Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Grok 4.5
Anthropic against xAI, costed on the same three workloads. Grok 4.5 is cheaper on all three workloads.
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Monthly bill, side by side
| Workload | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Grok 4.5 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot 2,500 six-turn conversations a day |
$12,083 | $6,435 | $5,648 (1.9×) |
| Document summarizer 1,000 single-shot summaries a day |
$1,458 | $876 | $582 (1.7×) |
| Coding agent 200 twelve-turn sessions a day |
$8,424 | $4,896 | $3,528 (1.7×) |
No prompt caching and no batch discount on either side, so the comparison is like for like. Both figures assume 30 days a month.
The rate cards
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Grok 4.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input, per 1M tokens | $3 | $2 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $15 | $6 |
| Cached input | $0.3 | $0.3 |
| Context window | 1M | 500K |
| Maximum output | 128K | 500K |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Vision | yes | yes |
Beyond the price
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 reads up to 1M tokens of context in one request; Grok 4.5 stops at 500K.
- Grok 4.5 can write up to 500K tokens in one response, against 128K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
- Cached input costs 90% less than fresh input on Claude Sonnet 4.6 and 85% less on Grok 4.5, which matters most for workloads that resend the same prompt.
Run this comparison on your own numbers
Full detail: Claude Sonnet 4.6 pricing · Grok 4.5 pricing
More comparisons
Other head-to-heads that include Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Grok 4.5.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen 3.7 Max
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen 3.8 Max
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro
- Grok 4.5 vs Qwen 3.7 Max
- Grok 4.5 vs Gemini 3.7 Flash
- Grok 4.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Grok 4.5?
Grok 4.5 is cheaper on all three workloads.
How much would Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Grok 4.5 cost each month?
On PromptSpend's standard workloads, per month: support chatbot: Claude Sonnet 4.6 $12,083, Grok 4.5 $6,435 (Grok 4.5 is cheaper by $5,648); document summarizer: Claude Sonnet 4.6 $1,458, Grok 4.5 $876 (Grok 4.5 is cheaper by $582); coding agent: Claude Sonnet 4.6 $8,424, Grok 4.5 $4,896 (Grok 4.5 is cheaper by $3,528). No prompt caching and no batch discount is assumed.
How do Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Grok 4.5 differ apart from price?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 reads up to 1M tokens of context in one request; Grok 4.5 stops at 500K. Grok 4.5 can write up to 500K tokens in one response, against 128K for Claude Sonnet 4.6. Cached input costs 90% less than fresh input on Claude Sonnet 4.6 and 85% less on Grok 4.5, which matters most for workloads that resend the same prompt.