AI model comparison

Beam 1.0 501B A23B vs Inkling

Side by side comparison of Beam 1.0 501B A23B and Inkling on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.

Beam 1.0 is Reflection's open-weight reasoning model for coding and long-horizon agentic workflows.

Input / 1M
$0.25
Output / 1M
$1
Context
1.05M

Inkling is an open-weight multimodal mixture-of-experts model from Thinking Machines Lab, with 41B active parameters out of 975B total.

Input / 1M
$1
Output / 1M
$4.05
Context
524K

Comparing image generators? Compare image models

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

reflection logo

Beam 1.0 501B A23B

4.0x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

reflection logo

Beam 1.0 501B A23B

17.7 vs 12.5 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

reflection logo

Beam 1.0 501B A23B

1.05M vs 524K tokens

Newer release

reflection logo

Beam 1.0 501B A23B

Released October 16, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

reflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23B17.7
thinkingmachines logoInkling12.5

Coding index

reflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23BNot available
thinkingmachines logoInkling52.1

Agentic index

reflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23BNot available
thinkingmachines logoInkling22.5

Pricing

Beam 1.0 501B A23B vs Inkling API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricreflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23Bthinkingmachines logoInkling
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.25$1
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$1$4.05
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.05$0.17
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot available

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

reflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23B$1
thinkingmachines logoInkling$4.03

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

reflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23B$11.50$5.50 cached
thinkingmachines logoInkling$46.20$21.30 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

reflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23B$39.50$9.50 cached
thinkingmachines logoInkling$158.10$33.60 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricreflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23Bthinkingmachines logoInkling
Context window1.05M tokens524K tokens
Max output131K tokens472K tokens
Input typesTextAudio, Image, Text
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsMax, Extra high, High, Medium, LowMax, High, Medium, Low, Minimal, None
Default reasoning effortMaxHigh
Release dateOctober 16, 2026July 17, 2026

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricreflection logoBeam 1.0 501B A23Bthinkingmachines logoInkling
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedNot supported
JSON modeSupportedNot supported
ReasoningSupportedSupported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedNot supported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

Beam 1.0 501B A23B is 4.0x cheaper for a typical chat. Beam 1.0 501B A23B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (17.7 vs 12.5). Beam 1.0 501B A23B has the larger context window (1.05M vs 524K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Beam 1.0 501B A23B or Inkling cheaper?

Beam 1.0 501B A23B is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Beam 1.0 501B A23B costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $1 per 1M output tokens, while Inkling costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $4.05 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Beam 1.0 501B A23B or Inkling?

Beam 1.0 501B A23B supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 524K for Inkling.

Is Beam 1.0 501B A23B smarter than Inkling?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Beam 1.0 501B A23B scores 17.7 and Inkling scores 12.5, putting Beam 1.0 501B A23B ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Beam 1.0 501B A23B and Inkling at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Beam 1.0 501B A23B and Inkling answer side by side and keep the better response.

reflection logothinkingmachines logo

Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Beam 1.0 501B A23B and Inkling at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.