GPT-4o vs Grok 3 Mini
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4o
OpenAIOpenAI's flagship multimodal model. Strong coding and reasoning at competitive pricing.
| Input | $2.50/M |
| Output | $10.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General coding, multimodal tasks, chatbots |
| Benchmark | 75/100 |
Grok 3 Mini
xAICost-effective xAI model for high-volume tasks. Good balance of capability and affordability.
| Input | $0.300/M |
| Output | $0.500/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | High-volume tasks, simple coding, cost-sensitive projects |
| Benchmark | 50/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Grok 3 Mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75 | 50 | GPT-4o leads by 25pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 70 | 42 | GPT-4o leads by 28pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 78 | 52 | GPT-4o leads by 26pts |
| HumanEval | 90 | 72 | GPT-4o leads by 18pts |
| BigCodeBench | 62 | 36 | GPT-4o leads by 26pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4o | Grok 3 Mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.41 | $0.03 | Grok 3 Mini saves $0.38 (94%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $3.06 | $0.21 | Grok 3 Mini saves $2.86 (93%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $15.31 | $1.02 | Grok 3 Mini saves $14.29 (93%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.78 | $0.07 | Grok 3 Mini saves $0.72 (92%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o | 75 | $0.033/pt | Higher cost per point |
| Grok 3 Mini | 50 | $0.006/pt | Better value |
Grok 3 Mini delivers the best value at $0.006 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-4o
- + Strong general-purpose
- + Good multimodal
- - Less consistent on coding than Claude
Grok 3 Mini
- + Budget option
- + Fast
- - Limited capabilities
Verdict
Grok 3 Mini is cheaper at $0.300/M, but GPT-4o scores higher on benchmarks (75 vs 50).
Choose Grok 3 Mini for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4o when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude Opus 4
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Claude 3.5 Sonnet
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Claude 3.5 Haiku
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Claude 3 Opus
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Claude 3 Sonnet
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