Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Inkling (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Inkling (Xhigh) by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-09.
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 52.1 points higher (64.6 vs 12.5) but costs 18× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $1237; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 12.5, and Inkling (Xhigh) when 12.5 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Inkling (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 12.5 | −80.7% Inkling (Xhigh) is 80.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $1,236.66 | −94.4% Inkling (Xhigh) is 94.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 16.18s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $8.00 / $40.0 | $1.00 / $4.05 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling (Xhigh) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 80.7% less intelligence, 94.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Inkling (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 54.60 for $1124.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-2/inkling · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-2/inkling?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill