Model comparison
Inkling vs MAI-Thinking-1
Head-to-head evidence from 8 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: Inkling #17; MAI-Thinking-1 #28
Evidence parity. Inkling and MAI-Thinking-1 share 8 comparable benchmark results. 5 of 8 categories are comparable. 8 results are unique to Inkling; 6 to MAI-Thinking-1.
Updated July 15, 2026- Shared results
- 8
- Inkling only
- 8
- MAI-Thinking-1 only
- 6
- Comparable categories
- 5 / 8
Pick Inkling if you want the stronger benchmark profile. MAI-Thinking-1 only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you want the stronger reasoning-first profile.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 8 shared benchmark results across 5 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
Inkling is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 69 to 58. 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 agentic, where it averages 69.4 against 46. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 63.8% to 46%. MAI-Thinking-1 does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
MAI-Thinking-1 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 256K for MAI-Thinking-1.
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 | Inkling | Δ | MAI-Thinking-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agentic | Inkling69.4 | Margin← 23.4 | MAI-Thinking-146.0 |
| Knowledge | Inkling51.7 | Margin→ 20.8 | MAI-Thinking-172.5 |
| Math | Inkling97.1 | Margin← 7.4 | MAI-Thinking-189.7 |
| Inst. Following | Inkling79.8 | Margin→ 5.2 | MAI-Thinking-185.0 |
| Coding | Inkling68.6 | Margin← 3.1 | MAI-Thinking-165.5 |
| Multimodal | Inkling76.5 | MarginNo overlap | MAI-Thinking-1Not measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
Terminal-Bench 2.0
AgenticA 63.8%B 46%Winner: InklingΔ 17.8Terminal-Bench 2.0: Inkling scored 63.8%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 46%. Inkling wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
IFBench
Inst. FollowingA 79.8%B 85%Winner: MAI-Thinking-1Δ 5.2IFBench: Inkling scored 79.8%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 85%. MAI-Thinking-1 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
SWE-bench Verified
CodingA 77.6%B 73.5%Winner: InklingΔ 4.1SWE-bench Verified: Inkling scored 77.6%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 73.5%. Inkling wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 87.9%B 84.2%Winner: InklingΔ 3.7GPQA: Inkling scored 87.9%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 84.2%. Inkling wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
AIME26
MathA 97.1%B 94.5%Winner: InklingΔ 2.6AIME26: Inkling scored 97.1%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 94.5%. Inkling wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Inkling | MAI-Thinking-1 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Inkling$1.87 input / $4.68 output | MAI-Thinking-1Not available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | InklingNot available | MAI-Thinking-1Not available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | InklingNot available | MAI-Thinking-1Not available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Inkling1M | MAI-Thinking-1256K | Inkling lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
AgenticInkling wins4 benchmarks
CodingInkling wins4 benchmarks
Reasoning1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Inkling | MAI-Thinking-1 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphwalks BFS 128KSource | — | 90% | Not comparable |
KnowledgeMAI-Thinking-1 wins6 benchmarks
MathInkling wins3 benchmarks
Multimodal3 benchmarks
Inst. FollowingMAI-Thinking-1 wins1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Inkling | MAI-Thinking-1 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBenchSource | 79.8% | 85% | MAI-Thinking-1 leads |
Frequently Asked Questions (6)
Which is better, Inkling or MAI-Thinking-1?
Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 69 to 58. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 63.8% and 46%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Inkling or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 72.5 versus 51.7. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for coding, Inkling or MAI-Thinking-1?
Inkling has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 68.6 versus 65.5. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for math, Inkling or MAI-Thinking-1?
Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 89.7. Inside this category, AIME26 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for agentic tasks, Inkling or MAI-Thinking-1?
Inkling has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 69.4 versus 46. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for instruction following, Inkling or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 85 versus 79.8. Inside this category, IFBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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