Grok vs ChatGPT — which actually wins in 2026?
ChatGPT leads the neutral scores — Intelligence Index 52.7 vs 46.5, Terminal-Bench 4.0 59.1% vs 25.8% — and its top model costs five times as much: $10.00 / $50.00 against Grok 4.7's $2.00 / $6.00. Two ChatGPT features a 2026 comparison used to lean on are winding down: custom GPTs retire December 11, and Sora's API switched off on September 24.
| Category | Winner | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| General intelligence · AA Intelligence Index v4.3.2 | BChatGPT | GPT-6 Astra 52.7 vs Grok 4.7 46.5 (Artificial Analysis, read 2026-09-23; Astra at max effort, Grok at xhigh) |
| Agentic terminal work · Terminal-Bench 4.0 | BChatGPT | 59.1% vs 25.8% on AA's uniform harness; on tbench.ai with each vendor's own agent, Astra via Codex scores 58.2% and Grok 4.7 via Grok Build 37.6% |
| Hard-exam reasoning · Humanity's Last Exam | BChatGPT | 54.7% vs 43.1% (Artificial Analysis, 2026-09-23) |
| API cost · list rates per 1M tokens | AGrok | $2.00 / $6.00 against $10.00 / $50.00 — five times cheaper in and out |
| Cost per benchmark task · AA cost to run one task | BChatGPT | $3.26 for GPT-6 Astra against $3.74 for Grok 4.7 — the rate card says Astra costs five times as much, and on AA’s own per-task series it costs less, because it spends far fewer tokens per task |
| Real-time information · live X and web | AGrok | Grok reads live X posts inline; ChatGPT browses the general web |
| Video generation · in-product media | AGrok | Grok Imagine generates video; OpenAI's Sora API shut down on 2026-09-24, leaving ChatGPT without a video product |
| Context window · API maximum | BChatGPT | 1.05M tokens against Grok's 500K, and Grok doubles every rate above a 200K prompt while OpenAI's step starts at 272K |
| Entry subscription · cheapest paid tier | BChatGPT | ChatGPT Plus is $20/mo against SuperGrok's $30/mo, and ChatGPT's free tier runs GPT-5.6 Luna with unlimited text chats |
| Ecosystem · clients and add-ons | BChatGPT | Desktop apps, Codex, Deep Research and ChatGPT Work; custom GPTs count for less now that they retire on 2026-12-11 |
| Team / enterprise · per seat | BChatGPT | ChatGPT Business is $25/seat monthly ($20 annual); Grok Business is $30/seat |
| Best overall · for most teams | ·Depends | See the decision tree below |
CHOOSE A · GROK
If you need real-time and low API cost.
- Cost — $2.00/M in and $6.00/M out against Astra's $10.00 / $50.00
- Real-time X — live posts read inline, with X Search billed per post fetched
- Video — Grok Imagine still generates it; OpenAI's Sora API switched off on 2026-09-24
- Open harness — Grok Build is Apache-2.0 and included on every Grok plan, Free included
- Cheap cache — $0.50/M reads, a fifth of Astra's $1.00/M
CHOOSE B · CHATGPT
If you need ecosystem and coding agents.
- Measured intelligence — 52.7 against 46.5 on AA's Intelligence Index v4.3.2
- Terminal work — 59.1% against 25.8% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 under one harness
- Context — a 1.05M-token window, with the price step starting at 272K rather than 200K
- Cheaper entry — Plus at $20/mo against SuperGrok at $30/mo, and a free tier that runs GPT-5.6 Luna
- Clients — desktop apps, Codex, Deep Research and ChatGPT Work
| Aspect | Grok | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Free tierwhat $0 buys | $0 · Grok Free Real-time web and X search, voice mode, connectors and Grok Build, inside limits SpaceXAI does not quantify | $0 · ChatGPT Free Unlimited text chats with GPT-5.6 Luna, plus limited uploads, image generation, voice, deep research and Codex B wins |
| Entry subscriptioncheapest standalone paid tier | $30/mo · SuperGrok Higher limits across Chat, Imagine, Voice and Build; the pricing page still names Grok 4.6 as the model it unlocks | $20/mo · ChatGPT Plus Adds advanced reasoning with GPT-6, expanded uploads, deep research, projects and scheduled tasks. A cheaper Go tier exists, ad-supported, whose US price ChatGPT renders client-side B wins |
| Power tierfor all-day use | $300/mo · SuperGrok Heavy Top individual Grok tier; the price is published on the Grok Bot page, not on the pricing page. SuperGrok Plus sits below it at $100/mo | From $100/mo · ChatGPT Pro Three plans — Pro 100, Pro 200 at $200 and Pro 500 at $500 — all with Pro reasoning on GPT-6 Astra. No multiple of Plus is stated any more; Pro 200 reopened to new subscribers on 2026-09-29 with a smaller allowance, and only Pro 500 has Ultrafast B wins |
| API · inputper 1M tokens · from snapshot | $2.00 A wins | $10.00 |
| API · outputper 1M tokens · from snapshot | $6.00 A wins | $50.00 |
| Effective API costBlended workload $/1M · from snapshot | $1.19 A wins | $6.82 |
| API context windowMax input tokens · from snapshot | 500K | 1.05M B wins |
| Real cost / 1M charsTokenizer-adjusted prose — the tokenizer tax | $0.519 A wins | $1.89 |
| Team / enterpriseper seat | $30/seat · Grok Business Seat management, RBAC, SSO, no training on business content | $25/seat · ChatGPT Business $20/seat billed annually; premium seats $125 ($100 annual). Enterprise is quoted, not published B wins |
| Capability | Grok | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| API context window | 500K tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Vision / image input | ✓ Images, screenshots, PDFs | ✓ Images, files (512MB) |
| Image generation | ✓ Grok Imagine (to 2K) | ✓ In-app image gen |
| Video generation | ✓ Grok Imagine | ✗ Sora API shut down 2026-09-24 |
| Voice mode | ✓ Sub-second, 21 voices | ✓ Advanced Voice (Plus+) |
| Real-time X integration | ✓ Native | ✗ |
| Web browsing | ✓ Live web + X | ✓ Web browsing |
| Persistent memory | ✓ Across chats | ✓ Across chats |
| Custom assistants / store | ✗ | ~ Custom GPTs retire 2026-12-11, replaced by plugins |
| Code execution sandbox | ~ Grok Build (terminal) | ✓ Code Interpreter |
| Deep research runs | ~ Not a named feature | ✓ Deep Research |
| Multi-step agents | ✓ Multi-agent mode | ✓ ChatGPT Work |
| MCP support | ✓ Remote MCP tools, billed per token | ✓ Native |
| Desktop apps | ✗ (web only) | ✓ macOS + Windows |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android | iOS + Android |
| Multilingual | 30+ languages | Multilingual |
| Regional availability | ~ Not in EU yet | ✓ Broad |
§ 04 / BENCHMARKS
The numbers, not the spin.
General intelligence · AA Intelligence Index v4.3.2
Agentic coding · Terminal-Bench 4.0
Hard reasoning · Humanity's Last Exam
A · XAI
Grok
The real-time-first assistant — native to X, cheap on the API, and the only one of the two that generates video in-app.
Strengths
- Price per token — $2.00 in and $6.00 out, a fifth of Astra on both sides
- Real-time X — live posts inline, no separate browse step
- Media — images and video in-thread, which ChatGPT loses entirely on 2026-09-24
- Open harness — Grok Build ships under Apache-2.0 on every plan
- Cache — $0.50/M reads against $1.00/M
Weaknesses
- No native desktop app — web, iOS and Android only
- Not available in the EU yet
- Thinner ecosystem — no assistant store, no Code Interpreter-class sandbox
- Consumer context window and free-tier limits are not published
Best for
- X-native creators, journalists, and analysts
- Real-time event coverage and breaking-news research
- Cost-conscious API builders
- In-app image and short-video generation
B · OPENAI
ChatGPT
The widest-reach assistant — biggest ecosystem, native desktop apps, a larger context window, and a narrow agentic-coding lead.
Strengths
- Top of the neutral boards — 52.7 on AA's index and 59.1% on Terminal-Bench 4.0
- Context — 1.05M tokens, with long-context pricing only above 272K input
- Tiering — GPT-6.1 Sol at $2.00 / $10.00 and Luna at $0.10 / $0.50 sit under Astra for cheaper work
- Batch and Flex — both half standard; Grok 4.7 publishes no batch discount
- Clients — desktop apps, Codex and ChatGPT Work
Weaknesses
- Five times Grok's rate on input and output alike
- Custom GPTs retire 2026-12-11 and new ones cannot be created after 2026-10-26
- No video generation since the Sora API shut down on 2026-09-24
- Everyday ChatGPT chat runs GPT-5.6 Luna; GPT-6 reasoning starts on Plus, and Astra-grade reasoning on Pro
Best for
- Ecosystem-heavy workflows (plugins, connectors, desktop)
- Coding agents and data analysis
- Teams needing SSO and shared workspaces
- Deep, multi-step research
01
Journalist covering breaking news on X
You file several stories a day during fast-moving events and need to verify quotes and pull live reactions from X in minutes.
Reasoning: Grok reads live X posts inline, so you skip the copy-paste from a separate browser tab. ChatGPT's web browsing is slower and less granular for X-native data. For time-to-publish on X-driven stories, Grok's native integration wins.
Picked
Grok
Runner-up: ChatGPT with manual X research
02
Engineer running coding agents
You lean on autonomous coding — writing patches, running tests, iterating in a terminal loop where every failed step costs attention.
Reasoning: ChatGPT holds a narrow but real Terminal-Bench lead (88 vs 82) and pairs it with a mature Code Interpreter sandbox and ChatGPT Work. Grok Build is capable from the terminal, but for agentic coding the ecosystem and the benchmark edge favour ChatGPT.
Picked
ChatGPT
Runner-up: Grok Build for X-native or cost-sensitive workflows
03
Cost-conscious API developer
You're shipping a product on the API and output tokens dominate your bill. Quality matters, but so does the per-token rate.
Reasoning: Grok 4.7 costs a fifth of GPT-6 Astra on both sides of the card — $2.00 / $6.00 against $10.00 / $50.00 — and blends to $1.19/M against $6.82/M. If the OpenAI stack is what you want but Astra's rate is not, the honest comparison is against GPT-6.1 Sol at $2.00 / $10.00, the tier OpenAI names to balance intelligence and cost.
Picked
Grok
Runner-up: GPT-6.1 Sol where you want the OpenAI stack without Astra's rate
04
Designer generating image and video concepts
You iterate on mood boards, ad concepts, and short motion clips inside your assistant instead of a separate tool.
Reasoning: Grok Imagine does both text-to-image (to 2K) and short text-to-video in-app, while OpenAI has discontinued Sora — the app in April 2026, the API on September 24 — so ChatGPT has no video generation. For an all-in-one visual workflow today, Grok is the clear pick; re-check ChatGPT's video story quarterly.
Picked
Grok
Runner-up: A dedicated image/video tool for final-quality output
05
Small team standardising on one assistant
A handful of colleagues want one shared workspace with admin controls, SSO, and no training on your data.
Reasoning: ChatGPT Business is a real per-seat tier ($20–25/seat) with SSO, connectors, and workspace controls. Grok has no public per-seat team plan for the app — enterprise access is via SpaceXAI directly. For a team that wants seats and admin today, ChatGPT is the practical choice.
Picked
ChatGPT
Runner-up: SpaceXAI enterprise for X-native organisations
§ 06.5 / REDDIT
Straight from the threads.
I have found Grok to be more accurate when it comes to research but also it's extremely redundant and long winded.
For intellectual and STEM tasks at least, ChatGPT is such an idiot compared to Grok.
Grok is super biased, I do not trust it unless is on the creative side.
Grok makes a really good first post but then every other post following that just seems to be a photo of a photo.
Frequently asked.
Common questions about this comparison, with sources where they matter.
Q · 01 Is Grok or ChatGPT better overall? +
They trade: ChatGPT leads the measurements, Grok leads the bill. Artificial Analysis' Intelligence Index v4.3.2 has GPT-6 Astra at
52.7 and Grok 4.7 at 46.5, and Terminal-Bench 4.0 at 59.1% against 25.8%. Grok charges a fifth as much per token, reads live X, and keeps in-thread video generation that ChatGPT lost when the Sora API shut down on September 24, 2026.Q · 02 Which is cheaper? +
Grok, by a wide margin on the API:
$2.00 / $6.00 against Astra's $10.00 / $50.00, and $0.50 against $1.00 on cache reads. On subscriptions it goes the other way: ChatGPT Plus is $20/mo against SuperGrok's $30/mo, and ChatGPT's free tier runs GPT-5.6 Luna with unlimited text chats. OpenAI's own cheaper tiers change the picture again — GPT-6 Sol is $2.00 / $10.00 and GPT-6 Luna $0.10 / $0.50.Q · 03 Which model does ChatGPT actually run? +
As of September 23, 2026, ChatGPT's free tier runs GPT-5.6 Luna — the pricing page's own words are "unlimited text chats with GPT-5.6 Luna". Plus adds "advanced reasoning models with GPT-6", and Pro is described as "Pro reasoning powered by GPT-6 Astra", which is the model this page prices. GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna launched on the API on September 22 and reached ChatGPT Work and Codex first rather than chat.
Q · 04 Does Grok have real-time data ChatGPT doesn't? +
Yes for X (Twitter) specifically — Grok reads live posts inline without a separate browsing step. ChatGPT browses the general web but has no native X integration, so for breaking news on X, Grok is materially faster.
Q · 05 Which is better for coding? +
ChatGPT, and no longer narrowly. On Terminal-Bench 4.0 under Artificial Analysis' uniform harness, GPT-6 Astra scores
59.1% against Grok 4.7's 25.8%; on the benchmark's own board at tbench.ai, where each vendor brings its agent, it is 58.2% via Codex against 37.6% via Grok Build. Neither model has a neutral SWE-bench Verified entry, so that benchmark cannot settle it either way.Q · 06 Can I use both? +
Many people do — ChatGPT for ecosystem work and coding, Grok for X-native research and real-time events. On the API, multi-model routers (LiteLLM, OpenRouter) let you switch per request. Note Grok isn't available in the EU yet.
Q · 07 Which has the larger context window? +
ChatGPT's API model. GPT-6 Astra carries
1.05M tokens against Grok 4.7's 500K. Both charge more for long prompts, at different thresholds: Grok doubles every rate at a 200K-token prompt, OpenAI steps up above 272K input tokens, and OpenAI's step raises output by half rather than doubling it.Q · 08 Is Grok available in my country? +
Grok runs on the web and in iOS and Android apps, and its API is served from US regions (
us-east-1, us-west-2, us-central-1) with a US-only regional endpoint at a 10% premium. Grok 4.5 became available in the API console for EU users in July 2026. ChatGPT is broadly available, and OpenAI publishes EU data residency for Enterprise and Edu rather than for consumer plans. For either vendor, check the region terms rather than the app's availability.