Model comparison
Inkling vs Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking
Head-to-head evidence from 2 shared benchmark results across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: Inkling #17; Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking unranked
Evidence parity. Inkling and Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking share 2 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 14 results are unique to Inkling; 4 to Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking.
Updated July 15, 2026- Shared results
- 2
- Inkling only
- 14
- Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking only
- 4
- Comparable categories
- 2 / 8
Pick Inkling if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking 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 2 shared benchmark results 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 51. 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 instruction following, where it averages 79.8 against 76.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is GPQA, 87.9% to 57.6%. Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking 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 Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking.
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 | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Inkling51.7 | Margin→ 5.9 | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking57.6 |
| Inst. Following | Inkling79.8 | Margin← 3.3 | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking76.5 |
| Agentic | Inkling69.4 | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot measured |
| Coding | Inkling68.6 | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot measured |
| Math | Inkling97.1 | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot measured |
| Multimodal | Inkling76.5 | MarginNo overlap | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 87.9%B 57.6%Winner: InklingΔ 30.3GPQA: Inkling scored 87.9%; Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking scored 57.6%. Inkling wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Inkling | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Inkling$1.87 input / $4.68 output | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | InklingNot available | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | InklingNot available | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-ThinkingNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Inkling1M | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking128K | Inkling lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic5 benchmarks
Coding4 benchmarks
KnowledgeMellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking wins5 benchmarks
Math1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Inkling | Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME26Source | 97.1% | — | Not comparable |
Multimodal3 benchmarks
Frequently Asked Questions (3)
Which is better, Inkling or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking?
Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 69 to 51. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 87.9% and 57.6%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Inkling or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking?
Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 57.6 versus 51.7. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for instruction following, Inkling or Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking?
Inkling has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 79.8 versus 76.5. Mellum2-12B-A2.5B-Thinking stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
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