Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 leads Claude Sonnet 4.5 on coding, 58.6 to 39.5 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Grok 4.5 costs 2.5x less per output token ($6.00 vs $15.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 76 benchmarks have a result for both.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Grok 4.5: which to pick
Pick Grok 4.5 for coding: it scores 58.6 on the Vibe Coding Index against 39.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.5.
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.5 for a larger context window (1M against 500K tokens) and work measured by WeirdML or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 76
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 only
- 19
- Grok 4.5 only
- 47
- Like-for-like categories
- 8 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 scores 58.6 against 39.5.
3 and 6 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 leads, 38.8 against 20.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 leads, 41.2 against 15.8.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 leads, 92.9% against 81.6%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a AIME result, 88.2%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 leads, 89.2% against 87.4%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 leads, 1281 against 1189.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Claude Sonnet 4.5 takes 1M tokens against 500K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Grok 4.5
Claude Sonnet 4.5 $0.011, Grok 4.5 $0.0050 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Grok 4.5
Claude Sonnet 4.5 $1.16, Grok 4.5 $0.62.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 39.5 from 3 benchmarks, Grok 4.5 58.6 from 6 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 18.1 points apart on average over 10 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): Claude Sonnet 4.5 22.6% against Grok 4.5 69.0%, 46.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 $15.00 against Grok 4.5 $6.00 per million output tokens, 2.5x apart.
- Context window
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 takes 1M tokens, Grok 4.5 500K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Bars | Grok 4.5 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 3 | 7 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 5 | ||
| Reasoning | 4 | 7 | ||
| Math | 0 | 6 | ||
| Knowledge | 4 | 8 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 8 | ||
| General | 7 | 15 | ||
| All shared boards | 18 | 58 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index37
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 74.8% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| SWE-bench Multilingual | 67.0% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 94.3% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1394 | 1553 | Grok 4.5 |
| AA Coding Index | 52.1 | 72.4 | Grok 4.5 |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 73.0% | 87.3% | Grok 4.5 |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 70.0% | 86.6% | Grok 4.5 |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 8.6% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 22.6% | 69.0% | Grok 4.5 |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 36.6% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.6% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.8% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 66.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 55.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 46.5% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 42.4% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| GSO-Bench | 14.7% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| WeirdML | 47.7% | 46.4% | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| Cybench | 60.0% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 1309.3 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1488 | 1474 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1473 | 1471 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1386 | 1556 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1399 | 1567 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1562 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 6.5% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 20.7 | 38.8 | Grok 4.5 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.7 | 154.1 | Grok 4.5 |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 15.8 | 41.2 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1060 | 1218 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1050 | 1249 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1137 | 1220 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1236 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1229 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | Not measured | 1236 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | Not measured | 1205 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1230 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 85.9% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 44.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 27.9% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.8% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 48.4% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 24.9% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 38.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 52.9% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Time Horizon Index (Vals AI) | Not measured | 6.3% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 56.2% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| METR time horizons | 67.4% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| Remote Labor Index | 2.1% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| GDPval | 42.5% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| DeepResearch Bench | 52.6% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| PostTrainBench | Not measured | 23.4% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| OSWorld | 62.9% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $3,839 | $3,887 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Search | Not measured | 1216 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 73.2% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index47
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 81.6% | 92.9% | Grok 4.5 |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 87.2% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 79.3% | 61.8% | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 93.1% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 42.7% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 82.3% | 93.4% | Grok 4.5 |
| ARC-AGI | 63.7% | 87.2% | Grok 4.5 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 13.6% | 52.6% | Grok 4.5 |
| SimpleBench | 54.3% | 70.0% | Grok 4.5 |
| Chess puzzles | 10.0% | 35.0% | Grok 4.5 |
| Mystery game puzzles | 17.0% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| EBR-bench | 2.4% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| VPCT | 39.8% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1462 | 1462 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1483 | 1465 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1471 | 1464 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1304 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1295 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 57.9% | 83.5% | Grok 4.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index06
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 88.2% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 94.3% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 77.8% | 97.8% | Grok 4.5 |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 23.9% | 57.2% | Grok 4.5 |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 2.4% | 24.4% | Grok 4.5 |
| ProofBench | 19.0% | 31.0% | Grok 4.5 |
| MATH level 5 | 97.7% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1449 | 1460 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1462 | 1482 | Grok 4.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index48
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 87.4% | 89.2% | Grok 4.5 |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 84.1% | 86.0% | Grok 4.5 |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 62.2% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 62.0% | 67.4% | Grok 4.5 |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 73.3% | 71.7% | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 64.0% | 61.8% | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 94.7% | Not measured | Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 44.1% | 43.3% | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 30.7% | 48.3% | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: science | 1448 | 1464 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1444 | 1440 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1451 | 1463 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1440 | 1441 | Grok 4.5 |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 40.6% | 50.2% | Grok 4.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index08
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1189 | 1281 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1170 | 1280 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1166 | 1264 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1167 | 1266 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1157 | 1257 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1182 | 1275 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1115 | 1215 | Grok 4.5 |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1205 | 1256 | Grok 4.5 |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 78.1% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index715
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 73.0% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 36.1% | 35.0% | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 84.5% | 86.9% | Grok 4.5 |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 63.4% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 79.3% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| DTBench | 83.2% | 96.5% | Grok 4.5 |
| LMCA | 38.8% | 45.2% | Grok 4.5 |
| Surface Evolver Bench | Not measured | 74.4% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 22.5% | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1438 | 1448 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1459 | 1445 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1442 | 1442 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1287 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1450 | 1453 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1425 | 1440 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1460 | 1495 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: German | 1427 | 1448 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1390 | 1430 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1402 | 1406 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: French | 1459 | 1457 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1458 | 1451 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1437 | 1449 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1423 | 1432 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1465 | 1456 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1475 | 1462 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1442 | 1445 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1428 | 1434 | Grok 4.5 |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1285 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1345 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1293 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1276 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1293 | Only Grok 4.5 measured |
| LMArena Document | 1450 | 1452 | Grok 4.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Grok 4.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Grok 4.5 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Grok 4.5 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Grok 4.5 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 | SpaceXAI Grok 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Anthropic | xAI |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | September 29, 2025 | July 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M | 500K |
| Input $/Mtok | $3.00 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $15.00 | $6.00 |
| Coding index | 39.5 | 58.6 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 6 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.16 | $0.62 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 better than Grok 4.5 for coding?
Pick Grok 4.5 for coding: it scores 58.6 on the Vibe Coding Index against 39.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.5. Pick Claude Sonnet 4.5 for a larger context window (1M against 500K tokens) and work measured by WeirdML or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Grok 4.5?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Grok 4.5 costs $2.00 and $6.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $1.16 and Grok 4.5 $0.62.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Grok 4.5?
Claude Sonnet 4.5, with 1M tokens against 500K.
How many benchmarks is the Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Grok 4.5 comparison based on?
76 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Claude Sonnet 4.5's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Grok 4.5's on 6. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.