GPT-6 Astra vs Inkling: Specs & Benchmark Comparison

GPT-6 Astra is developed by OpenAI, while Inkling comes from Thinking Machines Lab. Inkling was released in July 2026, and GPT-6 Astra followed 2 months later in September 2026. Inkling has a published size of about 975 billion parameters; OpenAI has not disclosed the parameter count of GPT-6 Astra.

We have 22 benchmark results for GPT-6 Astra and 16 benchmark results for Inkling, but they overlap on a single test: Humanity's Last Exam (with tools, text-only), where GPT-6 Astra scores 57.2% against 46.0%.

Inkling is the cheaper API at $0.95 per million input tokens and $4.05 per million output tokens, roughly 11 times cheaper than GPT-6 Astra at $10 and $50. GPT-6 Astra takes the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared with 524K for Inkling. GPT-6 Astra accepts text and images as input, while Inkling accepts text, images, and audio. On tooling, only GPT-6 Astra supports function calling and only GPT-6 Astra offers structured output.

CharacteristicGPT-6 AstraInkling
CompanyOpenAIThinking Machines Lab
Release DateSeptember 4, 2026July 21, 2026
Parameters—975B
MultimodalYesYes
Context (input)1.1M524K
Context (output)128K524K
Input Price / 1M$10.00$0.95
Output Price / 1M$50.00$4.05
Average Score74.4%61.8%
Benchmarks
Humanity's Last Exam (with tools, text-only)57.2%46.0%

Visual Benchmark Comparison

GPT-6 Astra
Inkling
Humanity's Last Exam (with tools, text-only)0.6 vs 0.5
0.6
0.5

Verdict

GPT-6 Astra leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.

Overall Performance

Both models show comparable average scores: GPT-6 Astra — 0.7, Inkling — 0.6.

API Cost

Inkling is 12.0x cheaper: input $0.95/1M vs $10.00/1M tokens.

Context Window

GPT-6 Astra supports a larger context: 1M vs 524K tokens.

Recency

GPT-6 Astra is newer: released 9/4/2026 vs 7/21/2026.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better for coding — GPT-6 Astra or Inkling?
Direct comparison on the SWE-Bench benchmark is not available. We recommend reviewing other metrics on the comparison page.
Which model is cheaper — GPT-6 Astra or Inkling?
Inkling is cheaper for input: $0.95 per 1M tokens vs $10.00.
Which has a larger context window — GPT-6 Astra or Inkling?
GPT-6 Astra supports a larger context: 1,050,000 tokens vs 524,288.

The GPT-6 Astra and Inkling comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the GPT-6 Astra or Inkling page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.