 9.7 GB · 128K 15.1 GB

Inkling Small

73.8 GB82.3 GB file

32K 79.1 GB · 128K 96.0 GB

IQ2_XS

Qwen3.8 27B

9.1 GB9.1 GB file

32K 10.4 GB · 128K 15.8 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ2_S

Qwen3.8 27B

9.4 GB8.4 GB file

32K 10.8 GB · 128K 16.1 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ2_M

Qwen3.8 27B

10.1 GB10.5 GB file

32K 11.5 GB · 128K 16.8 GB

Inkling Small

90.4 GB82.4 GB file

32K 95.7 GB · 128K 113 GB

IQ3_XXS

Qwen3.8 27B

11.5 GB10.9 GB file

32K 12.9 GB · 128K 18.2 GB

Inkling Small

104 GB97.9 GB file

32K 109 GB · 128K 126 GB

IQ3_XS

Qwen3.8 27B

12.2 GB10.4 GB file

32K 13.6 GB · 128K 18.9 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ3_S

Qwen3.8 27B

12.6 GB12.0 GB file

32K 13.9 GB · 128K 19.3 GB

Inkling Small

114 GB107.5 GB file

32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB

IQ3_M

Qwen3.8 27B

13.3 GB14.9 GB file

32K 14.6 GB · 128K 20.0 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

Q3_K_L

Qwen3.8 27B

15.0 GB14.1 GB file

32K 16.3 GB · 128K 21.7 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

IQ4_XS

Qwen3.8 27B

15.7 GB14.3 GB file

32K 17.0 GB · 128K 22.4 GB

Inkling Small

144 GB127.4 GB file

32K 149 GB · 128K 166 GB

IQ4_NL

Qwen3.8 27B

16.4 GB17.4 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Inkling Small

150 GB130.1 GB file

32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB

Q4_1

Qwen3.8 27B

16.4 GB17.5 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

Q4_K_S

Qwen3.8 27B

16.4 GB15.4 GB file

32K 17.7 GB · 128K 23.1 GB

Inkling Small

150 GB152.3 GB file

32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB

Q4_K_L

Qwen3.8 27B

17.8 GB18.8 GB file

32K 19.1 GB · 128K 24.5 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

Q5_K_S

Qwen3.8 27B

19.9 GB18.7 GB file

32K 21.2 GB · 128K 26.6 GB

Inkling Small

184 GB184.2 GB file

32K 189 GB · 128K 206 GB

Q5_K_L

Qwen3.8 27B

20.9 GB21.5 GB file

32K 22.2 GB · 128K 27.6 GB

Inkling Small

not listed

BF16

Qwen3.8 27B

56.3 GB54.7 GB file

32K 57.7 GB · 128K 63.0 GB

Inkling Small

533 GB527.4 GB file

32K 538 GB · 128K 555 GB

How to run each

Qwen3.8 27B

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Qwen3.8 27B →

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 Qwen3.8 27B and Inkling Small
Spec	Qwen3.8 27B	Inkling Small
Publisher	Alibaba	Thinking Machines
Parameters	27.8B	266.0B
Active parameters	—	1.7B per token
Architecture	Qwen3_5ForConditionalGeneration	InklingForConditionalGeneration
Context	256K tokens	—
Modalities	Vision, Function-calling	Vision, Chat, Function-calling
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0
Released	Aug 2026	Jul 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Qwen3.8 27B or Inkling Small?

Qwen3.8 27B leads llmrun Score 122.1 to 119.6 (ranges overlap); only Qwen3.8 27B fits 24 GB (Q4_K_M); Inkling Small needs 76.3 GB even at its smallest quant. Choose Qwen3.8 27B for higher llmrun Score and fits a 12 GB GPU; choose Inkling Small for stronger at science and also does chat.

Which needs less VRAM, Qwen3.8 27B or Inkling Small?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen3.8 27B requires 17.4 GB while Inkling Small needs 160.2 GB, making Qwen3.8 27B the easier model to run on your local setup.

Can I run Qwen3.8 27B or Inkling Small on a 16 GB GPU?

Qwen3.8 27B fits at Q3_K_L; Inkling Small does not fit (smallest quant needs 76.3 GB).