Inkling Small vs GLM 4.6

Inkling Small leads llmrun Score 119.6 to 103.1; neither fits 24 GB.

Model A · Thinking Machines

Inkling Small

119.6llmrun Score

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

VisionChatFunctions

Model B · Z.ai

GLM 4.6

103.1llmrun Score

356.8B · 34B active · 198K context · MIT · Sep 2025

ChatFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Inkling Small if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
119.6 vs 103.1
Stronger at science
118.3 vs 99.8
Fits a Mac 128 GB
IQ3_S · 116.2 GB; GLM 4.6 needs 101 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
160.2 vs 214.7 GB at Q4_K_M
Also does vision
GLM 4.6 doesn't list it
Newer release
Jul 2026 vs Sep 2025

GLM 4.6: 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%.

MemoryInkling SmallGLM 4.6

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Inkling Small

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 76.3 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Inkling Small

IQ3_S · ~97 tok/s

116.2 GB · up to 32Kbetter quant

GLM 4.6

IQ2_M · ~21 tok/s

123.3 GB · up to 16K

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

Inkling Small GLM 4.6

Overall

Inkling Small

119.6117–122

GLM 4.6

103.198–108

Coding

Inkling Small

no data

GLM 4.6

96.081–111

Agents

Inkling Small

no data

GLM 4.6

104.399–109

Math

Inkling Small

117.1113–121

GLM 4.6

no data

Science

Inkling Small

118.3108–129

GLM 4.6

99.879–121

Reasoning

Inkling Small

122.6119–126

GLM 4.6

no data

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

GLM 4.6 · #45 of 100 open models · #32 of 84 that fit ≤256 GB

Benchmarks

2 shared boards: Inkling Small leads 2, GLM 4.6 leads 0 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

BoardInkling SmallGLM 4.6

SciCode

Inkling Small

49.6%#14/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

GLM 4.6

38.4%#35/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Sep 2025

CritPt

Inkling Small

8.3%#12/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026

GLM 4.6

1.1%#33/66 open

Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Sep 2025

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

LMArena Text

Inkling Small

1404.0#46/187 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

GLM 4.6

1424.1#31/187 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

LMArena WebDev

Inkling Small

1409.1#27/52 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

GLM 4.6

1341.1#40/52 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

Only Inkling Small (9)

Only GLM 4.6 (4)

VRAM by quantization

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

QuantInkling SmallGLM 4.6

Q2_K

Inkling Small

114 GB~113.0 GB file

32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB

GLM 4.6

152 GB130.7 GB file

32K 157 GB · 128K 173 GB

Q3_K_S

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

157 GB154.4 GB file

32K 162 GB · 128K 177 GB

Q3_K_M

Inkling Small

130 GB119.4 GB file

32K 136 GB · 128K 153 GB

GLM 4.6

175 GB170.6 GB file

32K 179 GB · 128K 195 GB

Q4_0

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

179 GB202.2 GB file

32K 184 GB · 128K 199 GB

Q4_K_M

Inkling Small

160 GB162.5 GB file

32K 166 GB · 128K 182 GB

GLM 4.6

215 GB215.6 GB file

32K 220 GB · 128K 235 GB

Q5_K_M

Inkling Small

190 GB196.1 GB file

32K 195 GB · 128K 212 GB

GLM 4.6

255 GB253.2 GB file

32K 260 GB · 128K 275 GB

Q6_K

Inkling Small

220 GB218.9 GB file

32K 225 GB · 128K 242 GB

GLM 4.6

295 GB293.1 GB file

32K 300 GB · 128K 315 GB

Q8_0

Inkling Small

267 GB280.3 GB file

32K 272 GB · 128K 289 GB

GLM 4.6

357 GB379.3 GB file

32K 362 GB · 128K 378 GB

15 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Inkling Small

73.8 GB82.3 GB file

32K 79.1 GB · 128K 96.0 GB

GLM 4.6

98.7 GB115.4 GB file

32K 104 GB · 128K 119 GB

IQ2_XS

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

108 GB101.0 GB file

32K 112 GB · 128K 128 GB

IQ2_S

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

112 GB101.9 GB file

32K 117 GB · 128K 132 GB

IQ2_M

Inkling Small

90.4 GB82.4 GB file

32K 95.7 GB · 128K 113 GB

GLM 4.6

121 GB121.9 GB file

32K 126 GB · 128K 141 GB

IQ3_XXS

Inkling Small

104 GB97.9 GB file

32K 109 GB · 128K 126 GB

GLM 4.6

139 GB144.7 GB file

32K 144 GB · 128K 159 GB

IQ3_XS

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

148 GB148.2 GB file

32K 153 GB · 128K 168 GB

IQ3_S

Inkling Small

114 GB107.5 GB file

32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB

GLM 4.6

not listed

IQ3_M

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

161 GB164.3 GB file

32K 166 GB · 128K 181 GB

Q3_K_L

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

183 GB169.9 GB file

32K 188 GB · 128K 204 GB

IQ4_XS

Inkling Small

144 GB127.4 GB file

32K 149 GB · 128K 166 GB

GLM 4.6

192 GB190.7 GB file

32K 197 GB · 128K 213 GB

IQ4_NL

Inkling Small

150 GB130.1 GB file

32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB

GLM 4.6

201 GB201.6 GB file

32K 206 GB · 128K 222 GB

Q4_1

Inkling Small

not listed

GLM 4.6

201 GB223.6 GB file

32K 206 GB · 128K 222 GB

Q4_K_S

Inkling Small

150 GB152.3 GB file

32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB

GLM 4.6

201 GB202.8 GB file

32K 206 GB · 128K 222 GB

Q5_K_S

Inkling Small

184 GB184.2 GB file

32K 189 GB · 128K 206 GB

GLM 4.6

246 GB245.9 GB file

32K 251 GB · 128K 266 GB

BF16

Inkling Small

533 GB527.4 GB file

32K 538 GB · 128K 555 GB

GLM 4.6

714 GB713.7 GB file

32K 719 GB · 128K 734 GB

How to run each

Inkling Small

Ollama · Q4_K_M

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

All ways to run Inkling Small →

GLM 4.6

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/GLM-4.6-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run GLM 4.6 →

Specifications

Specifications of Inkling Small and GLM 4.6
Spec	Inkling Small	GLM 4.6
Publisher	Thinking Machines	Z.ai
Parameters	266.0B	356.8B
Active parameters	1.7B per token	34B per token
Architecture	InklingForConditionalGeneration	Glm4MoeForCausalLM
Context	—	198K tokens
Modalities	Vision, Chat, Function-calling	Chat, Function-calling
License	Apache 2.0	MIT
Released	Jul 2026	Sep 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Inkling Small or GLM 4.6?

Inkling Small leads llmrun Score 119.6 to 103.1; neither fits 24 GB. Choose Inkling Small for higher llmrun Score and stronger at science.

Which needs less VRAM, Inkling Small or GLM 4.6?

At Q4_K_M, Inkling Small requires 160.2 GB while GLM 4.6 needs 214.7 GB, making Inkling Small the easier model to run on your local setup.

Can I run Inkling Small or GLM 4.6 on a 16 GB GPU?

Inkling Small does not fit (smallest quant needs 76.3 GB); GLM 4.6 does not fit (smallest quant needs 101 GB).