ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

GPT-6 Astra vs Inkling Small

Too close to call on our weighted score (Inkling Small 68, GPT-6 Astra 68). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-6 Astra

    Released Sep 4, 2026New

    68/100
    • ECI169.1
    • Price$10.00 / $50.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-6 Astra

  2. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI150.5
    • Price$0.58 / $1.44
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Inkling Small 68/100, GPT-6 Astra 68/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-6 Astra for raw capability and Inkling Small on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-6 AstraCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-6 Astra 169.1 · Inkling Small 150.5
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.795 · GPT-6 Astra $20.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameGPT-6 Astra 1,050,000 · Inkling Small 1,048,576 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-6 Astra: Text, Images, PDFs · Inkling Small: Text, Images, Audio
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-6 AstraInkling Small
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%10077
Price25%052
Inputs & features15%8070
Context window10%6161
Overall100%68/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-6 Astra vs Inkling Small specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-6 AstraOpenAIInkling SmallThinking Machines
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)169.1 (best)150.5
ECI rank#1 of 165 (best)#58 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions95.8% (best)88.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics93.7% (best)46.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics100% (best)90.0%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions75.6% (best)19.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$10.00$0.58 (best)
Output$50.00$1.44 (best)
Cached input$1.00$0.116 (best)
Blended (3:1)$20.00$0.795 (best)
Long-context rateOver 272K: $20.00 / $75.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Thinking Machines API
Limits
Context window1,050,000 tokens (best)1,048,576 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoYes
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · maxYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenApache-2.0
API model IDgpt-6-astrathinkingmachines/Inkling-Small
API providers37 (best)12
ReleasedSep 4, 2026Jul 30, 2026
Knowledge cutoffApr 30, 2026—
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.

  • GPT-6 Astra$200.00
  • Inkling Small$8.68
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-6 Astra or Inkling Small?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Inkling Small 68/100, GPT-6 Astra 68/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-6 Astra for raw capability and Inkling Small on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-6 Astra or Inkling Small?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.58 input / $1.44 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines API price). GPT-6 Astra costs $10.00 input / $50.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.795 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $20.00 for GPT-6 Astra (25× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-6 Astra scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-6 Astra 169.1 (#1 of 165) and Inkling Small 150.5 (#58 of 165). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (165.9–174.3 vs 147.7–152.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-6 Astra 95.8%, Inkling Small 88.5%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-6 Astra 93.7%, Inkling Small 46.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-6 Astra 100%, Inkling Small 90.0%; SimpleQA Verified — GPT-6 Astra 75.6%, Inkling Small 19.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-6 Astra and Inkling Small yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-6 Astra 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?

Their context windows are effectively the same size: GPT-6 Astra 1,050,000 and Inkling Small 1,048,576 tokens. Maximum output per response: GPT-6 Astra up to 128,000, Inkling Small up to 1,048,576 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-6 Astra accepts text, images and PDFs; Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Inkling Small publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; GPT-6 Astra is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-6 Astra is the newest, released Sep 4, 2026. Inkling Small came out Jul 30, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-6 Astra Apr 30, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons