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Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Inkling 2 Small

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 57.2 to 47.1. Inkling 2 Small is 8.4x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Thinking Machines Lab · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 57.2 to 47.1, ranking #5 overall.

On price, Inkling 2 Small is roughly 8.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Sonnet 5.5 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5

  • overall performance matters — it scores 57.2 and ranks #5 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and agents — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window

Choose Inkling 2 Small

  • cost matters — it's about 8.4x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
Inkling 2 Small
Thinking Machines Lab
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
57.2
#5
47.1
#41
Reasoning
55.6
#3
47.8
#26
Coding
47.1
#3
36.2
#35
Agents
42.7
#6
33.3
#39
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$2.00 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$10.00 / M
$1.00 / M
Context window
1,000,000
256,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Inkling 2 Small
Vision
37.7#8
29.2#47
Tool use
35.1#3
28.3#28
Multimodal
37.4#6
28.9#44
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

47 reported for Claude Sonnet 5.5 · 11 for Inkling 2 Small

No common benchmarks found

Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Inkling 2 Smalldon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Inkling 2 Small costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 6.7x more expensive than Inkling 2 Small ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than Inkling 2 Small ($1.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is more expensive than Inkling 2 Small.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Nov 09 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$10.00
Best providerAnthropic
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Sonnet 5.5 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Inkling 2 Small's 256,000 tokens. Only Claude Sonnet 5.5 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Thinking Machines Lab
Inkling 2 Small
Input256,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Nov 09 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Inkling 2 Small support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Inkling 2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Inkling 2 Small

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 5.5 was released on 2026-09-28, while Inkling 2 Small was released on 2026-11-05.

Inkling 2 Small is 1 month newer than Claude Sonnet 5.5.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Sep 28, 2026

1 months ago

Inkling 2 Small

Nov 5, 2026

4 days ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 5.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-06-01, while Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Claude Sonnet 5.5's training data extends to 2026-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Inkling 2 Small's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Jun 2026

Inkling 2 Small

—

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is available from Anthropic. Inkling 2 Small is available from Thinking Machines Lab.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M

Inkling 2 Small

thinking-machines logo
Unknown Organization
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Inkling 2 Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
✓ Preferred
Inkling 2 Small
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Inkling 2 Small.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Inkling 2 Small?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 57.2 to 47.1. Claude Sonnet 5.5 is made by Anthropic and Inkling 2 Small is made by Thinking Machines Lab. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Sonnet 5.5 compare to Inkling 2 Small in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores BenchCAD (with Python tool): 96.3%, ArXivMath (with tools): 95.2%, Global-MMLU: 92.1%, MILU: 91.6%, SWE-bench Multilingual: 90.3%. Inkling 2 Small scores GPQA: 93.0%, BrowseComp: 90.2%, CharXiv-R: 85.6%, MCP Atlas: 85.0%, SWE-Bench Verified: 82.2%.

Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 cheaper than Inkling 2 Small?

Inkling 2 Small is 6.7x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2.00/M input and $10.00/M output via anthropic. Inkling 2 Small costs $0.30/M input and $1.00/M output via thinking-machines.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Inkling 2 Small?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 supports 1.0M tokens and Inkling 2 Small supports 256K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Inkling 2 Small?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (57.2 vs 47.1), context window (1.0M vs 256K), input pricing ($2.00 vs $0.30/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Inkling 2 Small?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is developed by Anthropic and Inkling 2 Small is developed by Thinking Machines Lab.

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