GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) by OpenAI or Inkling Small by Thinking Machines? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) scores 0.3 points higher (26.0 vs 25.7) but costs 4.9× as much to run the benchmark ($1184 vs $241; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) when you need intelligence above 25.7, and Inkling Small when 25.7 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 26.0 | 25.7 | −1.2% Inkling Small is 1.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,184.34 | $240.85 | −79.7% Inkling Small is 79.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.30s | 12.95s | −25.1% Inkling Small is 25.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026): 1.2% less intelligence, 79.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 25.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-instant-06-26/inkling-small · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-instant-06-26/inkling-small?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill