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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Inkling Small vs GPT-6 Astra

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. Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

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

  2. 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

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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 inputsInkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · GPT-6 Astra: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingInkling SmallPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightInkling SmallGPT-6 Astra
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%77100
Price25%520
Inputs & features15%7080
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.

Inkling Small vs GPT-6 Astra specifications side by side
SpecificationInkling SmallThinking MachinesGPT-6 AstraOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)150.5169.1 (best)
ECI rank#58 of 165#1 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.5%95.8% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics46.3%93.7% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics90.0%100% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions19.1%75.6% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.58 (best)$10.00
Output$1.44 (best)$50.00
Cached input$0.116 (best)$1.00
Blended (3:1)$0.795 (best)$20.00
Long-context rateSame rateOver 272K: $20.00 / $75.00
Price sourceOfficial Thinking Machines APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,050,000 tokens (best)
Max output1,048,576 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioYesNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · maxYeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Proprietary
API model IDthinkingmachines/Inkling-Smallgpt-6-astra
API providers1237 (best)
ReleasedJul 30, 2026Sep 4, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Apr 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.

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

Which should you choose?

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

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, Inkling Small or GPT-6 Astra?

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 Inkling Small and GPT-6 Astra 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: Inkling Small 1,048,576 and GPT-6 Astra 1,050,000 tokens. Maximum output per response: Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, GPT-6 Astra up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; GPT-6 Astra accepts text, images and PDFs. 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

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