Thinking Machines: Models Intelligence, Performance & Price
Analysis of Thinking Machines's models across key metrics including quality, price, output speed, latency, context window & more. This analysis is intended to support you in choosing the best model provided by Thinking Machines for your use-case.
Most Intelligent
Intelligence index
Total 2 models
Fastest
Output speed
Total 2 models
Lowest Price
Blended price (per 1M tokens)
Total 2 models
Thinking Machines offers 2 models, each with different intelligence, performance, and pricing characteristics. Below is a comparison of the key metrics across models.
- For intelligence, the top models on Thinking Machines are Inkling (41) and Inkling Small (40).
- For output speed, the fastest models are Inkling Small (136 t/s) and Inkling (81 t/s).
- For latency, Inkling Small (16.34s) and Inkling (26.56s) offer the lowest time to first answer token.
- For pricing, Inkling Small ($0.22) and Inkling ($0.72) offer the lowest blended prices per 1M tokens.
- For context window size, Inkling (262k) and Inkling Small (256k) support the largest context windows on Thinking Machines.
- Inkling Small offers both the fastest output and best pricing, making it attractive for throughput-sensitive and cost-conscious applications. Inkling leads in intelligence for tasks that require the highest quality.
Highlights
Intelligence Evaluations
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Intelligence Evaluations
Agentic real-world work tasks, (Elo-500)/2000
Agentic tool use
Agentic coding & terminal use
Coding
Reasoning & knowledge
Scientific reasoning
Physics reasoning
Knowledge
1 - hallucination rate
Long context reasoning
Agentic knowledge work, Elo
Agentic SaaS workflows
Legal agentic work, criterion pass rate
Agentic business operations
Instruction following
Long-horizon agentic tasks
Kubernetes incident root-cause analysis
Visual reasoning
Intelligence Index vs. Price
Context Window
Context Window
Pricing
Intelligence Index vs. Price
Performance Summary
Output Speed vs. Price
Speed
Measured by Output Speed (tokens per second)
Output Speed
Latency
Measured by Time (seconds) to First Token
Latency: Time To First Answer Token
End-to-End Response Time
Seconds to output 500 tokens, calculated based on time to first token, 'thinking' time for reasoning models, and output speed
End-to-End Response Time vs. Price
Key definitions
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Thinking Machines
Thinking Machines offers 2 models that we track: Inkling and Inkling Small.
The most intelligent model available on Thinking Machines is Inkling with an Intelligence Index score of 41.
The fastest model on Thinking Machines by output speed is Inkling Small at 135.5 tokens per second.
The model with the lowest time to first answer token on Thinking Machines is Inkling Small at 16.34s. Lower latency means faster initial response time.
The most affordable model on Thinking Machines by blended price is Inkling Small at $0.22 per 1M tokens (7:2:1 cache hit/input/output ratio).
Prices on Thinking Machines vary up to 3x across models, from $0.22 per 1M tokens for Inkling Small to $0.72 per 1M tokens for Inkling.
Yes, Thinking Machines offers an OpenAI-compatible API, making it easy to switch from OpenAI or use existing OpenAI SDK integrations.
Yes, all 2 models on Thinking Machines support JSON mode for structured output.
Yes, all 2 models on Thinking Machines support function calling (tool use).
Yes, Thinking Machines offers 2 reasoning models: Inkling and Inkling Small. Reasoning models use extended thinking to work through complex problems before providing an answer.
Yes, all 2 models on Thinking Machines are open weight models.
Yes, provider performance can vary over time due to infrastructure changes, load balancing, and updates. We continuously benchmark all providers and display historical performance trends in the "Over Time" charts.
When choosing a model on Thinking Machines, consider: intelligence (for quality-sensitive tasks), output speed (for throughput-intensive tasks), latency (for interactive applications requiring quick first responses), pricing (for cost-sensitive workloads), and features like context window size, JSON mode, or function calling support.