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Grok-3 Mini vs Grok 4.6

Comparing Grok-3 Mini and Grok 4.6 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

xAI · xAI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok-3 Mini and Grok 4.6 trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

On price, Grok-3 Mini is roughly 8.6x 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 Grok-3 Mini

  • cost matters — it's about 8.6x cheaper per token

Choose Grok 4.6

  • 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.

Grok-3 Mini
xAI
Grok 4.6
xAI
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.30 / M
$2.00 / M
Output price
$0.50 / M
$6.00 / M
Context window
128,000
500,000
Released
Feb 2025
Aug 2026
License
Proprietary
Proprietary

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Grok-3 Mini 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-3 Mini costs less

For input processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens) is 6.7x cheaper than Grok 4.6 ($2.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens) is 12.0x cheaper than Grok 4.6 ($6.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok 4.6 is more expensive than Grok-3 Mini.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerxAI
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 Grok-3 Mini's 128,000 tokens. Only Grok-3 Mini specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input500,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Grok-3 Mini and Grok 4.6 support multimodal inputs.

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

Grok-3 Mini

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.

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Grok 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17, while Grok 4.6 was released on 2026-08-12.

Grok 4.6 is 18 months newer than Grok-3 Mini.

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.5 years ago

Grok 4.6

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.5yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, 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 Grok-3 Mini (2024-11-17).

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Grok 4.6

Feb 2026

1.3 yr newer

Provider Availability

Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. Grok 4.6 is available from xAI.

Grok-3 Mini

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M

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 Grok-3 Mini and Grok 4.6 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-3 Mini
✓ Preferred
Grok 4.6
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-3 Mini vs Grok 4.6.

Which is better, Grok-3 Mini or Grok 4.6?

Grok-3 Mini (xAI) 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 Grok-3 Mini compare to Grok 4.6 in benchmarks?

Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%. 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 Grok-3 Mini cheaper than Grok 4.6?

Grok-3 Mini is 6.7x cheaper for input tokens. Grok-3 Mini costs $0.30/M input and $0.50/M output via xai. Grok 4.6 costs $2.00/M input and $6.00/M output via xai.

What are the context window sizes for Grok-3 Mini and Grok 4.6?

Grok-3 Mini supports 128K 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 Grok-3 Mini and Grok 4.6?

Key differences include context window (128K vs 500K), input pricing ($0.30 vs $2.00/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

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