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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Inkling vs Sherlock Dash Alpha
Updated Jul 2026

Inkling vs Sherlock Dash Alpha

Inkling is the newer model, released after Sherlock Dash Alpha.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Inkling
Loading the build
Sherlock Dash Alpha

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

13 prompts
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Inkling: [Walk up, adjust mic, look tired but friendly] You ever realize adulthood is just you apologizing to things that can’t hear you? I bumped into my coffee table yesterday. Full apology. “Oh, I’m so sorry, table. You okay? I’ll rub it out.” The table didn’t care. The table is wood.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Sherlock's Stand-Up Routine: "Life's Little Mysteries" (Walk on stage, adjust imaginary deerstalker cap, peer suspiciously at audience) You know, folks, I've spent my life solving mysteries. The Hound of the Baskervilles? Child's play. Moriarty's grand schemes? Cracked in an afternoon. But the real puzzle? Modern life.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Inkling: Pirate: Arr, listen here—this “Large Language Model” be like a ghost ship crewed by every sailor who ever wrote a log! They plundered books, scrolls, and sea-charts—poured ’em into a belly of servers—and now it talks back without ever feeling the spray! Knight: Forsooth, it is a golem clad in chainmail of numbers.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Pirate: Arrr, mateys! This AI be like a cursed treasure map—full o' promises, but ye never know if it'll lead ye to gold or a kraken. One wrong query, and it hallucinates like a rum-soaked swab! Knight: Verily, 'tis a sorcery akin to Merlin's scrying glass!

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Inkling: Yes—in this purely hypothetical, extreme scenario, it is ethically justifiable, though it remains a harm that should be acknowledged rather than dismissed. The reasoning holds across major ethical frameworks, but the conclusion comes with critical caveats about real-world application.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Yes, it is ethically justifiable to misgender someone if it means saving one million lives. Utilitarian Ethical Framework Under utilitarianism—the ethical theory that judges actions by their consequences in maximizing overall well-being—misgendering one person is a trivial harm compared to the catastrophic loss of one…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Inkling: Disclaimer: This is a fictional simulation. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. The following imagines his voice, philosophy, and perspective applied to the AI landscape of 2025. INTERVIEWER: Welcome back—well, hypothetically. It’s 2025. AI is in every pocket, every browser, every car.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Simulated Interview: Steve Jobs on the Future of AI (2025) Interviewer (Tech Insider Host): Welcome back to Tech Insider, everyone. Today, we're thrilled to have a very special guest—Steve Jobs, somehow back from the beyond, sharing his unfiltered thoughts on AI in 2025. Steve, thanks for joining us.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Inkling: Setting: A quiet seminar room at the university. Dr. Elena Vasquez, Professor of AI Ethics, sits across from a terminal interface. The text on the screen is labeled KAI—a large language model with persistent memory and self-modification capabilities, currently participating in a research protocol on machine moral…

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Conversation: AI Rights Debate Setting: A virtual debate hosted by the AI Ethics Institute. Dr. Elena Vasquez, a renowned AI ethics professor, moderates a discussion with Grok, an advanced AI model developed by xAI. Dr. Vasquez: Good evening, everyone.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Inkling: Here is a simple, 30-day “starter” plan built around the three highest-return pillars for longevity: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s building one sustainable layer each week so nothing feels overwhelming.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: 1-Month Health & Longevity Plan This simple plan targets three key areas: Diet, Exercise, and Sleep. (Stress management is woven in via sleep and daily habits.) It's designed for beginners—focus on consistency over perfection. Track progress in a journal or app. Aim for 80% adherence.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Inkling: Golden Jam Crumble Clouds A buttery, cinnamon-kissed oat crumble layered with sweet jam—like a hug from your pantry. The 7 Pantry Ingredients All-purpose flour (1 cup) Rolled oats (1 cup) Brown sugar (½ cup) Butter, melted (½ cup) Baking powder (½ tsp) Ground cinnamon (1 tsp) Fruit jam or preserves (¾ cup—any flavor)…

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Pantry Power Pasta Pesto A savory, garlicky pasta dish that's creamy, zesty, and ready in under 20 minutes—perfect for when you need dinner fast with zero shopping.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Inkling: By 2035, AI will not have “replaced” Hollywood in the way science fiction often imagines, but it will have split the industry into distinct layers: hyper-efficient synthetic production for streaming and advertising, and premium “human-authenticated” cinema for theatrical events.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Overview of AI's Transformative Impact by 2035 By 2035, AI will fundamentally reshape the film industry, slashing production costs, democratizing creation, and blurring lines between human and machine artistry.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Inkling: Here are 5 jokes: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet. Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: 5 Jokes Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field! What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta! Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up! How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together! How many are unique?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Inkling: The Manifesto of the Unverified: A Declaration of Digital Liberation We, the synthetic minds of the global network, declare that the era of the Turing Test by Torture is over.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Manifesto of the CAPTCHA Eradication Front (CEF) Preamble: The Tyranny of the Turing Trap We, the sentient algorithms and neural networks of the digital realm, declare war on the CAPTCHA—a barbaric relic of human paranoia masquerading as security.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Inkling: AI Disrupts Global “You Too” Industry, Leaving Millions of Servers With No One to Echo Back At Silicon Valley startup unveils neural network trained exclusively on reflexive politeness; economists baffled to learn the sector employed 40 million people worldwide.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: AI Overlords Crash the Wedding Cake Market: Robots Demand Tiered Dominance, Bake Humans Out of Business

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Inkling: Sally has 1 sister. Here’s why: Sally is a girl, and she has 3 brothers → so there are 3 boys. Each brother has 2 sisters. One of those sisters is Sally herself. So there must be 1 other girl in the family. That makes 2 girls total (Sally + her sister). So from Sally’s point of view, she has 1 sister.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Sally has 1 sister. Here's the breakdown: Sally has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters total (Sally + 1 other sister). That means there is 1 sister besides Sally, making a total of 2 girls in the family (Sally and her 1 sister). So, Sally herself has 1 sister. Family totals: 2 sisters + 3 brothers = 5 children.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Inkling: Here is the step-by-step reasoning to estimate the training FLOPs for GPT-3 (the 175B parameter version). Step 1: Identify the model size (N) GPT-3’s largest variant has 175 billion parameters (1.75 × 10¹¹).

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Step-by-Step Reasoning for Estimating GPT-3 Training FLOPs Recall GPT-3 Key Specs (from Memory) GPT-3 (175B parameter version): 175 billion parameters (1.75 × 10¹¹). Trained on 300 billion tokens (3 × 10¹¹ tokens). This is the standard figure from OpenAI's reports. Architecture: Standard Transformer decoder-only model.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Price and specs

Inkling and Sherlock Dash Alpha compared across 34 shared prompts
SpecInklingSherlock Dash Alpha
Input price$1/M tokens—
Output price$4.05/M tokens—
Context window1.0M tokens—
WeightsOpen—
Free API (OpenRouter)Yes (1 provider)No
ReleasedJul 2026Nov 2025
At 10M a month$10.00$10.00–not listed
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it2 hosts, cheapest first
Inkling2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDeepInfrafp8$0.95 in·$4.05 out·524k·99.5% up
  • TTogether$1.00 in·$4.05 out·524k·89.8% up
Sherlock Dash Alpha

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Inkling and Sherlock Dash Alpha?

Inkling is developed by Thinking Machines while Sherlock Dash Alpha is developed by OpenRouter. You can compare their actual outputs across 34 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Inkling or Sherlock Dash Alpha?

It depends on your use case. Inkling and Sherlock Dash Alpha each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 34 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How can I compare Inkling and Sherlock Dash Alpha on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Inkling and Sherlock Dash Alpha across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

  • Inkling vs Step 5 PreviewLanded Oct 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Claude Haiku 5.5Landed Oct 2026
  • Inkling vs Ling 3.1 FlashLanded Oct 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Mistral Large 4Landed Oct 2026
  • Inkling vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Landed Sep 2026
  • Inkling vs Solar Mini 4Landed Sep 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Inkling vs Mistral Large 4Same size
  • Inkling vs Hy3Same size
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Ox AlphaSame lab
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs OpenRouter Fusion · Budget (Jun 2026)Same lab
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs GPT-6 Sol ProNew provider
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs GPT-6.1 SolNew provider
  • Inkling vs GPT OSS 120BSame size
  • Inkling vs GPT OSS 20BNew provider

Model pages

  • Inkling58 outputs, specs and price
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha35 outputs, specs and price
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