Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.6: pricing and benchmarks
Both charge $2.00 per 1M input tokens. Grok 4.6 is 40% cheaper on output tokens ($6.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Grok 4.6 costs $980.00 a month versus $1,100 for Claude Sonnet 5, 11% less. Roughly tied. Claude Sonnet 5 scores 156.2 and Grok 4.6 scores 156.3 on the Epoch Capabilities Index, and their confidence intervals overlap.
Prices verified September 14, 2026.
Which should you choose?
Roughly tied. Claude Sonnet 5 scores 156.2 and Grok 4.6 scores 156.3 on the Epoch Capabilities Index, and their confidence intervals overlap.
Grok 4.6 scores 67.5% on DeepSWE vs 53.8% for Claude Sonnet 5.
About even on FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3): 65.6% for Claude Sonnet 5 and 66.0% for Grok 4.6.
Grok 4.6 costs $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 input-to-output mix) vs $4.00 for Claude Sonnet 5, 25% less.
Grok 4.6 delivers equal or higher overall capability for 25% less.
Pricing and specs
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok 4.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | xAI |
| API model ID | claude-sonnet-5 | grok-4.6 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.20 | $0.50 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $6.00 |
| Long-context rates | — | $4.00 in / $12.00 out above 200K prompt tokens |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 500K tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | — |
| Batch discount | 50% off | — |
Benchmarks
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok 4.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 156.2 | 156.3 |
| GPQA Diamond· Science reasoning | 87.4% | 92.0% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3)· Advanced math | 65.6% | 66.0% |
| SimpleQA Verified· Factual accuracy | 33.7% | 49.3% |
| ARC-AGI-2· Abstract reasoning | — | 67.1% |
| DeepSWE· Coding | 53.8% | 67.5% |
| APEX-Agents· Agentic work | 32.5% | 41.2% |
Source: Epoch AI, best recorded result per model (CC BY 4.0). A dash means no published score. See all benchmarks
Monthly cost for real workloads
| Workload | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok 4.6 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Support chatbot 100,000 replies a month, ~1,500 input tokens (system prompt + history) and ~400 output tokens each. | $700.00 | $540.00 | Grok 4.6 23% cheaper |
Document Q&A (RAG) 50,000 questions a month with ~8,000 tokens of retrieved context and ~600 output tokens each. | $1,100 | $980.00 | Grok 4.6 11% cheaper |
Coding agent 10,000 agent steps a month, ~40,000 input tokens each (70% read from the prompt cache) and ~2,000 output tokens. | $496.00 | $500.00 | Claude Sonnet 5 1% cheaper |
Estimates use standard list prices and ignore cache-write surcharges. Different tokenizers can count the same text differently, so test with your own prompts.
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.6 cost calculator
- $980.00/mo$0.02 / request
- Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$1,100/mo$0.02 / request
Standard-tier list prices. Long-context rates apply automatically where the provider publishes a threshold. Excludes cache-write surcharges, taxes, batch and volume discounts.
Claude Sonnet 5 pricing notes
Anthropic’s best combination of speed and intelligence.
- The $2 / $10 launch price is now the standard price; the planned rise to $3 / $15 will not happen.
- Cache writes cost $2.50 (5-minute cache) or $4 (1-hour cache) per 1M tokens.
- Uses Anthropic’s newer tokenizer, which produces roughly 30% more tokens for the same text.
Grok 4.6 pricing notes
xAI’s flagship model for code and everything else, with agentic tool calling and configurable reasoning.
- Requests with 200K or more prompt tokens are billed at $4 input / $1 cached / $12 output for all tokens.
- Web Search and X Search tools cost $5 per 1,000 calls.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper than Grok 4.6?
- Both charge $2.00 per 1M input tokens. Grok 4.6 is 40% cheaper on output tokens ($6.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Grok 4.6 costs $980.00 a month versus $1,100 for Claude Sonnet 5, 11% less.
- Which is more capable, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.6?
- Roughly tied. Claude Sonnet 5 scores 156.2 and Grok 4.6 scores 156.3 on the Epoch Capabilities Index, and their confidence intervals overlap.
- How much does Claude Sonnet 5 cost per 1M tokens?
- Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $10.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens on Anthropic’s standard tier.
- How much does Grok 4.6 cost per 1M tokens?
- Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $6.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.50 per 1M cached input tokens on xAI’s standard tier.
- Which has the larger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.6?
- Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger context window: 1M tokens versus 500K for Grok 4.6.