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Grok 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8
Of the 3 public leaderboards that rate both, Grok 4.6 scores higher on 2 and Claude Opus 4.8 on 1. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Grok 4.6 is at 50.9 and Claude Opus 4.8 at 29.4 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Grok 4.6 costs $2 / $6 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Opus 4.8 $5 / $25.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 13, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Grok 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.8 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,618.1 | 1,555.4 | Grok 4.6 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 75.9 | 64.8 | Grok 4.6 |
| Epoch AI Epoch Capabilities Index (ECI) · many benchmarks on one scale | 157.8 | 159.9 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
For coding
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Grok 4.6 is at 34 (#32 of 48) and Claude Opus 4.8 at 51.3 (#19). Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
| Coding board | Grok 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,464.1 | 1,490.9 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 76.2 | 82.7 |
Grok 4.6 at a glance
- Developer
- xAI
- Status
- Live since August 12, 2026
- API price
- $2 input / $6 output per 1M tokens · xAI, grok-4.6
- Context window
- 500K tokens
Live — Aug 12 at $2/$6 per 1M, unchanged from Grok 4.5.
Claude Opus 4.8 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since May 27, 2026
- API price
- $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-4-8
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live.
Grok 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8: quick answers
Which is better, Grok 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?
It depends on what you measure. Of the 3 public leaderboards that rate both, Grok 4.6 scores higher on 2 and Claude Opus 4.8 on 1. Grok 4.6's widest lead is on SimpleBench; Claude Opus 4.8's widest lead is on Epoch AI. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Grok 4.6 is at 50.9 and Claude Opus 4.8 at 29.4 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Grok 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Grok 4.6. It went live on August 12, 2026, 77 days after Claude Opus 4.8 (May 27, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Grok 4.6 is cheaper on both input and output. On each vendor's own API, Grok 4.6 is $2 input / $6 output per million tokens and Claude Opus 4.8 is $5 input / $25 output per million tokens. Grok 4.6's rate rises for prompts over 200K tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-12.
Which has the bigger context window, Grok 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Claude Opus 4.8, at 1M tokens against Grok 4.6's 500K, as each vendor lists it.
How do Grok 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.8 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Grok 4.6 is at 34 (#32 of 48) and Claude Opus 4.8 at 51.3 (#19). Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
Who makes Grok 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.8?
Grok 4.6 is from xAI; Claude Opus 4.8 is from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 13, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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Also: the bench index · API pricing · what a workload costs on each · the wire