Celeris-1 vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Celeris-1 by Celeris or Inkling Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-09.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Inkling Small scores 19.8 points higher (26.1 vs 6.3) but costs 4.0× as much to run the benchmark ($241 vs $60.0; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Inkling Small when you need intelligence above 6.3, and Celeris-1 when 6.3 is enough.
| Metric | Celeris-1 | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 6.3 | 26.1 | +314.3% Inkling Small is 4.1× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $59.99 | $240.85 | +301.5% Inkling Small is 4.0× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 0.97s | 21.89s | +2156.7% Inkling Small is 2156.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $0.70 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Inkling Small vs Celeris-1: 314.3% more intelligence, 301.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2156.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Celeris-1 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.5 scores 22.30 for $42.6.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (xhigh) scores 34.80 for $179.
Celeris-1Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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