Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (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 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 31.9 points higher (57.6 vs 25.7) but costs 36× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $241; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 25.7, and Inkling Small when 25.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 25.7 | −55.4% Inkling Small is 55.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $240.85 | −97.2% Inkling Small is 97.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 670.18s | 12.95s | −98.1% Inkling Small is 98.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 55.4% less intelligence, 97.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 98.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (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, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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