# Claude Sonnet 5 vs Inkling 2 Small

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for Claude Sonnet 5 and Inkling 2 Small across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/claude-sonnet-5-vs-inkling-2-small
- Last updated: November 7, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 7
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5.8

## Quick Verdict

Claude Sonnet 5 leads by point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence. Choose using the category evidence and your own workload tests.

## Summary

- Claude Sonnet 5 has the higher overall point estimate 64.56 to 59.06. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.
- The clearest category separation is in mathematics, where the averages are 65.9 for Claude Sonnet 5 and 85.9 for Inkling 2 Small.
- The biggest single benchmark swing is CharXiv w/o tools in Multimodal & Grounded, with scores of 77% and 85.6%.
- Inkling 2 Small is the cheaper option on output tokens, which matters if you expect large responses or heavy interactive use.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | Anthropic | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Type | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Reasoning | Reasoning | Hybrid |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Overall Score | 64.56 | 59.06 |
| Benchmarks Covered | 31 | 25 |
| Pricing (input/output) | $2.00 / $10.00 | $0.30 / $1.00 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Claude Sonnet 5
- Claude Sonnet 5 public-lane score: 64.5 (Supported · #16/131)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 59.9 (Supported · #26/131)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 3.0 | 14.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 80.4% | 85.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| BrowseComp | 84.7% | 90.2% | Inkling 2 Small |
| HLE w/ tools | 57.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| OSWorld-Verified | 81.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals) | 74.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| ApprenticeBench | 16% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MazeBench | 0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| OSWorld 2.1 | 57.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| DeepSearchQA | Coming soon | 90.9% | Coming soon |
| MCP Atlas | Coming soon | 85% | Coming soon |
| JobBench | Coming soon | 70.5% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Inkling 2 Small
- Claude Sonnet 5 public-lane score: 57.6 (Supported · #25/157)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 59.7 (Supported · #20/157)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| SWE-bench Verified | 85.2% | 82.2% | Claude Sonnet 5 |
| SWE-bench Pro | 63.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE Multilingual | 78.3% | 81.2% | Inkling 2 Small |
| SWE Multimodal | 28.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 80.4% | 85.1% | Inkling 2 Small |
| FrontierCode 1.1 Main | 42.7% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CursorBench 3.2 | 61.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| VulcanBench CII v1 | 89.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals) | 82.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench (Vals) | 79.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CursorBench 4.0 | 34.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| sweMarathon | Coming soon | 38.8% | Coming soon |
| DeepSWE | Coming soon | 72.1% | Coming soon |
| PostTrainBench v1.2 | Coming soon | 31.9% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Not comparable
- Claude Sonnet 5 public-lane score: 79.6 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 86.1 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| LongBench v2 | Coming soon | 70.6% | Coming soon |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Inkling 2 Small
- Claude Sonnet 5 public-lane score: 80.1 (#21/59)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 86.6 (#12/59)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| ParseBench | 61.16% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CharXiv | 88.3% | 87.7% | Claude Sonnet 5 |
| CharXiv w/o tools | 77% | 85.6% | Inkling 2 Small |
| Chartography (no tools) | Coming soon | 36.7% | Coming soon |
| Chartography (tools) | Coming soon | 80.4% | Coming soon |
| BabyVision | Coming soon | 68.6% | Coming soon |
| BabyVision w/ Python | Coming soon | 93.7% | Coming soon |
| ScreenSpot Pro | Coming soon | 83.8% | Coming soon |
| PerceptionBench | Coming soon | 64.7% | Coming soon |
| MathVision | Coming soon | 92.8% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Directional only
- Claude Sonnet 5 public-lane score: 64.5 (Supported · #35/178)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 60.4 (Estimated · #46/178)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| HLE | 57.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HLE w/o tools | 43.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HLE-Verified | 31.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LABBench2 | 80.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| GPQA Diamond (Vals) | 88.9% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MMLU-Pro (Vals) | 87.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| GPQA | Coming soon | 93% | Coming soon |
| GPQA-D | Coming soon | 93.0% | Coming soon |

### Mathematics

- Winner: Not comparable
- Claude Sonnet 5 public-lane score: 65.9 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)
- Inkling 2 Small public-lane score: 85.9 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Inkling 2 Small | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) | 65.614% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4) | 29.268% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HMMT Feb 2026 | Coming soon | 95.8% | Coming soon |
| Apex | Coming soon | 63.5% | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 5 or Inkling 2 Small?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the higher overall point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.

### Where is the biggest gap between Claude Sonnet 5 and Inkling 2 Small?

The widest category gap is in mathematics, where the averages are 65.9 for Claude Sonnet 5 and 85.9 for Inkling 2 Small.

### How many benchmarks does Claude Sonnet 5 cover on BenchLM?

Claude Sonnet 5 currently has 31 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

### How many benchmarks does Inkling 2 Small cover on BenchLM?

Inkling 2 Small currently has 25 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

## Related Comparisons

- [Claude Sonnet 5 vs Inkling-Small](/compare/claude-sonnet-5-vs-inkling-small)
- [Inkling 2 Small vs Inkling-Small](/compare/inkling-2-small-vs-inkling-small)
- [Claude Sonnet 5 vs Inkling](/compare/claude-sonnet-5-vs-inkling)
- [Inkling 2 Small vs Inkling](/compare/inkling-vs-inkling-2-small)

## Explore More

- [Claude Sonnet 5 profile](/models/claude-sonnet-5)
- [Inkling 2 Small profile](/models/inkling-2-small)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)