Skip to main content

Model comparison

GPT-4o vs Inkling

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 9 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

OpenAI
41.34/100
Margin
30.7pts
winning →
Thinking Machines Lab
72/100
0 category wins1 category wins

Verified leaderboard positions: GPT-4o unranked; Inkling #17

BenchAlign evidence: GPT-4o supported; Inkling not scored. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GPT-4o and Inkling share 9 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 5 results are unique to GPT-4o; 23 to Inkling.

Updated July 16, 2026
Shared results
9
GPT-4o only
5
Inkling only
23
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Inkling if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4o only becomes the better choice if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 9 shared benchmark results across 3 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Inkling is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 72 to 41. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Inkling's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 97.1 against 0.3.

GPT-4o is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.50 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens for Inkling. That is roughly 2.1x on output cost alone. Inkling is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4o is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Inkling gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for GPT-4o.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for GPT-4o and Inkling
CategoryGPT-4oΔInkling
MathGPT-4o0.3Margin 96.8Inkling97.1
AgenticGPT-4oNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling69.4
CodingGPT-4oNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling68.6
KnowledgeGPT-4oNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling51.7
MultimodalGPT-4oNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling76.5
Inst. FollowingGPT-4oNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling79.8

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricGPT-4oInklingComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGPT-4o$2.5 input / $10 outputInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputInkling has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondGPT-4o131 tok/sInklingNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGPT-4o0.81 sInklingNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGPT-4o128KInkling1MInkling lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
τ²-bench resultsSource 25.1%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 63.8%Not comparable
BrowseCompSource 77.1%Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource 74.1%Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource 1258Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 32.3%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 36.9%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1239Not comparable
AA BriefcaseSource 836Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 23.7%Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
Terminal-Bench HardSource 8.3%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 33.3%46.1%Inkling leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.6%Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 54.3%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 63.8%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 52.1%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
AA-LCRSource 0.0%63.3%Inkling leads
CritPtSource 0.0%5.4%Inkling leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 11.2%40.7%Inkling leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 54.3%87.2%Inkling leads
AA-HLESource 3.3%29.7%Inkling leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -10.7%2.1%Inkling leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 19.7%40.0%Inkling leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 37.9%63.1%GPT-4o leads
GPQASource 87.9%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource 87.9%Not comparable
HLESource 46%Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource 30%Not comparable
MathInkling wins
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 0.345%Not comparable
AIME26Source 97.1%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
Design Arena WebsiteSource 866Not comparable
MMMU-ProSource 73.5%Not comparable
CharXivSource 82%Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 78.1%Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 73.5%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGPT-4oInklingResult
AA-IFBenchSource 34.3%Not comparable
IFBenchSource 79.8%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, GPT-4o or Inkling?

Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 72 to 41.

Which is better for math, GPT-4o or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 0.3. GPT-4o stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

Related Comparisons

Last updated: July 16, 2026

The AI models change fast. We track them for you.

A weekly brief for engineers and researchers covering new models, ranking shifts, and pricing changes.

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.