Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Claude Opus 5 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,624 vs 1,592), while Claude Opus 5 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (79.2%), while Grok 4.6 is more budget-friendly at $6/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
10 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Anthropic current default flagship. Official API $5/$25 per 1M tokens and a 1M context window (Anthropic, Jul 24 2026).
xAI Aug 12 2026 post-training refresh of Grok 4.5. Same $2/$6 API price, 500k context, stronger agentic traces.
Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost
Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.
Δ 32 Arena Elo pts
118 tok/s
$6 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 5 | Grok 4.6 | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +32 | ||
| Coding Elo | +50 | ||
| LiveBench | +3.4% | ||
| SWE-bench | +10.1% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +2.5% | ||
| Time to first token | +115 ms | ||
| Output speed | 72 tok/s | 118 tok/s | +46 tok/s |
| Input price | +$3/1M | ||
| Output price | +$19/1M | ||
| Context window | +500k |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Grok 4.6 is estimated to save $390.00/month ($4,680/year).
Higher SWE-bench (79.2%).
Lower output list price ($6/1M).
Lower TTFT (195 ms).
Larger window (1M).
Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Opus 5).
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | Claude Opus 5 | Higher SWE-bench (79.2%). |
| High-volume chat | Grok 4.6 | Lower output list price ($6/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Grok 4.6 | Lower TTFT (195 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Claude Opus 5 | Larger window (1M). |
| Screenshots / vision | Claude Opus 5 | Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Opus 5). |
Brand hub remaps to top xAI vs top OpenAI. After Aug 12 that is Grok 4.6 vs Sol.
xAI’s Aug 12 2026 refresh of Grok 4.5. 500k context. The Grok vs ChatGPT hub remaps here.
Usually Sonnet 5 vs Opus 5. Coding delta versus output $/1M. The workhorse question.
Top Anthropic vs top Google. Usually Opus 5 vs 3.6 Pro. Two different invoices.
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Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry
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