Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) vs Inkling 2 Small
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Inkling 2 Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-06.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) scores 4.2 points higher (34.8 vs 30.6) but costs 1.2× as much to run the benchmark ($980 vs $792; both premium class). Pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Inkling 2 Small.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) | Inkling 2 Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.8 | 30.6 | −12.1% Inkling 2 Small is 12.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $979.66 | $791.81 | −19.2% Inkling 2 Small is 19.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.89s | 20.92s | +31.7% Inkling 2 Small is 31.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.30 / $1.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Inkling 2 Small vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback): 12.1% less intelligence, 19.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 31.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 52.50 for $718.
- Inkling 2 Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 52.50 for $718.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback)Inkling 2 SmallToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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