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Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Grok 4.6

Comparing Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Anthropic · xAI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6 trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

On price, Grok 4.6 is roughly 2.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Grok 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (500,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5

  • you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output

Choose Grok 4.6

  • cost matters — it's about 2.0x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 500,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 4.5
Anthropic
Grok 4.6
xAI
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$3.00 / M
$2.00 / M
Output price
$15.00 / M
$6.00 / M
Context window
200,000
500,000
Released
Sep 2025
Aug 2026
License
Proprietary
Proprietary

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Grok 4.6 costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Grok 4.6 ($2.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 2.5x more expensive than Grok 4.6 ($6.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.5 is more expensive than Grok 4.6.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$6.00
Best providerxAI
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Grok 4.6 accepts 500,000 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4.5's 200,000 tokens. Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 specifies output context (64,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input500,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6 support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok 4.6

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 Sonnet 4.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Grok 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29, while Grok 4.6 was released on 2026-08-12.

Grok 4.6 is 11 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Sep 29, 2025

11 months ago

Grok 4.6

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

10mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Grok 4.6 has a cutoff of 2026-02-01.

Grok 4.6 has more recent training data (up to 2026-02-01), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to Claude Sonnet 4.5 (2025-01-31).

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Jan 2025

Grok 4.6

Feb 2026

1.1 yr newer

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is available from Anthropic. Grok 4.6 is available from xAI.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

Grok 4.6

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 4.5
✓ Preferred
Grok 4.6
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Grok 4.6.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Grok 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Anthropic) and Grok 4.6 (xAI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Claude Sonnet 4.5 compare to Grok 4.6 in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores MMMLU: 89.1%, AIME 2025: 87.0%, TAU-bench Retail: 86.2%, GPQA: 83.4%, MMMUval: 77.8%. Grok 4.6 scores CursorBench v3.2: 69.9%, DeepSWE 1.1: 65.9%, FrontierCode: 61.3%, AA-Index: 61.0%, GDPval-AA: 58.4%.

Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 cheaper than Grok 4.6?

Grok 4.6 is 1.5x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. Grok 4.6 costs $2.00/M input and $6.00/M output via xai.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200K tokens and Grok 4.6 supports 500K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 500K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $2.00/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Grok 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is developed by Anthropic and Grok 4.6 is developed by xAI.

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