Model comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Grok 3
The most significant observable difference between Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Grok 3 is Claude's support for multimodal input, including text and images, while Grok is limited to text-only input.
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
The pragmatic default — Claude quality without Opus pricing.
xAI
Grok 3
xAI's bet on inference compute, wired into X for fresh context.
Specs
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Grok 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1M tokens↑ | 131K tokens |
| Input $/1M tokens | $3.00↑ | $3.00 |
| Output $/1M tokens | $15.00↑ | $15.00 |
| Modalities | Text · Image | Text |
| Open weights | No | No |
Capability differences
| Capability | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Grok 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt caching | Yes | No |
How they differ
Context handling
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports a vastly larger context window of 1,000,000 tokens, enabling extended input handling.
Grok 3
Grok 3 supports a 131,072 token context window, which is smaller but sufficient for many text-based tasks.
Vision
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 processes both text and image inputs, supporting multimodal applications.
Grok 3
Grok 3 is limited to text input, excluding visual data processing.
Cost profile
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Sonnet 4.6 charges $3.0/1M input tokens and $15.0/1M output tokens, applicable to both text and image processing.
Grok 3
Grok 3 shares the same cost structure of $3.0/1M input tokens and $15.0/1M output tokens for text-only processing.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 — what sets it apart
- +Supports multimodal inputs, including both text and images.
- +Provides an extensive context capacity of up to 1,000,000 tokens.
Grok 3 — what sets it apart
- +Optimized for text-only processing, focusing on precise and engaging text outputs.
- +Implements a substantial context window of 131,072 tokens for efficient text handling.
The most consequential difference is Claude Sonnet 4.6's support for multimodal inputs, including images, while Grok 3 is text-only.
Analysis synthesized from gpt-4o, llama-4-maverick, phi-4, etc.