Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 30.3 points higher (56.0 vs 25.7) but costs 30× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $241; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when you need intelligence above 25.7, and Inkling Small when 25.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 25.7 | −54.1% Inkling Small is 54.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $240.85 | −96.7% Inkling Small is 96.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 367.63s | 12.80s | −96.5% Inkling Small is 96.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 54.1% less intelligence, 96.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 96.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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