Inkling vs GPT-5.4 mini
Too close to call on our weighted score (Inkling 63, GPT-5.4 mini 62). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Thinking MachinesInkling
63/100- ECI148.5
- Price$1.00 / $4.05
- Context1.05M
OpenAIGPT-5.4 mini
62/100- ECI148.8
- Price$0.75 / $4.50
- Context400K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Inkling 63/100, GPT-5.4 mini 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.4 mini for raw capability and Inkling for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGPT-5.4 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 · Inkling 148.5
- Lowest priceGPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 mini $1.69 · Inkling $1.76 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextInklingInkling 1,048,576 · GPT-5.4 mini 400,000 tokens
- Widest inputsInklingInkling: Text, Images, Audio · GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images
- Self-hostingInklingPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Inkling | GPT-5.4 mini |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 75 | 75 |
| Price | 25% | 37 | 37 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 63/100 | 62/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | InklingThinking Machines | GPT-5.4 miniOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 148.5 | 148.8 (best) |
| ECI rank | #67 of 165 | #66 of 165 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 88.3% (best) | 86.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 33.3% | 51.2% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 88.9% | 88.9% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 40.3% (best) | 29.4% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.00 | $0.75 (best) |
| Output | $4.05 (best) | $4.50 |
| Cached input | $0.17 | $0.075 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.76 | $1.69 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Thinking Machines API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 400,000 tokens |
| Max output | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | thinkingmachines/Inkling:peft:262144:sampling-nvfp4 | gpt-5.4-mini |
| API providers | 20 | 41 (best) |
| Released | Jul 15, 2026 | Mar 17, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Aug 31, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Inkling$18.10
- GPT-5.4 mini$16.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Inkling or GPT-5.4 mini?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Inkling 63/100, GPT-5.4 mini 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.4 mini for raw capability and Inkling for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Inkling or GPT-5.4 mini?
GPT-5.4 mini is cheaper at $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Inkling costs $1.00 input / $4.05 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.69 per million tokens for GPT-5.4 mini versus $1.76 for Inkling (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
GPT-5.4 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#66 of 165) and Inkling 148.5 (#67 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (146.9–150.8 vs 145.8–150.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Inkling 88.3%, GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 mini 51.2%, Inkling 33.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Inkling 88.9%, GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Inkling 40.3%, GPT-5.4 mini 29.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling and GPT-5.4 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.4 mini 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 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.4 mini. Maximum output per response: Inkling up to 1,048,576, GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Inkling accepts text, images and audio; GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images. Inkling handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Inkling publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Inkling is the newest, released Jul 15, 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 Nov 2, 2026.
