GPT-6 Astra vs Inkling 2 Small
GPT-6 Astra leads Inkling 2 Small on coding, 83.8 to 48.9 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling 2 Small costs 50.0x less per output token ($1.00 vs $50.00 per million). Updated November 14, 2026; 49 benchmarks have a result for both.
GPT-6 Astra or Inkling 2 Small: which to pick
Pick GPT-6 Astra for coding: it scores 83.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.9 for Inkling 2 Small.
Pick Inkling 2 Small for output tokens 50.0x cheaper ($1.00 vs $50.00 per million) and work measured by CyberBench (Vals AI) or SWE-Bench Pro V2, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 49
- GPT-6 Astra only
- 97
- Inkling 2 Small only
- 2
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
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, six public coding benchmarks
GPT-6 Astra
GPT-6 Astra scores 83.8 against 48.9.
5 and 3 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
GPT-6 Astra
GPT-6 Astra leads, 56.9 against 30.6.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only GPT-6 Astra has a AA Agentic Index result, 51.0.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only GPT-6 Astra has a Design Arena: websites result, 1340.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
GPT-6 Astra
GPT-6 Astra leads, 65.0% against 56.1%.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
GPT-6 Astra
GPT-6 Astra takes 1.05M tokens against 1.05M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Inkling 2 Small
GPT-6 Astra $0.035, Inkling 2 Small $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- GPT-6 Astra 83.8 from 5 benchmarks, Inkling 2 Small 48.9 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Math, 35.5 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI): GPT-6 Astra 59.6% against Inkling 2 Small 12.6%, 62.6 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- GPT-6 Astra $50.00 against Inkling 2 Small $1.00 per million output tokens, 50.0x apart.
- Context window
- GPT-6 Astra takes 1.05M tokens, Inkling 2 Small 1.05M.
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 | GPT-6 Astra | Bars | Inkling 2 Small | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 12 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 5 | 3 | ||
| Reasoning | 9 | 0 | ||
| Math | 1 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 3 | 0 | ||
| General | 11 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 42 | 7 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index122
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 87.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1764 | 1647 | GPT-6 Astra |
| AA Coding Index | 76.9 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 59.6% | 12.6% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 89.6% | 81.5% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 67.7% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 5.5% | 0.5% | GPT-6 Astra |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 100.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 87.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | 43.3% | 43.1% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | 27.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 41.1% | 72.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| SciCode | 56.5% | 52.3% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.6% | 13.1% | GPT-6 Astra |
| FrontierCode 2.0 | 42.4% | 25.4% | GPT-6 Astra |
| FrontierCode | 53.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| FrontierSWE | 65.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| GSO-Bench | 79.4% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| WeirdML | 93.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| MirrorCode | 60.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| ALE-Bench | 2951.3 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1494 | 1455 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1479 | 1443 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1776 | 1660 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1786 | 1661 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1722 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SciCode | 12.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SWE-Bench Pro V2 | 96.9% | 97.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| SWE Atlas: Codebase QnA | 59.1% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SWE Atlas: Refactoring | 59.1% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SWE Atlas: Test Writing | 50.7% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| GameBench 2 | 94.3 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 87.4% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | 58.2% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| ProgramBench | 5.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 56.9 | 30.6 | GPT-6 Astra |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 169.0 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index53
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 51.0 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1359 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1333 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1280 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1186 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | 1319 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | 1530 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | 1369 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1332 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LiveBench research | 90.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LiveBench browser | 91.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | 75.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | 56.9% | 1.9% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 53.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 20.7% | 38.9% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 39.4% | 46.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 7.1% | 21.7% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 71.7% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | 79.3% | 70.0% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 62.9% | 2.9% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Vals Science Index | 65.1% | 32.7% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Time Horizon Index (Vals AI) | 90.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| CUA-bench (Vals AI) | 19.2% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Robo-bench (Vals AI) | 23.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| APEX-Agents | 64.7% | 46.8% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Remote Labor Index | 20.8% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| BALROG | 68.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| PostTrainBench | 41.9% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SpireClimb | 34.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $15,515 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Search | 1231 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| MCP Atlas | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index90
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 92.7% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | 53.1% | 25.2% | GPT-6 Astra |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 96.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 54.7% | 44.1% | GPT-6 Astra |
| HLE-Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 63.8% | 28.7% | GPT-6 Astra |
| CritPt v2, hard subset (Artificial Analysis run) | 72.0% | 35.0% | GPT-6 Astra |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 95.8% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| ARC-AGI | 98.5% | 96.5% | GPT-6 Astra |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 95.0% | 81.7% | GPT-6 Astra |
| SimpleBench | 83.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Chess puzzles | 74.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 84.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| EBR-bench | 76.2% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1462 | 1421 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1493 | 1478 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1468 | 1424 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1299 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1332 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Scale run) | 60.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| GoBench | 2566 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 100.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 93.7% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 97.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| ProofBench | 99.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1459 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1478 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| MathArena | 78.0% | 42.4% | GPT-6 Astra |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 48.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| AA-Omniscience | 44.6 | 16.1 | GPT-6 Astra |
| SimpleQA Verified | 75.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1447 | 1409 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1420 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1453 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1442 | 1415 | GPT-6 Astra |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 78.1% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| PRBench Finance | 47.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| PRBench Legal | 48.4% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1340 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1401 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1468 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1335 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1524 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1395 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1421 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1343 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LiveBench design | 80.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index112
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 Small | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 65.0% | 56.1% | GPT-6 Astra |
| LiveBench data analysis | 83.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.6% | Only Inkling 2 Small measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 87.9% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 80.7% | 83.3% | Inkling 2 Small |
| GDPval-AA | 1587 | 1630 | Inkling 2 Small |
| DTBench | 97.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMCA | 64.4% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Furniture assembly | 80.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text | 1440 | 1403 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1456 | 1408 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1421 | 1348 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Vision | 1279 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1448 | 1418 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1430 | 1390 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1496 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1465 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1415 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1424 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1440 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1436 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1441 | 1377 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1426 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1448 | 1408 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1459 | 1403 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1438 | 1381 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1425 | 1359 | GPT-6 Astra |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1282 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1332 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1290 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1272 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1278 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| LMArena Document | 1467 | Not measured | Only GPT-6 Astra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-6 Astra | Inkling 2 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 2 Small costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Inkling 2 Small costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Inkling 2 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 | OpenAI GPT-6 Astra | Thinking Machines Inkling 2 Small |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | OpenAI | Thinking Machines |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | September 4, 2026 | November 9, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $10.00 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $50.00 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | 83.8 | 48.9 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 5 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is GPT-6 Astra better than Inkling 2 Small for coding?
Pick GPT-6 Astra for coding: it scores 83.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 48.9 for Inkling 2 Small. Pick Inkling 2 Small for output tokens 50.0x cheaper ($1.00 vs $50.00 per million) and work measured by CyberBench (Vals AI) or SWE-Bench Pro V2, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, GPT-6 Astra or Inkling 2 Small?
GPT-6 Astra costs $10.00 per million input tokens and $50.00 per million output tokens; Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, GPT-6 Astra or Inkling 2 Small?
GPT-6 Astra, with 1.05M tokens against 1.05M.
How many benchmarks is the GPT-6 Astra vs Inkling 2 Small comparison based on?
49 benchmarks have a result for both models as of November 14, 2026. GPT-6 Astra's coding index rests on 5 independent benchmarks and Inkling 2 Small's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.