AI model comparison
Grok 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
xAI
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 is a model from SpaceXAI with frontier performance on coding, knowledge work, and STEM.
- Input / 1M
- $2
- Output / 1M
- $6
- Context
- 500K
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5
Sonnet 5 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work.
- Input / 1M
- $2
- Output / 1M
- $10
- Context
- 1M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Grok 4.5
1.3x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Grok 4.5
38.8 vs 38.2 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Claude Sonnet 5
1M vs 500K tokens
Newer release
Grok 4.5
Released July 8, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Claude Sonnet 538.2Coding index
Claude Sonnet 571.5Agentic index
Claude Sonnet 543.6Pricing
Grok 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $2 | $2 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $6 | $10 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.20 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | $2.50 |
| Long-context pricingPer 1M tokens, for very long prompts | $4 in / $12 out above 200K | Same rate at any length |
| Web searchPer request | $0.005 | $0.01 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Claude Sonnet 5$9Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Claude Sonnet 5$100$46 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Claude Sonnet 5$320$50 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 500K tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 450K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Input types | File, Image, Text | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Medium, Low | Max, Extra high, High, Medium, Low |
| Default reasoning effort | High | High |
| Release date | July 8, 2026 | June 30, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Not supported |
| Stop sequences | Not supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Claude Sonnet 5View full model details- Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GLM 5.2
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.7
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 3.7 Flash
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Muse Spark 1.2
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.4
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.5
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.3-Codex
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.6
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.5
Our take
Grok 4.5 is 1.3x cheaper for a typical chat. Grok 4.5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (38.8 vs 38.2). Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger context window (1M vs 500K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper?
Grok 4.5 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Grok 4.5 costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $6 per 1M output tokens, while Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $10 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Grok 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 5 supports up to 1M tokens of context, compared with 500K for Grok 4.5.
Is Grok 4.5 smarter than Claude Sonnet 5?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Grok 4.5 scores 38.8 and Claude Sonnet 5 scores 38.2, putting Grok 4.5 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Grok 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 5 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Grok 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 5 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Grok 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 5 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.