Model Comparison

Claude 3 Opus vs Grok-3Which is better in 2026?

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Grok-3 is 5.0x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs Grok-3 — which is better?

Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) and Grok-3 (by xAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-3 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, Grok-3 is roughly 5.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude 3 Opus also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude 3 Opus if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window

Choose Grok-3 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • cost matters — it's about 5.0x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-3 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Grok-3 costs less

For input processing, Claude 3 Opus ($15.00/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Grok-3 ($3.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude 3 Opus ($75.00/1M tokens) is 5.0x more expensive than Grok-3 ($15.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude 3 Opus is more expensive than Grok-3.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jul 04 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input tokens$15.00
Output tokens$75.00
Best providerAnthropic
xAI
Grok-3
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerxAI
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude 3 Opus accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Grok-3's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3 Opus can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Grok-3 is limited to 8,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
xAI
Grok-3
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Sat Jul 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude 3 Opus and Grok-3 support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude 3 Opus

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok-3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude 3 Opus

Proprietary

Closed source

Grok-3

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while Grok-3 was released on 2025-02-17.

Grok-3 is 12 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.

Claude 3 Opus

Feb 29, 2024

2.3 years ago

Grok-3

Feb 17, 2025

1.4 years ago

11mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date.

Claude 3 Opus

—

Grok-3

Nov 2024

Provider Availability

Claude 3 Opus is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Grok-3 is available from xAI.

Claude 3 Opus

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M

Grok-3

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
xAI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher GPQA score (84.6% vs 50.4%)
AnthropicClaude 3 Opus
xAIGrok-3
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude 3 Opus and Grok-3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude 3 Opus
✓ Preferred
Grok-3
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
xAI
Grok-3

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs Grok-3.

Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or Grok-3?

Grok-3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3 Opus is made by Anthropic and Grok-3 is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3 Opus compare to Grok-3 in benchmarks?

Claude 3 Opus scores ARC-C: 96.4%, HellaSwag: 95.4%, GSM8k: 95.0%, MGSM: 90.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 86.8%. Grok-3 scores AIME 2024: 93.3%, AIME 2025: 93.3%, GPQA: 84.6%, LiveCodeBench: 79.4%, MMMU: 78.0%.

Is Claude 3 Opus cheaper than Grok-3?

Grok-3 is 5.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude 3 Opus costs $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output via anthropic. Grok-3 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via xai.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3 Opus and Grok-3?

Claude 3 Opus supports 200K tokens and Grok-3 supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3 Opus and Grok-3?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 128K), input pricing ($15.00 vs $3.00/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3 Opus and Grok-3?

Claude 3 Opus is developed by Anthropic and Grok-3 is developed by xAI.

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