GPT-4.1 vs Grok 3 Turbo: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-4.1 and Grok 3 Turbo on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Grok 3 Turbo has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-4.1 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-4.1
GPT-4.1 is a multimodal model from OpenAI. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $15.71 per million input tokens and $64.52 per million output tokens, and averages 82.4 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $15.71 / 1M
- Output
- $64.52 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 82.4
- Open weights
- No
Grok 3 Turbo
Grok 3 Turbo is a multimodal model from xAI. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $15.97 per million input tokens and $70.13 per million output tokens, and averages 83.1 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $15.97 / 1M
- Output
- $70.13 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 83.1
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-4.1 | Grok 3 Turbo | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $15.71 | $15.97 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $64.52 | $70.13 | A |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 128,000 | A |
| Max output | 16,384 | 65,536 | B |
| Average score | 82.4 | 83.1 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1432.4 | 1438.4 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-4.1 wins 6, Grok 3 Turbo wins 6, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 | Grok 3 Turbo | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 86.2 | 83.7 | 2.5 | GPT-4.1 |
| GPQA Diamond | 76.1 | 79.1 | 3.0 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| SWE-bench Verified | 72.2 | 71.4 | 0.8 | GPT-4.1 |
| HumanEval | 88.3 | 86.8 | 1.5 | GPT-4.1 |
| MATH-500 | 86.8 | 85.6 | 1.2 | GPT-4.1 |
| AIME 2025 | 79.9 | 83.1 | 3.2 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| LiveCodeBench | 77.8 | 76.4 | 1.4 | GPT-4.1 |
| IFEval | 90.4 | 90.7 | 0.3 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| TruthfulQA | 81.8 | 86.0 | 4.2 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| HellaSwag | 90.3 | 90.2 | 0.1 | GPT-4.1 |
| MMMU | 76.3 | 81.3 | 5.0 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| Arena Elo | 1432.4 | 1438.4 | 6.0 | Grok 3 Turbo |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-4.1 costs about $27.91 per million tokens and Grok 3 Turbo costs about $29.51. GPT-4.1 is roughly 5% cheaper than Grok 3 Turbo. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
GPT-4.1 has the larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens, compared with 128,000 for Grok 3 Turbo. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-4.1 wins 6, Grok 3 Turbo wins 6, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Grok 3 Turbo leads GPT-4.1 by 0.7 points (83.1 versus 82.4).
The price picture favours GPT-4.1. The context picture favours GPT-4.1. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 Turbo for quality-sensitive work and GPT-4.1 for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose GPT-4.1 if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 1,000,000-token context window.
Choose Grok 3 Turbo if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- You need the larger 65,536-token output limit.
FAQ
Is GPT-4.1 better than Grok 3 Turbo?
On the index average, Grok 3 Turbo leads GPT-4.1 by 0.7 points (83.1 versus 82.4). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-4.1 wins 6 benchmarks, Grok 3 Turbo wins 6.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 or Grok 3 Turbo?
GPT-4.1 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $27.91 per million tokens, versus $29.51 for Grok 3 Turbo.
Which has the larger context window?
GPT-4.1 has the larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens. Grok 3 Turbo has 128,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-4.1 is proprietary; Grok 3 Turbo is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 Turbo for quality-sensitive work and GPT-4.1 for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.