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© 2026 CompareLLM. Public benchmark data aggregated from Arena Elo, LiveBench, SWE-bench & OpenRouter.

Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. GPT-5 mini vs Grok 4.6

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

GPT-5 mini vs Grok 4.6 benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Grok 4.6 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,592 vs 1,410), while Grok 4.6 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (69.1%), while GPT-5 mini is more budget-friendly at $2/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose Grok 4.6 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose GPT-5 mini if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

10 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

GPT-5 mini (4)Grok 4.6 (6)
GPT-5 mini
4 of 10 Wins
✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Output price
Grok 4.6
6 of 10 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓Coding Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond✓Context window
OpenAI
Leads 4 of 10 metrics
GPT-5 mini

Cost-efficient GPT-5 distill for high-volume agents.

Mini DistillElo 1,410$2/1M out
xAI
Leads 6 of 10 metrics
Grok 4.6

xAI Aug 12 2026 post-training refresh of Grok 4.5. Same $2/$6 API price, 500k context, stronger agentic traces.

Elo 1,592$6/1M out

GPT-5 Series Lineage & Sibling Variants

2 models

Currently comparing GPT-5 mini vs Grok 4.6. Alternative family tiers available.

Active: GPT-5 mini
GPT-5$20
Top Rival Showdowns for GPT-5 mini
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4vs DeepSeek V4 Provs Qwen 3 Max
Preference LeaderGrok 4.6 Wins

Grok 4.6

Δ 182 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderGPT-5 mini Wins

GPT-5 mini

155 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderGPT-5 mini Wins

GPT-5 mini

$2 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect
Percentile 0–100
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

GPT-5 mini (4)vsGrok 4.6 (6)
GPT-5 mini: 4W (40%)Overall: Grok 4.6Grok 4.6: 6W (60%)
← GPT-5 miniGrok 4.6 →
🏆Grok 4.6(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark
GPT-5 minivsGrok 4.6
Preference Elo
1,410vs1,592+182
Coding Elo
1,395vs1,568+173
SWE-bench
52.4%vs69.1%+16.7%
LiveBench
61.2%vs71.4%+10.2%
GPQA Diamond
72%vs84.6%+12.6%
GPT-5 mini: 0WGrok 4.6: 5W
🏆GPT-5 mini(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
GPT-5 minivsGrok 4.6
Output speed
155 tok/svs118 tok/s+37 tok/s
Time to first token
140 msvs195 ms+55 ms
GPT-5 mini: 2WGrok 4.6: 0W
🏆GPT-5 mini(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
GPT-5 minivsGrok 4.6
Output price
$2/1Mvs$6/1M+$4/1M
Input price
$0.25/1Mvs$2/1M+$1.75/1M
Context window
400kvs500k+100k
GPT-5 mini: 2WGrok 4.6: 1W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+182
GPT-5 mini1,410
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.61,592
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Coding Elo+173
GPT-5 mini1,395
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.61,568
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
LiveBench+10.2%
GPT-5 mini61.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.671.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
SWE-bench+16.7%
GPT-5 mini52.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.669.1%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
GPQA Diamond+12.6%
GPT-5 mini72%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.684.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Time to first token+55 ms
GPT-5 mini140 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.6195 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Output speed+37 tok/s
GPT-5 mini155 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.6118 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Input price+$1.75/1M
GPT-5 mini$0.25/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.6$2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Output price+$4/1M
GPT-5 mini$2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.6$6/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Context window+100k
GPT-5 mini400k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Grok 4.6500k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
BenchmarkGPT-5 miniGrok 4.6Advantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,410
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,592
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+182
Coding Elo
1,395
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,568
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+173
LiveBench
61.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
71.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+10.2%
SWE-bench
52.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
69.1%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+16.7%
GPQA Diamond
72%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
84.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+12.6%
Time to first token
140 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
195 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+55 ms
Output speed
155 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
118 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+37 tok/s
Input price
$0.25/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+$1.75/1M
Output price
$2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$6/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+$4/1M
Context window
400k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
500k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+100k
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 76% with GPT-5 mini
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
GPT-5 mini$38.75 / mo
In: $8.75Out: $30
Grok 4.6$160.00 / mo
In: $70Out: $90
Estimated Cost Delta

GPT-5 mini is estimated to save $121.25/month ($1,455/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    Grok 4.6:Pick Grok 4.6 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
  • 2
    GPT-5 mini:Pick GPT-5 mini when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    GPT-5 mini:Pick GPT-5 mini when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGrok 4.6

Higher SWE-bench (69.1%).

High-volume chatGPT-5 mini

Lower output list price ($2/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGPT-5 mini

Lower TTFT (140 ms).

Long-document RAGGrok 4.6

Larger window (500k).

Screenshots / visionGrok 4.6

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Grok 4.6).

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsGrok 4.6Higher SWE-bench (69.1%).
High-volume chatGPT-5 miniLower output list price ($2/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIGPT-5 miniLower TTFT (140 ms).
Long-document RAGGrok 4.6Larger window (500k).
Screenshots / visionGrok 4.6Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Grok 4.6).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
compareAug 12, 2026

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Brand hub remaps to top xAI vs top OpenAI. After Aug 12 that is Grok 4.6 vs Sol.

launchAug 12, 2026

Grok 4.6 (Aug 12): post-training refresh, same $2/$6 list

xAI’s Aug 12 2026 refresh of Grok 4.5. 500k context. The Grok vs ChatGPT hub remaps here.

launchAug 8, 2025

GPT-5 mini: the 2025 distill still useful as a cheap OpenAI baseline

High-volume agents that cannot pay Sol. Compare to Luna before you assume the new cheap SKU wins.

launchJul 10, 2025

Grok 4 remains the previous xAI flagship on this catalog

2025-07 row. 4.6 is the buy. We keep 4 so upgrade pairs and old inbound links resolve.

Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK
VS
OpenAI

GPT-5 mini

Elo 1,410
SWE-bench52.4%
Speed (tok/s)155 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.25/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$2/1M
xAI

Grok 4.6

Elo 1,592
SWE-bench69.1%
Speed (tok/s)118 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$2/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$6/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, GPT-5 mini or Grok 4.6?
Grok 4.6 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,592). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, GPT-5 mini or Grok 4.6?
Grok 4.6 leads SWE-bench at 69.1% vs 52.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
GPT-5 mini output tokens are $2/1M versus $6/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, GPT-5 mini or Grok 4.6?
GPT-5 mini has the lower time-to-first-token (140 ms vs 195 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
Grok 4.6 accepts 500k tokens versus 400k.
Can I self-host either model?
Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. GPT-5 mini and Grok 4.6 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • compare · Aug 12, 2026

    Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

  • launch · Aug 12, 2026

    Grok 4.6 (Aug 12): post-training refresh, same $2/$6 list

  • launch · Aug 8, 2025

    GPT-5 mini: the 2025 distill still useful as a cheap OpenAI baseline

  • launch · Jul 10, 2025

    Grok 4 remains the previous xAI flagship on this catalog

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All GPT-5 mini matchups →|All Grok 4.6 matchups →
GPT-5 mini vs OpenAI o3-mini (previous gpt-mini)GPT-5 mini vs GPT-5.6 Luna (next gpt-mini)Grok 4.6 vs Grok 4 (previous grok)GPT-4.5 Orion vs Grok 4.6GPT-5.6 Terra vs Grok 4.6GPT-5 vs Grok 4.6