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Model comparison

GPT-5.6 Terra vs Inkling

Data verified

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

72.58/100
Margin
3.6pts
← winning
Thinking Machines Lab
69/100
3 category wins2 category wins

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

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

Evidence parity. GPT-5.6 Terra and Inkling share 7 comparable benchmark results. 5 of 8 categories are comparable. 36 results are unique to GPT-5.6 Terra; 9 to Inkling.

Updated July 15, 2026
Shared results
7
GPT-5.6 Terra only
36
Inkling only
9
Comparable categories
5 / 8

Pick GPT-5.6 Terra 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 Terra is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 84 to 69. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.6 Terra's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 92.9 against 51.7. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 87.4% 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 Terra is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.50 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens for Inkling. That is roughly 3.2x on output cost alone. GPT-5.6 Terra 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 Terra and Inkling
CategoryGPT-5.6 TerraΔInkling
KnowledgeGPT-5.6 Terra92.9Margin 41.2Inkling51.7
AgenticGPT-5.6 Terra87.4Margin 18.0Inkling69.4
MathGPT-5.6 Terra80.8Margin 16.3Inkling97.1
CodingGPT-5.6 Terra63.4Margin 5.2Inkling68.6
MultimodalGPT-5.6 Terra80.7Margin 4.2Inkling76.5
Inst. FollowingGPT-5.6 TerraNot measuredMarginNo overlapInkling79.8

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · GPT-5.6 TerraB · Inkling
  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 87.4%B 63.8%
    Winner: GPT-5.6 TerraΔ 23.6
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: GPT-5.6 Terra scored 87.4%; Inkling scored 63.8%. GPT-5.6 Terra wins this benchmark.
  2. BrowseComp

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 87.5%B 77.1%
    Winner: GPT-5.6 TerraΔ 10.4
    BrowseComp: GPT-5.6 Terra scored 87.5%; Inkling scored 77.1%. GPT-5.6 Terra wins this benchmark.
  3. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 63.4%B 54.3%
    Winner: GPT-5.6 TerraΔ 9.1
    SWE-bench Pro: GPT-5.6 Terra scored 63.4%; Inkling scored 54.3%. GPT-5.6 Terra wins this benchmark.
  4. MMMU-Pro

    Multimodal
    Source ↗
    A 80.7%B 73.5%
    Winner: GPT-5.6 TerraΔ 7.2
    MMMU-Pro: GPT-5.6 Terra scored 80.7%; Inkling scored 73.5%. GPT-5.6 Terra wins this benchmark.
  5. GPQA

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 92.9%B 87.9%
    Winner: GPT-5.6 TerraΔ 5
    GPQA: GPT-5.6 Terra scored 92.9%; Inkling scored 87.9%. GPT-5.6 Terra wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

MetricGPT-5.6 TerraInklingComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGPT-5.6 Terra$2.5 input / $15 outputInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputInkling has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondGPT-5.6 TerraNot availableInklingNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGPT-5.6 TerraNot availableInklingNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGPT-5.6 Terra1MInkling1MListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGPT-5.6 Terra wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 87.4%63.8%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
BrowseCompSource 87.5%77.1%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
OSWorld 2.0Source 50.2%Not comparable
CyberGymSource 81.8%Not comparable
ExploitGymSource 23.2%Not comparable
ToolathlonSource 53.1%Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 47.4%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 86.3%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 54.6%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1593Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 2.5%Not comparable
AA ITBenchSource 51.0%Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 31.8%Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource 45.6%Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource 74.1%Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource 1258Not comparable
CodingInkling wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
SWE-bench ProSource 63.4%54.3%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 87.4%63.8%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
deepSweSource 69.6%Not comparable
FrontierCode 1.1 ExtendedSource 55.8%Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 64.9%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 76.7%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench HardSource 57.6%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 53.9%Not comparable
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Source 88.0%Not comparable
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.6%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
ARC-AGI-3Source 0.8%Not comparable
AA-LCRSource 74.0%Not comparable
CritPtSource 30.0%Not comparable
KnowledgeGPT-5.6 Terra wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
GPQASource 92.9%87.9%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
GPQA-DSource 92.9%87.9%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
HealthBench ProfessionalSource 57.7%Not comparable
HealthBench HardSource 32.7%Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 55.0%Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 92.5%Not comparable
AA-HLESource 41.8%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -0.2%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 45.9%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 85.2%Not comparable
HLESource 46%Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource 30%Not comparable
MathInkling wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
FrontierMath (legacy)Source 84.9%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 84.900%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 68.300%Not comparable
AIME26Source 97.1%Not comparable
MultimodalGPT-5.6 Terra wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
MMMU-ProSource 80.7%73.5%GPT-5.6 Terra leads
MMMU-Pro w/ PythonSource 82%Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 80.7%Not comparable
CharXivSource 82%Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 78.1%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGPT-5.6 TerraInklingResult
AA-IFBenchSource 71.2%Not comparable
IFBenchSource 79.8%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (6)

Which is better, GPT-5.6 Terra or Inkling?

GPT-5.6 Terra is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 84 to 69. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 87.4% and 63.8%.

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

GPT-5.6 Terra has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 92.9 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 Terra or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 68.6 versus 63.4. 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 Terra or Inkling?

Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 80.8. GPT-5.6 Terra stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

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

GPT-5.6 Terra has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 87.4 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 Terra or Inkling?

GPT-5.6 Terra has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 80.7 versus 76.5. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 15, 2026

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