Grok 4.5 (High) vs Inkling Small
Which is better for the money: Grok 4.5 (High) by SpaceXAI 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
Grok 4.5 (High) scores 13.1 points higher (38.8 vs 25.7) but costs 5.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1244 vs $241; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Grok 4.5 (High) when you need intelligence above 25.7, and Inkling Small when 25.7 is enough.
| Metric | Grok 4.5 (High) | Inkling Small | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 38.8 | 25.7 | −33.8% Inkling Small is 33.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,243.85 | $240.85 | −80.6% Inkling Small is 80.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 18.82s | 12.68s | −32.6% Inkling Small is 32.6% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $6.00 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech |
Inkling Small vs Grok 4.5 (High): 33.8% less intelligence, 80.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 32.6% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Grok 4.5 (High) 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.
Grok 4.5 (High)Inkling SmallToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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