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Model comparison

Inkling vs LFM2.5-VL-450M

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 1 shared benchmark result across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

Thinking Machines Lab
69/100
Margin
35.0pts
← winning
34/100
2 category wins0 category wins

Verified leaderboard positions: Inkling #17; LFM2.5-VL-450M unranked

Evidence parity. Inkling and LFM2.5-VL-450M share 1 comparable benchmark result. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 15 results are unique to Inkling; 6 to LFM2.5-VL-450M.

Updated July 15, 2026
Shared results
1
Inkling only
15
LFM2.5-VL-450M only
6
Comparable categories
2 / 8

Pick Inkling if you want the stronger benchmark profile. LFM2.5-VL-450M only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 1 shared benchmark result across 1 evidence category; 2 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, 69 to 34. 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 knowledge, where it averages 51.7 against 20.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is GPQA, 87.9% to 25.7%.

Inkling is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for LFM2.5-VL-450M. That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. LFM2.5-VL-450M 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. Inkling gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for LFM2.5-VL-450M.

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 Inkling and LFM2.5-VL-450M
CategoryInklingΔLFM2.5-VL-450M
KnowledgeInkling51.7Margin 31.2LFM2.5-VL-450M20.5
Inst. FollowingInkling79.8Margin 18.6LFM2.5-VL-450M61.2
AgenticInkling69.4MarginNo overlapLFM2.5-VL-450MNot measured
CodingInkling68.6MarginNo overlapLFM2.5-VL-450MNot measured
MathInkling97.1MarginNo overlapLFM2.5-VL-450MNot measured
MultimodalInkling76.5MarginNo overlapLFM2.5-VL-450MNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · InklingB · LFM2.5-VL-450M
  1. GPQA

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 87.9%B 25.7%
    Winner: InklingΔ 62.2
    GPQA: Inkling scored 87.9%; LFM2.5-VL-450M scored 25.7%. Inkling wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

MetricInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputLFM2.5-VL-450M$0 input / $0 outputLFM2.5-VL-450M has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondInklingNot availableLFM2.5-VL-450MNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenInklingNot availableLFM2.5-VL-450MNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensInkling1MLFM2.5-VL-450M128KInkling lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MResult
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
BFCL v4Source 21.1%Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.6%Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 54.3%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 63.8%Not comparable
KnowledgeInkling wins
BenchmarkInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MResult
GPQASource 87.9%25.7%Inkling leads
GPQA-DSource 87.9%Not comparable
HLESource 46%Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource 30%Not comparable
MMLU-ProSource 19.3%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MResult
AIME26Source 97.1%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MResult
MMMU-ProSource 73.5%Not comparable
CharXivSource 82%Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 78.1%Not comparable
MMMUSource 32.7%Not comparable
RealWorldQASource 58.4%Not comparable
CountBenchSource 73.3%Not comparable
Inst. FollowingInkling wins
BenchmarkInklingLFM2.5-VL-450MResult
IFBenchSource 79.8%Not comparable
IFEvalSource 61.2%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, Inkling or LFM2.5-VL-450M?

Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 69 to 34. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 87.9% and 25.7%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Inkling or LFM2.5-VL-450M?

Inkling has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 51.7 versus 20.5. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, Inkling or LFM2.5-VL-450M?

Inkling has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 79.8 versus 61.2. LFM2.5-VL-450M stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

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Last updated: July 15, 2026

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