Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run
Inkling 2 Small vs OpenAI API
OpenAI API scores 83.9 (A) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do llm inference.
Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 596 models comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Developers who want a capable multimodal open-family model through an OpenAI-compatible API today, or to fine-tune it on Tinker, and who can live with a beta surface until the weights are published.
No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.
Watch for
Serverless inference and the OpenAI-compatible API are both labelled beta, with a waitlist for higher throughput
Best for Agents that want one vendor for text, images, audio, hosted tools and remote MCP, with strict schemas and fine-grained keys, and four GPT-6 price points from Luna to Astra.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 75 against 30
- Schema & documentation, 100 against 70
- Agent ergonomics, 98 against 62
- Security & auth, 100 against 57
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 90 against 64
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
Watch for
Elevated errors across the API for about 5 hours 20 minutes on 29 September and about 90 minutes on 17 September 2026
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Reliability OpenAI API +45
Inkling 2 Small 30
Model reading, for the surface it's called on, Tinker's serverless inference and OpenAI-compatible API. No status page found, per the tinker listing's checks of 1 October and 4 November (0), so no readable incident history (5). The only published limit is the in-flight sample cap of 2,000, per the tinker listing's 1 October check; the OpenAI-compatible page gives no numbers and says higher or more stable throughput needs the waitlist (10). The SDK retries sampling with stable request IDs, per the tinker listing's reading of the SDK repository; the OpenAI-compatible page has no retry guidance (15). No SLA found (0). Serverless inference is 'currently in beta' on the models and pricing page and the OpenAI-compatible API is labelled Beta, read 6 November (0). 0 + 5 + 10 + 15 + 0 + 0 = 30.
OpenAI API 75
Status page at status.openai.com with component history (20). Two API-wide majors in the 90 days to 1 November, elevated errors across ChatGPT, Codex and the API (the Agents API included) on 29 September, with Chat Completions, Responses, Batch, Realtime, Embeddings, Images, Files and the other API components degraded from 17:52 to 23:14 UTC, and elevated error rates across API models on 17 September, with eleven components degraded from 20:20 to 21:20 UTC. Two majors give 5 of 30. The 25 July incident is now outside the window. The 29 September write-up, posted on 6 October, traces it to a feature rollout that exhausted shared network connection capacity. Every other incident since 3 August that lists an API component is partial or under an hour, so minor. Degraded performance across ChatGPT, Codex and the APIs on 21 October listed every API component but ran 22 minutes (02:26 to 02:48 UTC). Single-model incidents were GPT-5.6 Sol errors on 11 September (09:08 to 11:21 UTC), gpt-5.6-luna errors on 21 October (70 minutes) and GPT-6.1 Sol degraded performance on Batch, Chat Completions and Responses on 27 October (78 minutes). Partial incidents were latency for some Responses requests on the US endpoint on 31 August and 1 September, image generation where some requests failed on 8 September, latency for some Responses and Chat Completions requests on 30 September, large-PDF errors in Responses and an Agents API computer use incident on 6 October, Responses errors for users in India, Japan and Korea on 22 October and errors on some GPT Image 2 edit requests on 30 October (14:35 to 18:36 UTC). Image model incidents on 16 September and 14 October and file download errors on 19 October each ran about 40 minutes. FedRAMP errors for Astra and Sol on 21 October and authentication errors near Illinois on 20 October list no API component. Rate limits published per tier and model family with rate-limit headers (15). 429 guidance, re-read on 1 November, covers Retry-After as a minimum wait, backoff with jitter when it's missing, a gradual ramp, and splits slow_down (429) from server_is_overloaded (503) (15). Scale Tier carries a 99.9% uptime SLA, through sales, per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November (10). Responses and Chat Completions are GA (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 10 + 10 = 75.
Security & auth OpenAI API +43
Inkling 2 Small 57
Platform readings are the tinker listing's. Revocable API keys from the console, with no per-key scopes found (20). Org, team and project permissions with no read-only role (5). The model returns its own completions, no third-party content (10). get_audit_log() for admins (15). security.txt with a reporting address and no stated acknowledgement time (7). For the model reading, Tinker's terms commit not to use Customer Content for training, recorded under transparency. 20 + 5 + 10 + 15 + 7 = 57.
OpenAI API 100
Model reading. Project keys with All, Restricted (per-endpoint None, Read or Write) and Read Only permissions, service accounts, and mutual TLS with X.509 workload identity GA since 26 August, per the 1 October check. The changelog adds project key expiry dates on 10 September, key-creation controls on 15 September and, on 21 October, organisation and project settings that limit which service tiers a project may use (30). API data not used for training unless the customer opts in, since 1 March 2023 (20). Abuse-monitoring logs kept up to 30 days, and Zero Data Retention or Modified Abuse Monitoring by approval. The data-controls guide re-read on 1 November lists Chat Completions, Responses, Decisions and ten other endpoints as ZDR-eligible; /v1/agents, Conversations, Files and vector stores aren't (15). Usage and Costs filter by API key since 4 August, with Admin APIs to match, and audit logs for enterprise (15). SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701 and 42001 per the 1 October check, not re-read on 1 November, a Bugcrowd bug bounty and a coordinated disclosure policy, both linked from a signed security.txt. That security.txt had no Expires field on 27 October, which RFC 9116 requires, so the disclosure policy carries this line. It wasn't re-read on 1 November (20).
Agent ergonomics OpenAI API +36
Inkling 2 Small 62
Model reading (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs). A 256K served context, max_tokens and a priced cache at $0.03 per million; tool use isn't documented for this model (15 of 25). Output-size controls through max_tokens, reasoning_effort and separate_reasoning (15 of 20). One documented error, the 400 for unsupported reasoning_effort (5 of 20). Stable request IDs make SDK sampling retries safe, per the tinker listing (15 of 20). OpenAI's SDKs work against the endpoint, with Tinker's Python SDK besides, and reasoning defaults to 0.9 (12 of 15). 15 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 12 = 62.
OpenAI API 98
Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool use with parallel calls and forced tool choice, 18 of 20 because GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6.1 Terra call tools only through the Responses API (18). Strict structured outputs (15). Automatic prompt caching with cached input at 0.1x on Astra and Luna ($0.01 per million on Luna) and 0.05x on GPT-6.1 Sol ($0.10) and GPT-6.1 Terra ($0.05), and a 12-hour cache lifetime in the Responses API since 20 October (15). 1.05M context on Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra and Luna (15). Batch at half price (10). Official SDKs in Python, JavaScript and more (10). Documented error codes with retry guidance (15).
Schema & documentation OpenAI API +30
Inkling 2 Small 70
Model reading. No OpenAPI file of its own; the OpenAI-compatible chat and completions endpoints and the typed Python SDK are the contract, as the tinker listing reads it (15). llms.txt on the docs host, per the tinker listing's 1 October check (10). The model card states intended use (agentic and tool-use systems, coding assistants, chatbots, RAG), inputs, outputs and limitations, and the launch post its benchmarks (16 of 20). Model IDs, context lengths and the reasoning_effort values (none to xhigh, or 0.0 to 0.99) are documented; the tool-call format and structured output aren't, for this model (8 of 15). A Python example and an HTTP 400 for models without reasoning_effort, with no error page (6 of 15). A dated Tinker changelog and a model deprecations page, per the tinker listing (15). 15 + 10 + 16 + 8 + 6 + 15 = 70.
OpenAI API 100
Official OpenAPI document (openapi.yaml and openapi.json) in the openai/openai-openapi repository, whose openapi.yaml (version 2.3.0, updated 31 October) lists gpt-6.1-terra (25). llms.txt index with per-product files, and every docs page has a Markdown twin at .md (10). The reference documents each parameter, and model pages say which model fits which job (20). Structured outputs with strict: true on schemas and function tools (15). Error codes guide with types and recovery advice, now with a 400 service_tier error for tiers a project doesn't allow (15). Dated model snapshots and a dated changelog, last entry 30 October (15).
Transparency & trust OpenAI API +26
Inkling 2 Small 64
Editorial half. Closed for now under the Tinker Terms of Use and the Model Acceptable Use Policy, per the model card, with Apache 2.0 weights promised the week after launch (15). Terms commit not to use Customer Content for training, keep it only as needed, with a DPA and deletion on request; the privacy notice wasn't re-read, per the tinker listing (15). Dated deprecation notices with no stated period (15). The DPA annex names Google Cloud, Cloudflare, WorkOS and OpenAI with service and location (15). 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 60.
OpenAI API 90
Closed service with clear terms, SDKs Apache-2.0 (15). The data-controls guide, re-read on 1 November, gives retention periods per endpoint, the training default and the ZDR route. The DPA, effective 1 January 2026, commits to return or deletion of customer data on termination, 30 days to object to a new subprocessor, and SCCs with the UK Addendum for transfers, and nothing in it conflicts with the guide, per the 4 October check, not re-read on 1 November (30). Deprecations page with announcement and shutdown dates, and GET /v1/models returns each model's shutdown_date (20). The subprocessor list, updated 9 July 2026, names its third-party subprocessors and OpenAI affiliates with the processing countries for each and a form to get notice of new ones, and data residency regions are listed, per the 4 October check, not re-read on 1 November (20).
Maintenance & community OpenAI API +12
Inkling 2 Small 75
Model reading. Released 5 November 2026 (30). Churn and notice in place of release counts: Inkling, Inkling-Small (30 July) and Inkling 2 Small in about four months, and a deprecations page with dated retirements and a promise to 'aim to give advance notice' by email, with no stated period, per the tinker listing (10 of 20). A public changelog and a support address and Discord, per the tinker listing (10 of 15). Current official SDKs, Tinker's Python SDK and the OpenAI-compatible endpoint (15). SDK and cookbook CI, per the tinker listing (10). 30 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 10 = 75.
OpenAI API 87
Model reading. GPT-6 Rosalind, a life-sciences model for approved organisations, launched on 30 October, after GPT-6.1 Terra on 26 October and the Decisions API GA on 22 October (30). Published minimum notice of 6 months for GA models, 3 months for specialised variants, as little as 2 weeks for previews. On 14 October GPT-4o (gpt-4o-2024-08-06, gpt-4o-2024-11-20), GPT-4o mini, GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini were given a shutdown date of 14 January 2027, 92 days, with no safety or compliance reason stated. These are GA models, so the page's own 6-month minimum wasn't kept, as with gpt-5.4-cyber's 20 days in September. 8 of 12, the award for a minimum of two to three months in practice. Five shutdown dates in the 90 days to 1 November, the Assistants API on 26 August (announced in August 2025), gpt-5.2-chat-latest and gpt-5.3-chat-latest on 10 August (announced 8 May), gpt-3.5-turbo-instruct, babbage-002, davinci-002 and gpt-3.5-turbo-1106 on 28 September (announced 26 September 2025, missed in the 27 October count), gpt-5.4-cyber on 1 October and the legacy snapshots on 23 October (announced 22 April). Sora 2 and the Videos API (24 September) are scored on the openai-sora listing. Four of the five kept the published notice, so 4 of 8 as before, as amazon-bedrock has for four dates after full notice. Dated changelog several times a month and a help centre (15 of 15). openai-python had 215 open issues per the 1 October check, replies not sampled (5 of 10). Current official SDKs, openai 3.42.0 on PyPI (31 October) and npm openai 7.47.0 (15). Supported runtimes stated, Python 3.10 or later and Node 22 or later, the npm package's engines re-read on 1 November (10).
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Inkling 2 Small | OpenAI API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 30 | 75 | OpenAI API +45 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 70 | 100 | OpenAI API +30 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 62 | 98 | OpenAI API +36 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 57 | 100 | OpenAI API +43 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 20 | 30 | OpenAI API +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 75 | 87 | OpenAI API +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 64 | 90 | OpenAI API +26 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | D 52.1/100 | A 83.9/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Inkling 2 Small | OpenAI API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Thinking Machines Lab | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1 | https://api.openai.com/v1 |
| Transports | HTTP | |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary for now, used through Tinker under the Tinker Terms of Use and Thinking Machines' Model Acceptable Use Policy, per the model card. Thinking Machines says it will publish the weights under Apache 2.0 the week after launch, once outside safety testing is done | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-05 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 31k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (8) |
How the scores have moved
Inkling 2 Small
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
Inkling 2 Small
A new multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines, callable today through Tinker's OpenAI-compatible endpoint at $0.30 and $1.00 per million tokens, with strong vendor-reported coding and agent scores. Tinker's serverless inference is beta, with no status page or SLA, and the weights aren't public yet.
OpenAI API
Official OpenAPI document and an llms.txt index. Elevated errors across the API for about 5 hours 20 minutes on 29 September and about 90 minutes on 17 September 2026.
Before you call either
Inkling 2 Small
- Call https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1 with an OpenAI client and TINKER_API_KEY, using /chat/completions
- The serverless model ID is thinkingmachines/Inkling-2-Small:peft:262144:sampling-nvfp4, per Tinker's pricing page. The OpenAI page's examples use your own checkpoint paths, so confirm it before relying on it
- Pass reasoning_effort as none to xhigh or 0.0 to 0.99 (default 0.9); reasoning arrives in reasoning_content unless separate_reasoning is false
- Keep images between 40 and 4096 px a side, per the model card
- Validate JSON yourself, since structured output and the tool-call format aren't documented
- Plan for a move to open weights. When they publish, the open-weights listing will carry sizes and runtimes
OpenAI API
- Build on the Responses API. Astra calls tools only there
- Use
gpt-6-lunafor routing and extraction,gpt-6.1-terrafor screens, images and computer use at half Sol's price, andgpt-6.1-solfor most work. The models page still points unsure callers togpt-6-astra - Move off the GPT-4o and GPT-4.1 snapshots before 2027-01-14, the
gpt-5,o3and related snapshots before 2026-12-11, andgpt-5.1,gpt-5.3-codexandgpt-5.4-nanobefore 2027-04-01. Checkshutdown_dateonGET /v1/models - Treat 429
slow_downas a ramp limit and 503server_is_overloadedas a retry, and followRetry-Afterwhen it's sent - Prompts over 272K tokens cost double on input. Trim before you pay for it
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Inkling 2 Small or OpenAI API?
OpenAI API scores 83.9 (A) on agent readiness against Inkling 2 Small's 52.1 (D), and leads in every scored category.
Do Inkling 2 Small and OpenAI API need an API key?
Both need an API key.
Can an agent call Inkling 2 Small and OpenAI API without installing anything?
Yes. Inkling 2 Small has a hosted endpoint at https://tinker.thinkingmachines.dev/services/tinker-prod/oai/api/v1 and OpenAI API at https://api.openai.com/v1.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/inkling-2-small-vs-openai-api.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/inkling-2-small.json·/api/v1/tools/openai-api.json - From a terminal
anchor compare inkling-2-small openai-api(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "inkling-2-small", "b": "openai-api"}at/mcp, no key