Anthropic (14 models) vs xAI (Grok) (11 models) - compared across composite scores, pricing, capabilities, and context windows.
| Capability | Anthropic | xAI (Grok) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
Vision | 14/14 | 6/11 | Anthropic |
Reasoning | 12/14 | 9/11 | Anthropic |
Function Calling | 14/14 | 10/11 | Anthropic |
JSON Mode | 8/14 | 11/11 | xAI (Grok) |
Web Search | 13/14 | 11/11 | Anthropic |
Streaming | 14/14 | 11/11 | Anthropic |
Image Output | 0/14 | 0/11 | Tie |
| Metric | Anthropic | xAI (Grok) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest Input (per 1M tokens) | $0.250 Claude 3 Haiku | $0.200 Grok 4.1 Fast |
| Cheapest Output (per 1M tokens) | $1.25 | $0.500 |
| Most Expensive Input (per 1M tokens) | $30.00 Claude Opus 4.6 (Fast) | $3.00 Grok 4 |
| Most Expensive Output (per 1M tokens) | $150.00 | $15.00 |
| Free Models | 0 | 0 |
| Max Context Window | 1.0M | 2.0M |
| Model | Score | Input $/M | Output $/M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.6 (Fast) | 90 | $30.00 | $150.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.6 | 90 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | 85 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.5 | 85 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 | 82 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Opus 4 | 82 | $15.00 | $75.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | 79 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.1 | 75 | $15.00 | $75.00 |
| Claude 3.7 Sonnet (thinking) | 75 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4 | 74 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude 3.7 Sonnet | 73 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 70 | $1.00 | $5.00 |
| Claude 3.5 Haiku | 58 | $0.800 | $4.00 |
| Claude 3 Haiku | 50 | $0.250 | $1.25 |
| Model | Score | Input $/M | Output $/M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 4.20 | 89 | $1.25 | $2.50 |
| Grok 4 | 88 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent | 88 | $2.00 | $6.00 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 78 | $0.200 | $0.500 |
| Grok 4.3 | 76 | $1.25 | $2.50 |
| Grok 3 | 74 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Grok 3 Beta | 74 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Grok 4 Fast | 73 | $0.200 | $0.500 |
| Grok 3 Mini Beta | 63 | $0.300 | $0.500 |
| Grok 3 Mini | 51 | $0.300 | $0.500 |
| Grok Code Fast 1 | 40 | $0.200 | $1.50 |
Compare any two AI providers side-by-side.
Grok 4.1 Fast scores 75/100 versus Claude Sonnet 4.6's 66/100, likely due to xAI's focus on speed optimization and web search integration (10/10 models support it versus Anthropic's 12/13). The performance gap suggests xAI prioritizes raw benchmark performance over capability breadth, as evidenced by only 50% of their models supporting vision compared to Anthropic's 100% coverage.
Anthropic's premium pricing reflects their comprehensive capability coverage across all 13 models: 100% vision support, 85% reasoning coverage, and universal function calling. Their flagship models also offer 2x the context window of xAI's best (1M vs 2M tokens), making them suitable for document-heavy enterprise workflows where xAI's faster but more limited models would require chunking strategies.
xAI edges out Anthropic with 80% of models supporting both reasoning (8/10) and universal web search coverage (10/10), at prices starting from $0.50 per 1M tokens. Anthropic covers reasoning in 85% of models (11/13) but lacks universal web search (92% coverage), while their cheapest option at $1.25 per 1M tokens is 2.5x more expensive than xAI's entry point.
Anthropic's broader portfolio provides more granular price-performance options between $1.25 and $150 per 1M tokens, with consistent capability coverage across all tiers. Every Anthropic model supports vision and function calling (13/13), while xAI's capability support varies significantly - only 5/10 models have vision and 9/10 support function calling, creating potential migration friction as requirements evolve.
xAI's 2M token context window supports processing entire codebases or lengthy documents in a single call, while Anthropic's 1M limit often requires splitting large inputs despite their superior average quality score (55/100 vs 59/100). For reference, 2M tokens equals roughly 1.5M words or 3,000 pages of text, making xAI better suited for comprehensive document analysis despite trailing in 6 of 9 direct model matchups.