ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-5 vs Inkling Small

Inkling Small comes out ahead, 70 to 55 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-5

    Released Feb 12, 2026

    55/100
    • ECI145.8
    • Price$1.00 / $3.20
    • Context205K
    Full specs Remove GLM-5
  2. Our pick

    Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI150.2
    • Price$0.50 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Inkling Small is our pick

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against GLM-5 (55). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 · GLM-5 145.8
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.675 · GLM-5 $1.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextInkling SmallInkling Small 1,048,576 · GLM-5 204,800 tokens
  • Widest inputsInkling SmallGLM-5: Text · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGLM-5Inkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7378
Price25%4158
Inputs & features15%3570
Context window10%3261
Overall100%55/10070/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GLM-5 vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-5Z.ai (Zhipu)Inkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.8150.2 (best)
ECI rank#74 of 148#47 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions87.8%88.5% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—46.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics80.0%90.0% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues72.1%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.00$0.50 (best)
Output$3.20$1.20 (best)
Cached input$0.20—
Blended (3:1)$1.55$0.675 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window204,800 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoYes
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDglm-5—
API providers27 (best)11
ReleasedFeb 12, 2026Jul 30, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GLM-5$16.40
  • Inkling Small$7.40
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GLM-5 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against GLM-5 (55). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5 or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). GLM-5 costs $1.00 input / $3.20 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.675 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $1.55 for GLM-5 (2.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148) and GLM-5 145.8 (#74 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–152.1 vs 143.9–147.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Inkling Small 88.5%, GLM-5 87.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling Small 90.0%, GLM-5 80.0%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling Small yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Inkling Small leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Inkling Small has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 204,800 for GLM-5. Maximum output per response: GLM-5 up to 131,072, Inkling Small up to 1,048,576 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-5 accepts text; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. Inkling Small handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Inkling Small is the newest, released Jul 30, 2026. GLM-5 came out Feb 12, 2026.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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