GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) 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-5.6 Terra (Low) scores 1.8 points higher (27.5 vs 25.7) but costs 1.5× as much to run the benchmark ($350 vs $241; both mid-range class). Pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Inkling Small.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.5 | 25.7 | −6.5% Inkling Small is 6.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $350.36 | $240.85 | −31.3% Inkling Small is 31.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.75s | 12.95s | +125.2% Inkling Small is 125.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Low): 6.5% less intelligence, 31.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 125.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Inkling Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Low)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-5-6-terra-low/inkling-small · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-low/inkling-small?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill