Model comparison

GPT-5.5 vs Inkling-Small

GPT-5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 63.4 to 46.5 on the Noometry Index. Inkling-Small costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GPT-5.5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 33 shared benchmarks.

GPT-5.5 OpenAI

63.4

Rank #8 Confirmed

Inkling-Small Thinking Machines Lab

46.5

Rank #57 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 33 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-5.5 scores higher in 9 categories and Inkling-Small in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where GPT-5.5 leads 81.5 to 44.9.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is FrontierMath Tier 4: 72.5% for GPT-5.5 and 17.1% for Inkling-Small.
  • Inkling-Small is cheaper at $0.45 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $5 / $30 for GPT-5.5.
  • GPT-5.5 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 524K.
  • Inkling-Small has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

GPT-5.5 and Inkling-Small specifications
GPT-5.5Inkling-Small
ProviderOpenAIThinking Machines Lab
Noometry Index63.446.5
Released2026-04-232026-07-15
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M524K
Max output128K1.05M
Input $ / M tokens$5$0.45
Output $ / M tokens$30$1.20
Results tracked7133

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Category by category

Coding GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 58.3 (#13), Inkling-Small: 43.3 (#80)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
LMArena WebDev15121408
SciCode56.1%48.7%
LMArena Coding14941451
SWE-bench Verified80.6%—
DeepSWE67%—
FrontierCode43%—
GSO40.2%—
WeirdML84.9%—
MirrorCode10%—
ALE-Bench1,943—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

GPT-5.5: 50.7 (#6), Inkling-Small: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
Terminal-Bench84.7%—
APEX-Agents55.1%—
OSWorld 2.013%—
Remote Labor Index6.3%—
τ²-bench Banking44.6%—
DeepResearch Bench54%—
PostTrainBench27.2%—
ExploitBench47.4%—
GBAEval53.2%—
GDP.pdf26%—
LMArena Search1242—
Vending-Bench 27,524—

Reasoning GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 72.7 (#8), Inkling-Small: 39.0 (#53)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
ARC-AGI-285%40.1%
ARC-AGI-195%84%
CritPt27.1%8.3%
Chess Puzzles54%18%
LMArena Hard Prompts14891424
Mystery Game Puzzles56%6%
Epoch Capabilities Index159.25150.13
SimpleBench69%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark88.8%—
NYT Connections (extended)96.2%—
EBR-Bench34.3%—
DTBench96%—
LMCA54.3%—
Surface Evolver Bench88.1%—
Bench to the Future 30.14—
ForecastBench60.6—

Math GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 81.5 (#9), Inkling-Small: 44.9 (#65)

Knowledge GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 64.4 (#14), Inkling-Small: 48.3 (#71)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
GPQA Diamond94%88.5%
SimpleQA Verified63%19.1%
LMArena Expert15081442
Vectara Hallucination Rate9.3%—

Multimodal GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 47.1 (#11), Inkling-Small: 38.4 (#59)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
LMArena Vision12971235
Blueprint-Bench 236.2%—
Furniture Assembly44.2%—
LMArena Document1486—

Multilingual GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 56.5 (#19), Inkling-Small: 51.7 (#102)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
LMArena Non-English14671400
LMArena Chinese15351458
LMArena French14861438
LMArena German14781412
LMArena Japanese14981399
LMArena Korean14611355
LMArena Russian14731392
LMArena Spanish14691426

Instruction Following GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 77.7 (#18), Inkling-Small: 73.9 (#112)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
LMArena Instruction Following14791397

Long Context GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 48.3 (#12), Inkling-Small: 42.7 (#113)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
LMArena Longer Query14841401
CL-bench Life22.2%—

Writing & Preference GPT-5.5 leads

GPT-5.5: 72.8 (#13), Inkling-Small: 59.8 (#102)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGPT-5.5Inkling-Small
LMArena Text14711413
LMArena Creative Writing14551330
EQ-Bench Creative Writing18441491
LMArena Multi-Turn14771420
EQ-Bench 41315—

Frequently asked questions

Is GPT-5.5 better than Inkling-Small?

GPT-5.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 63.4 to 46.5 on the Noometry Index. Inkling-Small costs 18× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GPT-5.5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.5 or Inkling-Small?

Inkling-Small is cheaper. It lists at $0.45 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; GPT-5.5 lists at $5 and $30.

Is GPT-5.5 or Inkling-Small better for coding?

GPT-5.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 58.3 versus 43.3 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-5.5 does, with 1.05M tokens against 524K.

How many benchmarks do GPT-5.5 and Inkling-Small share?

33 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-5.5 has 71 scored results on Noometry and Inkling-Small has 33.

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