Inkling 2 Small vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Inkling 2 Small by Thinking Machines or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-06.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Inkling 2 Small
Step 5 Preview vs Inkling 2 Small: 6.9% less intelligence, 107.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 24.3% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | Inkling 2 Small | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.6 | 28.5 | −6.9% Step 5 Preview is 6.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $791.81 | $1,643.75 | +107.6% Step 5 Preview is 2.1× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 20.92s | 15.84s | −24.3% Step 5 Preview is 24.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.00 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Inkling 2 Small is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 52.50 for $718.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 54.60 for $1124.
Inkling 2 SmallStep 5 PreviewToday'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/inkling-2-small/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/inkling-2-small/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill