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Model comparison

Inkling vs Muse Spark

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 8 shared benchmark results across 4 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

Thinking Machines Lab
69/100
Margin
2.0pts
winning →
71/100
4 category wins1 category wins

Verified leaderboard positions: Inkling #17; Muse Spark unranked

BenchAlign evidence: Inkling not scored; Muse Spark supported. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Inkling and Muse Spark share 8 comparable benchmark results. 5 of 8 categories are comparable. 8 results are unique to Inkling; 33 to Muse Spark.

Updated July 15, 2026
Shared results
8
Inkling only
8
Muse Spark only
33
Comparable categories
5 / 8

Pick Inkling if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Muse Spark only becomes the better choice if multimodal & grounded 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 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

Inkling is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 69 to 63. 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 mathematics, where it averages 97.1 against 32.9. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMMU-Pro, 73.5% to 80.4%. Muse Spark does hit back in multimodal & grounded, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

Muse Spark 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 262K for Muse Spark.

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 Muse Spark
CategoryInklingΔMuse Spark
MathInkling97.1Margin 64.2Muse Spark32.9
AgenticInkling69.4Margin 10.4Muse Spark59.0
MultimodalInkling76.5Margin 6.0Muse Spark82.5
KnowledgeInkling51.7Margin 1.3Muse Spark50.4
CodingInkling68.6Margin 0.8Muse Spark67.8
ReasoningInklingNot measuredMarginNo overlapMuse Spark42.5
Inst. FollowingInkling79.8MarginNo overlapMuse SparkNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · InklingB · Muse Spark
  1. MMMU-Pro

    Multimodal
    Source ↗
    A 73.5%B 80.4%
    Winner: Muse SparkΔ 6.9
    MMMU-Pro: Inkling scored 73.5%; Muse Spark scored 80.4%. Muse Spark wins this benchmark.
  2. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 63.8%B 59%
    Winner: InklingΔ 4.8
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Inkling scored 63.8%; Muse Spark scored 59%. Inkling wins this benchmark.
  3. CharXiv

    Multimodal
    Source ↗
    A 82%B 86.4%
    Winner: Muse SparkΔ 4.4
    CharXiv: Inkling scored 82%; Muse Spark scored 86.4%. Muse Spark wins this benchmark.
  4. HLE

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 46%B 50.4%
    Winner: Muse SparkΔ 4.4
    HLE: Inkling scored 46%; Muse Spark scored 50.4%. Muse Spark wins this benchmark.
  5. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 54.3%B 52.4%
    Winner: InklingΔ 1.9
    SWE-bench Pro: Inkling scored 54.3%; Muse Spark scored 52.4%. Inkling wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

MetricInklingMuse SparkComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputMuse SparkNot availableA complete price comparison is not available.
Generation speedtokens per secondInklingNot availableMuse SparkNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenInklingNot availableMuse SparkNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensInkling1MMuse Spark262KInkling lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticInkling wins
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 63.8%59%Inkling leads
BrowseCompSource 77.1%Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource 74.1%Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource 1258Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 91.5%Not comparable
DeepSearchQASource 74.8%Not comparable
CyberGymSource 43.5%Not comparable
Claw-EvalSource 63.8%Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 28.7%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 32.2%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1144Not comparable
CodingInkling wins
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.6%77.4%Inkling leads
SWE-bench ProSource 54.3%52.4%Inkling leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 63.8%Not comparable
LiveCodeBench ProSource 80.0%Not comparable
Vibe Code BenchSource 19.67%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 58.6%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench HardSource 45.5%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 51.5%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
ARC-AGI-2Source 42.5%Not comparable
AA-LCRSource 69.7%Not comparable
CritPtSource 11.3%Not comparable
KnowledgeInkling wins
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
GPQASource 87.9%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource 87.9%89.5%Muse Spark leads
HLESource 46%50.4%Muse Spark leads
HLE w/o toolsSource 30%42.8%Muse Spark leads
HealthBench HardSource 42.8%Not comparable
MedXpertQA (Text)Source 52.6%Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 43.1%Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 88.4%Not comparable
AA-HLESource 39.9%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 4.1%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 44.6%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 73.2%Not comparable
MathInkling wins
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
AIME26Source 97.1%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 39.000%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 14.600%Not comparable
MultimodalMuse Spark wins
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
MMMU-ProSource 73.5%80.4%Muse Spark leads
CharXivSource 82%86.4%Muse Spark leads
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 78.1%Not comparable
ERQASource 64.7%Not comparable
SimpleVQASource 71.3%Not comparable
ScreenSpot ProSource 84.1%Not comparable
ZeroBenchSource 33.0%Not comparable
MedXpertQA (MM)Source 78.4%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1444Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 80.5%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkInklingMuse SparkResult
IFBenchSource 79.8%Not comparable
AA-IFBenchSource 75.9%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (6)

Which is better, Inkling or Muse Spark?

Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 69 to 63. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MMMU-Pro, where the scores are 73.5% and 80.4%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Inkling or Muse Spark?

Inkling has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 51.7 versus 50.4. Inside this category, HLE w/o tools is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Inkling or Muse Spark?

Inkling has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 68.6 versus 67.8. Inside this category, SWE-bench Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, Inkling or Muse Spark?

Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 32.9. Muse Spark stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Inkling or Muse Spark?

Inkling has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 69.4 versus 59. 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, Inkling or Muse Spark?

Muse Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 82.5 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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