---
title: "Thinking Budget"
created: 2026-04-15
updated: 2026-04-15
type: concept
tags: [inference, reasoning]
sources: []
---

# Thinking Budget

Thinking budget refers to the computational allocation for reasoning steps in models that support extended thinking or [[chain-of-thought]] processing. Models like [[qwen3]] allow dynamic adjustment of thinking budget, enabling users to trade off between response latency and reasoning depth. This concept is important for deploying reasoning models efficiently, as longer thinking produces better results but at higher computational cost.

## Related

- [[qwen3]] — Qwen3 supports thinking/non-thinking mode toggling with configurable budget
- [[chain-of-thought]] — Extended thinking relies on chain-of-thought reasoning

## References