Model comparison

GPT-5.6 Sol vs Inkling

Data verified July 15, 2026

Head-to-head evidence from 7 shared benchmark results across 4 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

GPT-5.6 Sol

OpenAI

79.3/100

Margin

10.3pts

← winning

Inkling

Thinking Machines Lab

69/100

3 category wins2 category wins

Verified leaderboard positions: GPT-5.6 Sol unranked; Inkling #17

BenchAlign evidence: GPT-5.6 Sol estimated; Inkling not scored. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GPT-5.6 Sol and Inkling share 7 comparable benchmark results. 5 of 8 categories are comparable. 37 results are unique to GPT-5.6 Sol; 9 to Inkling.

Updated July 15, 2026

Shared results: 7
GPT-5.6 Sol only: 37
Inkling only: 9
Comparable categories: 5 / 8

Pick GPT-5.6 Sol if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Inkling only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 7 shared benchmark results across 4 evidence categories; 5 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

GPT-5.6 Sol is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 85 to 69. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.6 Sol's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 94.6 against 51.7. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 91.9% to 63.8%. Inkling does hit back in mathematics, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

GPT-5.6 Sol is also the more expensive model on tokens at $5.00 input / $30.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens for Inkling. That is roughly 6.4x on output cost alone. GPT-5.6 Sol is the reasoning model in the pair, while Inkling 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.

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-5.6 Sol and Inkling
Category	GPT-5.6 Sol	Δ	Inkling
Knowledge	GPT-5.6 Sol94.6	Margin← 42.9	Inkling51.7
Agentic	GPT-5.6 Sol92.0	Margin← 22.6	Inkling69.4
Math	GPT-5.6 Sol87.5	Margin→ 9.6	Inkling97.1
Multimodal	GPT-5.6 Sol83.0	Margin← 6.5	Inkling76.5
Coding	GPT-5.6 Sol64.6	Margin→ 4.0	Inkling68.6
Inst. Following	GPT-5.6 SolNot measured	MarginNo overlap	Inkling79.8

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

A · GPT-5.6 SolB · Inkling

Terminal-Bench 2.0
Agentic
Source ↗
A 91.9%B 63.8%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 28.1
Terminal-Bench 2.0: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 91.9%; Inkling scored 63.8%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.
BrowseComp
Agentic
Source ↗
A 92.2%B 77.1%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 15.1
BrowseComp: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 92.2%; Inkling scored 77.1%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.
SWE-bench Pro
Coding
Source ↗
A 64.6%B 54.3%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 10.3
SWE-bench Pro: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 64.6%; Inkling scored 54.3%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.
MMMU-Pro
Multimodal
Source ↗
A 83%B 73.5%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 9.5
MMMU-Pro: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 83%; Inkling scored 73.5%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.
GPQA
Knowledge
Source ↗
A 94.6%B 87.9%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 6.7
GPQA: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 94.6%; Inkling scored 87.9%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

Metric	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens	GPT-5.6 Sol$5 input / $30 output	Inkling$1.87 input / $4.68 output	Inkling has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per second	GPT-5.6 SolNot available	InklingNot available	A complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first token	GPT-5.6 SolNot available	InklingNot available	A complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokens	GPT-5.6 Sol1M	Inkling1M	Listed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGPT-5.6 Sol wins

16 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	91.9%	63.8%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
BrowseCompSource	92.2%	77.1%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
OSWorld 2.0Source	62.6%	—	Not comparable
CyberGymSource	84.5%	—	Not comparable
ExploitGymSource	33.7%	—	Not comparable
ToolathlonSource	58%	—	Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource	54.0%	—	Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource	85.1%	—	Not comparable
GDPval-AASource	62.4%	—	Not comparable
GDPval-AASource	1748	—	Not comparable
AA BriefcaseSource	1495	—	Not comparable
AA ITBenchSource	56.2%	—	Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource	33.0%	—	Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource	51.2%	—	Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource	—	74.1%	Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource	—	1258	Not comparable

CodingInkling wins

10 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
SWE-bench ProSource	64.6%	54.3%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	91.9%	63.8%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
deepSweSource	72.7%	—	Not comparable
FrontierCode 1.1 ExtendedSource	60.6%	—	Not comparable
cursorBench32Source	67.2%	—	Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource	77.4%	—	Not comparable
Terminal-Bench HardSource	65.9%	—	Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource	56.1%	—	Not comparable
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Source	88.0%	—	Not comparable
SWE-bench VerifiedSource	—	77.6%	Not comparable

Reasoning

4 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
ARC-AGI-3Source	7.8%	—	Not comparable
GeneBench-ProSource	28.7%	—	Not comparable
AA-LCRSource	73.7%	—	Not comparable
CritPtSource	32.3%	—	Not comparable

KnowledgeGPT-5.6 Sol wins

12 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
GPQASource	94.6%	87.9%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
GPQA-DSource	94.6%	87.9%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
HealthBench ProfessionalSource	60.5%	—	Not comparable
HealthBench HardSource	33.1%	—	Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource	58.9%	—	Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource	94.1%	—	Not comparable
AA-HLESource	47.2%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource	21.7%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource	58.5%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource	88.8%	—	Not comparable
HLESource	—	46%	Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource	—	30%	Not comparable

MathInkling wins

4 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
FrontierMath (legacy)Source	89%	—	Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source	89.000%	—	Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source	83.000%	—	Not comparable
AIME26Source	—	97.1%	Not comparable

MultimodalGPT-5.6 Sol wins

5 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
MMMU-ProSource	83%	73.5%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
MMMU-Pro w/ PythonSource	84.6%	—	Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource	83.4%	—	Not comparable
CharXivSource	—	82%	Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource	—	78.1%	Not comparable

Inst. Following

2 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	Inkling	Result
AA-IFBenchSource	72.7%	—	Not comparable
IFBenchSource	—	79.8%	Not comparable

Frequently Asked Questions (6)

Which is better, GPT-5.6 Sol or Inkling?

GPT-5.6 Sol is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 85 to 69. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 91.9% and 63.8%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol or Inkling?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.6 versus 51.7. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.6 Sol or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 68.6 versus 64.6. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.6 Sol or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 87.5. GPT-5.6 Sol stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol or Inkling?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 69.4. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol or Inkling?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 83 versus 76.5. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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