Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Inkling Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-10.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 51.7 points higher (64.6 vs 12.9) but costs 99× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $225; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 12.9, and Inkling Small when 12.9 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 12.9 | −80.0% Inkling Small is 80.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $224.77 | −99.0% Inkling Small is 99.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 258.66s | 27.73s | −89.3% Inkling Small is 89.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $8.00 / $40.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 80.0% less intelligence, 99.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 89.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (Medium) scores 38.20 for $190.
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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