Claude Opus 5 (Max) vs Inkling 2 Small
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5 (Max) 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 (Max) scores 13.6 points higher (44.2 vs 30.6) but costs 11× as much to run the benchmark ($9010 vs $792; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5 (Max) when you need intelligence above 30.6, and Inkling 2 Small when 30.6 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5 (Max) | Inkling 2 Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 44.2 | 30.6 | −30.8% Inkling 2 Small is 30.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $9,009.82 | $791.81 | −91.2% Inkling 2 Small is 91.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 81.37s | 20.92s | −74.3% Inkling 2 Small is 74.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $25.0 | $0.30 / $1.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Inkling 2 Small vs Claude Opus 5 (Max): 30.8% less intelligence, 91.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 74.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Gemini 4 Carbon (High) scores 60.00 for $8240.
- 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 (Max)Inkling 2 SmallToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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