---
title: "Is Inkling still undominated? · Undominated.ai"
canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/thinkingmachines__inkling/
description: "Inkling: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Oct 6, 2026. Unrated stays unrated."
---

# Is Inkling still undominated? · Undominated.ai

> Inkling: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Oct 6, 2026. Unrated stays unrated.

# Is Inkling a good deal?

Whether anything in this catalogue beats Inkling on both quality and price, and what you give up if it does. A computation on the current catalogue, not an opinion.

12 undominated of 145 · Oct 6, 2026

 [1 · Choose & set workload](#check-input)[2 · Read verdict](#check-verdict)[3 · Inspect alternatives](#check-options)

As of Oct 6, 2026, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores higher and costs less than Inkling for Balanced on LMArena, but it is not a drop-in. You would give up: max output.

[Inspect model evidence](/models/thinkingmachines__inkling/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=thinkingmachines%2Finkling%2Cxiaomi%2Fmimo-v2.6-pro)

 Current model

Inkling

 Balanced

3 tokens in per 1 out

 Balanced Summarise Chat Code gen Agentic
 Monthly spend (USD) Used only to say how many months a named switching cost would take to earn back. Leave blank to skip. Switching cost (USD)

MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 49.2 points higher and costs 69% less, but you would give up: max output.

 [Inkling](https://undominated.ai/models/thinkingmachines__inkling/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1441.8

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$1.73/M

 [MiMo-V2.6-Pro](https://undominated.ai/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.6-pro/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1491.0

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$0.540/M

Inkling takes text, image, audio, returns up to 262,144 tokens from a 524,288-token context, and is listed by 2 sellers.

Compared against 145 rated, priced models on this lens: nothing dominates it outright, 5 more dominate it but give something up. Inkling scores 1441.8 at $1.73 per million tokens for this mix.

## Higher score, lower price, named losses

Not a drop-in. The loss is why these are not a recommendation.

| Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You give up |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [MiMo-V2.6-Pro](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.6-pro/) | 1491.0 | $0.540/M | max output |
| [Gemini 3.6 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.6-flash/) | 1479.5 | $1.50/M | max output |
| [GLM 5.3](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3/) | 1471.4 | $1.00/M | image, audio |
| [GLM 5.2](/models/z-ai__glm-5.2/) | 1470.4 | $1.12/M | max output, image, audio |
| [GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/) | 1469.6 | $0.238/M | audio |

 145 rated, priced standard models. Chartreuse is the frontier. Cobalt is the model you named, when it is not on the staircase.

Copy watch URL [Open the frontier](/frontier/)

The link keeps the model and mix, using the current catalogue. Monthly spend and switching cost stay in this browser tab and are left out of the link.

## Saved decision references

Save the model, workload, catalogue date and capability-preservation rule in this browser. Spend, switching cost and bill contents are not saved. No account or notifications.

Constraint: replacements must preserve the model’s capabilities; any losses remain named trade-offs.

Historical decisions cannot be fully replayed from saved references: past prices, scores and capability evidence are not stored.

 Save this reference

## Continue your investigation

 - [Build a shortlist](/compare/)
- [Inspect alternatives](/alternatives/)
- [Check billing conditions](/traps/)
- [Read model evidence](/models/)