text model comparison
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.6
Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.6 are both current text models, from Anthropic and xAI. Both cost $2 per 1M input tokens. On Arena Text, Claude Sonnet 5 scores 1461 Elo and Grok 4.6 1454 Elo (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger context window, 1,000,000 vs 500,000 tokens.
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Side by side
Standard-tier prices in effect today. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M input tokens | $2 | $2 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $10 | $6 (better) |
| Cost of 10M input and 2M output tokens | $40 | $32 (better) |
| Arena Text | 1461 Elo (#25 of 39) (better) | 1454 Elo (#28 of 39) |
| GPQA Diamond | 90.5% (#23 of 37) | 94% (#9 of 37) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 65.6% (#24 of 37) | 66% (#23 of 37) (better) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 33.7% (#27 of 34) | 49.3% (#19 of 34) (better) |
| LiveBench Overall | 74.85 points (#4 of 5) | Not measured |
| Provider | Anthropic | xAI |
| Release date | June 30, 2026 | August 12, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 500,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | Not reported |
| Input | text | text, image |
| Output | text | text |
Scores:Arena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12LiveBench · 2026-06-25
When to choose each
Claude Sonnet 5
Best for
- Agentic coding evaluations with current introductory API pricing
Watch out for
- The launch price is introductory through 2026-08-31; refresh pricing before evaluating workloads after that date
Grok 4.6
Best for
- Coding, agentic, and knowledge-work API evaluations with controlled long-context cost
Watch out for
- Published token rates increase for all tokens in a request once its prompt reaches xAI's 200,000-token long-context threshold
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.6 FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.6?
Both cost $2 per 1M input tokens. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $40 and Grok 4.6 $32 at standard rates.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 5 leads on Arena Text, 1461 Elo to 1454 Elo; Grok 4.6 leads on GPQA Diamond, 94% to 90.5%; Grok 4.6 leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 66% to 65.6%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger context window, 1,000,000 vs 500,000 tokens.
Related comparisons
Production evaluation
Choosing between Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.6?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty