Pricing (as of Aug 12, 2026 launch)
Verified against docs.x.ai API pricing. All prices in USD per 1M tokens. Standard rates are unchanged from Grok 4.5 ($2/$6).
| Tier | Input | Cached Input | Output | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (short <200K) | $2.00 | $0.50 | $6.00 | Default rate |
| Long context (≥200K) | $4.00 | $1.00 | $12.00 | Applies to all tokens once ≥200K |
| Fast variant | $4.00 | — | $12.00 | Lower latency. 2× standard |
Primary sources: docs.x.ai/developers/pricing · docs.x.ai Grok 4.6 · x.ai/news/grok-4-6 ("Pricing starts at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. Additionally, there is a fast variant which is twice the price." — verified 2026-08-17)
Model Specifications
Sources: docs.x.ai Grok 4.6 · xAI Announcement (knowledge cutoff: "The knowledge cut-off date of Grok 4.6 is February 1, 2026." — docs.x.ai)
Performance — Matches GPT-5.6 Sol on Intelligence Index
From xAI's official evals table. Post-training improvements over Grok 4.5 across coding, agents, and knowledge work.
- AA Intelligence Index: 61 — matches GPT-5.6 Sol Max (61), above Grok 4.5 High (56). Fable 5 Max is 62.
- GDPVal-AA v2: 1753 — large knowledge-work Elo gain over Grok 4.5 (1526).
- CursorBench v3.2: 69.9% — above GPT-5.6 Sol (67.2%).
- DeepSWE v1.1: 65.9% — long-horizon software engineering, up from Grok 4.5 (54%). GPT-5.6 Sol is 73%.
- FrontierCode v1.1 (Extended): 61.3% — production code quality, above Grok 4.5 (56.6%).
- APEX-Agents: 57.5% — up over 10 pts from Grok 4.5 (47.1%).
- AA-Briefcase: 1577 — large gain over Grok 4.5 (1313).
xAI positions Grok 4.6 as "our flagship model for code and everything else: agentic tool calling, minimal hallucinations, configurable reasoning." Third-party scores are best self-reported/public values; test conditions may differ.
Sources: xAI: Introducing Grok 4.6 (evals table)
Competitor Price Comparison
$2/$6 is among the cheapest in the flagship tier. All prices in USD per 1M tokens (standard, short context).
| Model | Provider | Input | Output | vs Grok 4.6 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $2.00 | $6.00 | — | Baseline |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $5.00 | $30.00 | Grok cheaper | 60% cheaper input, 80% cheaper output |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $5.00 | $25.00 | Grok cheaper | 60% cheaper input, 76% cheaper output |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $2.00 | $12.00 | Same input | Grok: half the output cost |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview | $2.00 | $12.00 | Same input | Grok: half the output cost | |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $2.00 | $10.00 | Same input | Grok: 40% cheaper output (Sonnet 5 intro price thru 8/31) |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 | Gemini cheaper | Intro price (thru 12/31). Flash tier | |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $2.00 | $6.00 | Same | Previous gen. Cached input $0.30 |
* Grok 4.6 is low-priced for the flagship tier, but lighter models (GPT-5.6 Luna $0.20/$1.20, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite $0.25/$1.50) serve a different, high-throughput niche. Grok 4.6 targets high-difficulty coding and agentic work.
Sources: official pricing pages from each provider (verified 2026-08-17). See full pricing comparison. Gemini 3.7 Flash details →
Ideal Use Cases
Long-running agents, high-difficulty coding, and knowledge work.
Coding & Code Review
Strong CursorBench/DeepSWE scores. Production code generation, refactoring, review.
Long-Running Agents
Multi-step research, analysis, and cross-codebase work, with emergent self-verification.
Knowledge Work & Research
Unfamiliar-domain research and synthesis. Strong GDPVal-AA / AA-Briefcase.
Interactive & Visual Builds
Turn a product idea into app structure + visual language in a first pass.
Tool Use & Function Calling
Structured outputs, reasoning_effort control, MCP integration for agentic automation.
RAG & Document Search
500K context + collections search ($2.50/1k calls) for large-document Q&A.
When to Choose Grok 4.6
- Flagship intelligence at $2/$6: Comparable-tier intelligence index at a fraction of GPT-5.6 Sol ($5/$30) or Claude Opus 5 ($5/$25). Strong cost-per-capability.
- Watch the 200K wall: Long agent trajectories that exceed 200K tokens jump to $4/$12. Control cost with cached input ($0.50) and reasoning_effort.
- Lightweight workloads elsewhere: For high-throughput, low-unit-cost work, consider GPT-5.6 Luna ($0.20/$1.20) or Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite ($0.25/$1.50).
Estimate Your Actual Costs
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⚠️ Disclaimer
- Pricing verified against docs.x.ai on 2026-08-17. Subject to change without notice. Always check official pages before contracting.
- This site is informational only. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any provider.
- Benchmark scores are xAI's published values. Your mileage may vary.