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Grok 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Grok 4.6 scores higher than Claude Sonnet 5 on all 3 public leaderboards that rate both. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Grok 4.6 is at 52.6 and Claude Sonnet 5 at 24.5 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Grok 4.6 costs $2 / $6 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Sonnet 5 $2 / $10.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 10, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Grok 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 5 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,617.8 | 1,539.2 | Grok 4.6 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 75.9 | 60.6 | Grok 4.6 |
| Epoch AI Epoch Capabilities Index (ECI) · many benchmarks on one scale | 157.9 | 156.7 | Grok 4.6 |
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 34.7 (#32 of 47) and Claude Sonnet 5 at 42.5 (#23). Claude Sonnet 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
| Coding board | Grok 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,463.8 | 1,483.2 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 76.2 | 81.3 |
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 Sonnet 5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since June 30, 2026
- API price
- $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-sonnet-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Shipped Jun 30.
Grok 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5: quick answers
Which is better, Grok 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?
It depends on what you measure. Grok 4.6 scores higher than Claude Sonnet 5 on all 3 public leaderboards that rate both. Grok 4.6's widest lead is on SimpleBench. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Grok 4.6 is at 52.6 and Claude Sonnet 5 at 24.5 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Grok 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Grok 4.6. It went live on August 12, 2026, 43 days after Claude Sonnet 5 (June 30, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Grok 4.6 is cheaper on output; input costs the same. On each vendor's own API, Grok 4.6 is $2 input / $6 output per million tokens and Claude Sonnet 5 is $2 input / $10 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 2026-11-10.
Which has the bigger context window, Grok 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 5, at 1M tokens against Grok 4.6's 500K, as each vendor lists it.
How do Grok 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Grok 4.6 is at 34.7 (#32 of 47) and Claude Sonnet 5 at 42.5 (#23). Claude Sonnet 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
Who makes Grok 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5?
Grok 4.6 is from xAI; Claude Sonnet 5 is from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 10, 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