ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Inkling Small vs GPT-5.4 mini

Inkling Small comes out ahead, 70 to 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. 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

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 mini

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    63/100
    • ECI148.8
    • Price$0.75 / $4.50
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.4 mini

  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 GPT-5.4 mini (63). It leads on capability, price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityInkling SmallCapabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 · GPT-5.4 mini 148.8
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.675 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextInkling SmallInkling Small 1,048,576 · GPT-5.4 mini 400,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsInkling SmallInkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightInkling SmallGPT-5.4 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7877
Price25%5839
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6144
Overall100%70/10063/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Inkling Small vs GPT-5.4 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationInkling SmallThinking MachinesGPT-5.4 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)150.2 (best)148.8
ECI rank#47 of 148 (best)#56 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.5% (best)86.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics46.3%51.2% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics90.0% (best)88.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions19.1%29.4% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50 (best)$0.75
Output$1.20 (best)$4.50
Cached input—$0.075
Blended (3:1)$0.675 (best)$1.69
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)400,000 tokens
Max output1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Proprietary
API model ID—gpt-5.4-mini
API providers1129 (best)
ReleasedJul 30, 2026Mar 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Aug 31, 2025
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.

  • Inkling Small$7.40
  • GPT-5.4 mini$16.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Inkling Small or GPT-5.4 mini?

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63). It leads on capability, price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Inkling Small or GPT-5.4 mini?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). GPT-5.4 mini costs $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI 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 $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (2.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Inkling Small scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148) and GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–152.1 vs 147.1–150.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Inkling Small 88.5%, GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 mini 51.2%, Inkling Small 46.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling Small 90.0%, GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%; SimpleQA Verified — GPT-5.4 mini 29.4%, Inkling Small 19.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling Small and GPT-5.4 mini 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 400,000 for GPT-5.4 mini. Maximum output per response: Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images. Inkling Small handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Inkling Small publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Inkling Small is the newest, released Jul 30, 2026. GPT-5.4 mini came out Mar 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 mini Aug 31, 2025.

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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