Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.5
Price, context and benchmark scores side by side — every number from the live model catalogue.
| Claude Sonnet 5anthropic | Grok 4.5x-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $6.00 |
| 1M in + 300K out | $5.00 | $3.80 |
| Context window | 1M | 500K |
| Intelligence index | 53.4 | 53.8 |
| Coding index | 71.5 | 72.4 |
| Agentic index | 46.7 | 45.7 |
| Cheapest provider | Azure | xAI |
| Providers serving it | 4 | 1 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Image input | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning mode | Yes | Yes |
| Released | Jun 30, 2026 | Jul 8, 2026 |
Which one to pick
Pick Claude Sonnet 5 if…
- You are running agent loops — higher agentic index (46.7).
- You need the bigger context window (1M).
- You want provider redundancy: 4 providers serve it.
Pick Grok 4.5 if…
- You want the higher general-intelligence score (53.8).
- Code quality is the priority — it leads on the coding index (72.4).
- Token cost matters: $6.00 per 1M output vs $10.00.
FAQ
Is Claude Sonnet 5 better than Grok 4.5?
Grok 4.5 scores higher on general intelligence (53.4 vs 53.8), while Grok 4.5 is 1.7× cheaper per output token ($6.00 vs $10.00). For code, Grok 4.5 leads (72.4 coding index). Claude Sonnet 5 takes the larger context at 1M.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.5?
Grok 4.5, at $6.00 per 1M output tokens versus $10.00. On a 1M input + 300K output workload that is $3.80 against $5.00.
Can I self-host Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.5?
Claude Sonnet 5: closed weights, API only. Grok 4.5: closed weights, API only.