GLM 4.5 vs Inkling Small
Updated October 21, 2026. 38 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick GLM 4.5 for coding: it scores 64.2 on the Vibe Coding Index against 29.9 for Inkling Small.
Pick Inkling Small when output tokens cost 1.8x less, or when the context window is larger, 524K against 131K tokens.
- Shared results
- 38
- GLM 4.5 only
- 22
- Inkling Small only
- 46
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
GLM 4.5
GLM 4.5 scores 64.2 against 29.9.
One benchmark behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 25.7 against 12.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a AA Agentic Index result, 23.5.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 83.6% against 72.2%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only GLM 4.5 has a AIME result, 86.7%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Inkling Small
Inkling Small leads, 85.6% against 81.2%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only GLM 4.5 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1170.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only Inkling Small has a Vals Index result, 27.6%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Inkling Small
Inkling Small takes 524K tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Inkling Small
GLM 4.5 $0.0017, Inkling Small $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Inkling Small has the number, $0.16.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- GLM 4.5 64.2 from 1 benchmark, Inkling Small 29.9 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Intelligence, 12.9 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): GLM 4.5 52.7% against Inkling Small 75.7%, 23.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- GLM 4.5 $2.20 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 1.8x apart.
- Context window
- GLM 4.5 takes 131K tokens, Inkling Small 524K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | GLM 4.5 | Bars | Inkling Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 3 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 5 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 4 | 4 | ||
| General | 13 | 5 | ||
| All shared boards | 18 | 20 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 64.2% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1409 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 52.9 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 67.5% | 85.9% | Inkling Small |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 82.2% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 13.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 9.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 73.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 49.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 22.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| WeirdML | 40.6% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 344.8 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1434 | 1450 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1440 | 1447 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1399 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1398 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1410 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 12.8 | 25.7 | Inkling Small |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 150.3 | Only Inkling Small measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 23.5 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 41.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 15.4% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 43.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index15
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 72.2% | 83.6% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 78.2% | 89.5% | Inkling Small |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.0% | 33.3% | Inkling Small |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 88.5% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 84.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 40.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1429 | 1423 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1433 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1429 | 1429 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1251 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1257 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 86.7% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | 94.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 90.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| AA Math Index | 73.7 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 73.7% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 90.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 46.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 17.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 6.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1427 | 1459 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1430 | 1441 | Inkling Small |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index44
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 81.2% | 85.6% | Inkling Small |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 75.6% | 83.0% | Inkling Small |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 61.0% | 69.6% | Inkling Small |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 72.4% | 75.5% | Inkling Small |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 62.3% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 90.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.9% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.5% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 19.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1444 | 1428 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1455 | 1413 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1438 | 1415 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1420 | 1413 | GLM 4.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1170 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1144 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1145 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1159 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1170 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1165 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1096 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index135
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 27.6% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 59.4% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 32.7% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.1% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 50.0% | Only Inkling Small measured |
| IFBench | 44.1% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 52.7% | 75.7% | Inkling Small |
| Creative writing (Lech Mazur) | 73.4% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1430 | 1413 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1404 | 1399 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1395 | 1334 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1237 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1437 | 1421 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1417 | 1401 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1465 | 1464 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: German | 1407 | 1408 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1415 | 1401 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1380 | 1367 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: French | 1418 | 1435 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1454 | 1422 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1413 | 1394 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1422 | 1428 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1415 | 1416 | Inkling Small |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1412 | 1402 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1403 | 1357 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1404 | 1352 | GLM 4.5 |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1243 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1292 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1243 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1207 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1205 | Only Inkling Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 4.5 | Inkling Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Inkling Small costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Inkling Small costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Inkling Small costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Z.ai GLM 4.5 | Thinking Machines Inkling Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Z.ai | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | July 25, 2025 | July 30, 2026 |
| Context window | 131K | 524K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.20 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | 64.2 | 29.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.16 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is GLM 4.5 better than Inkling Small for coding?
Pick GLM 4.5 for coding: it scores 64.2 on the Vibe Coding Index against 29.9 for Inkling Small. Pick Inkling Small when output tokens cost 1.8x less, or when the context window is larger, 524K against 131K tokens.
Which is cheaper, GLM 4.5 or Inkling Small?
GLM 4.5 costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.20 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for Inkling Small only.
Which has the bigger context window, GLM 4.5 or Inkling Small?
Inkling Small, with 524K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the GLM 4.5 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?
38 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. GLM 4.5's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Inkling Small's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.