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Model comparison

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Inkling

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 25 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

65.32/100
Margin
2.2pts
winning →
Inkling
Thinking Machines Lab
67.54/100
4 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 5 #29 (Estimated); Inkling #20 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 5 and Inkling share 25 comparable benchmark results. 4 of 8 categories are comparable. 11 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 5; 7 to Inkling.

Updated July 23, 2026
Shared results
25
Claude Sonnet 5 only
11
Inkling only
7
Comparable categories
4 / 8

Pick Inkling if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude Sonnet 5 only becomes the better choice if agentic is the priority or you want the stronger reasoning-first profile.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 25 shared benchmark results across 5 evidence categories; 4 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Inkling has the cleaner BenchAlign overall profile here, landing at 67.54 versus 65.32. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.

Claude Sonnet 5 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens for Inkling. That is roughly 2.1x on output cost alone. Claude Sonnet 5 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.

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 Claude Sonnet 5 and Inkling
CategoryClaude Sonnet 5ΔInkling
AgenticClaude Sonnet 581.9Margin← 12.5Inkling69.4
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 588.3Margin← 11.8Inkling76.5
CodingClaude Sonnet 576.7Margin← 8.1Inkling68.6
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 557.4Margin← 5.8Inkling51.6
MathClaude Sonnet 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapInkling97.1
Inst. FollowingClaude Sonnet 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapInkling79.8

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · Claude Sonnet 5B · Inkling

  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 80.4%B 63.8%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 16.6
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 80.4%; Inkling scored 63.8%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  2. HLE

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 57.4%B 46%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 11.4
    HLE: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 57.4%; Inkling scored 46%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  3. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 63.2%B 54.3%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 8.9
    SWE-bench Pro: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 63.2%; Inkling scored 54.3%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  4. BrowseComp

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 84.7%B 77.1%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 7.6
    BrowseComp: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 84.7%; Inkling scored 77.1%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  5. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 85.2%B 77.6%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 7.6
    SWE-bench Verified: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 85.2%; Inkling scored 77.6%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

MetricClaude Sonnet 5InklingComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude Sonnet 5$2 input / $10 outputInkling$1.87 input / $4.68 outputInkling has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude Sonnet 5Not availableInklingNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude Sonnet 5Not availableInklingNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude Sonnet 51MInkling1MListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%63.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
BrowseCompSource 84.7%77.1%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
HLE w/ toolsSource 57.4%—Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 81.2%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 16071239Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA Agentic IndexSource 46.7%32.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
GDPval-AASource 55.4%36.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA BriefcaseSource 1388836Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA AutomationBenchSource 39.2%—Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 44.7%—Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 90.1%—Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 28.2%23.7%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
aaTerminalBench21Source 80.5%—Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource —74.1%Not comparable
Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource —1257Not comparable
CodingClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 85.2%77.6%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE-bench ProSource 63.2%54.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE MultilingualSource 78.3%—Not comparable
SWE MultimodalSource 28.1%—Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%63.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource 42.7%—Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 61.5%—Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 71.5%52.1%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-SciCodeSource 53.6%46.1%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
AA-LCRSource 70.7%63.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
CritPtSource 16.9%5.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
HLESource 57.4%46%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
HLE w/o toolsSource 43.2%30%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 53.4%40.7%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 91.1%87.2%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-HLESource 39.6%29.7%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 15.3%2.1%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 38.3%40.0%Inkling leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 37.3%63.1%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
GPQASource —87.9%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource —87.9%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
AIME26Source —97.1%Not comparable
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
CharXivSource 88.3%82%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 77%78.1%Inkling leads
AA-MMMU-ProSource 77.3%73.5%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1314—Not comparable
MMMU-ProSource —73.5%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5InklingResult
IFBenchSource —79.8%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (5)

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or Inkling?

Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 67.54 to 65.32. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 80.4% and 63.8%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Inkling?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 57.4 versus 51.6. Inside this category, AA-Omniscience Hallucination Rate is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Inkling?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 68.6. Inside this category, AA Coding Index is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Inkling?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.9 versus 69.4. Inside this category, AA Briefcase is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Inkling?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 76.5. Inside this category, CharXiv is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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