Premium Mid

Claude Opus 4.8 vs Grok 4.3

Grok 4.3 is 75% cheaper on input ($1.25 vs $5.00) and 90% cheaper on output ($2.50 vs $25.00). Both offer 1M token context windows.

Pricing data verified: 2026-06-21

SpecificationClaude Opus 4.8 (Anthropic)Grok 4.3 (xAI)
Input Price (per 1M tokens)$5.00$1.25
Output Price (per 1M tokens)$25.00$2.50
Context Window1M1M
TierPremiumMid
ProviderAnthropicxAI

Calculate Your Exact Costs

See how the costs stack up for your specific usage pattern.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
$0.00
per month
Input cost
Output cost
Cost per request
Requests/month
xAI
Grok 4.3
$0.00
per month
Input cost
Output cost
Cost per request
Requests/month

Other Models to Consider

DeepSeek V4 Flash
DeepSeek
$0.14 / $0.28 per 1M
1M context
Gemini 3 Flash
Google
$0.50 / $3.00 per 1M
1M context
Mistral Small 4
Mistral
$0.10 / $0.30 per 1M
128K context

Which Model for Which Use Case?

Maximum Quality Tasks

Claude Opus 4.8 remains the gold standard for complex reasoning, nuanced analysis, and safety-critical applications. If quality is non-negotiable, Opus 4.8 justifies its premium.

Better quality: Claude Opus 4.8

High-Volume Budget

Grok 4.3 delivers 90% output savings vs Opus 4.8. At 10,000 requests/day, you save ~$4,720/month. For most production workloads, Grok 4.3's quality is more than sufficient.

Much cheaper: Grok 4.3

Real-Time Applications

Grok 4.3 from xAI is optimized for real-time, low-latency applications. Its tight integration with the X/Twitter ecosystem makes it ideal for social media and real-time data processing.

Better for real-time: Grok 4.3

Research & Analysis

For deep research, multi-step analysis, and tasks requiring careful reasoning chains, Opus 4.8's superior capabilities produce measurably better results that can justify the cost.

Better for research: Opus 4.8

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Grok 4.3 cheaper than Claude Opus 4.8?

Yes, dramatically so. Grok 4.3 costs $1.25/M input (75% cheaper) and $2.50/M output (90% cheaper) compared to Opus 4.8. For output-heavy workloads, Grok 4.3 is roughly 10x cheaper.

When would I choose Claude Opus 4.8 over Grok 4.3?

Choose Opus 4.8 for the most demanding reasoning, coding, and analysis tasks where Anthropic's quality advantage justifies the 10x price premium. Opus 4.8 excels at nuanced, safety-critical, and complex multi-step work.

Do both models have the same context window?

Yes, both offer 1M token context windows. The key difference is pricing and quality — Grok 4.3 is far cheaper while Opus 4.8 offers more advanced reasoning.

How much can I save by choosing Grok 4.3?

For 1,000 input tokens and 500 output tokens at 1,000 requests/day, Grok 4.3 costs about $52.50/month vs Opus 4.8's $525/month — saving you roughly $472/month or 90%.

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