GPT-4.1 vs Grok 3: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-4.1 and Grok 3 on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Grok 3 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
Grok 3 is a multimodal model from xAI. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $15.84 per million input tokens and $70.31 per million output tokens, and averages 82.8 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $15.84 / 1M
- Output
- $70.31 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 82.8
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-4.1 | Grok 3 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $15.71 | $15.84 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $64.52 | $70.31 | A |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 128,000 | A |
| Max output | 16,384 | 4,096 | A |
| Average score | 82.4 | 82.8 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1432.4 | 1447.2 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-4.1 wins 3, Grok 3 wins 9, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 | Grok 3 | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 86.2 | 81.9 | 4.3 | GPT-4.1 |
| GPQA Diamond | 76.1 | 80.0 | 3.9 | Grok 3 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 72.2 | 72.6 | 0.4 | Grok 3 |
| HumanEval | 88.3 | 85.3 | 3.0 | GPT-4.1 |
| MATH-500 | 86.8 | 88.7 | 1.9 | Grok 3 |
| AIME 2025 | 79.9 | 81.1 | 1.2 | Grok 3 |
| LiveCodeBench | 77.8 | 74.3 | 3.5 | GPT-4.1 |
| IFEval | 90.4 | 91.0 | 0.6 | Grok 3 |
| TruthfulQA | 81.8 | 85.4 | 3.6 | Grok 3 |
| HellaSwag | 90.3 | 91.4 | 1.1 | Grok 3 |
| MMMU | 76.3 | 79.1 | 2.8 | Grok 3 |
| Arena Elo | 1432.4 | 1447.2 | 14.8 | Grok 3 |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-4.1 costs about $27.91 per million tokens and Grok 3 costs about $29.46. GPT-4.1 is roughly 5% cheaper than Grok 3. 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. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-4.1 wins 3, Grok 3 wins 9, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Grok 3 leads GPT-4.1 by 0.4 points (82.8 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 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.
- You need the larger 16,384-token output limit.
Choose Grok 3 if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
FAQ
Is GPT-4.1 better than Grok 3?
On the index average, Grok 3 leads GPT-4.1 by 0.4 points (82.8 versus 82.4). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-4.1 wins 3 benchmarks, Grok 3 wins 9.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 or Grok 3?
GPT-4.1 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $27.91 per million tokens, versus $29.46 for Grok 3.
Which has the larger context window?
GPT-4.1 has the larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens. Grok 3 has 128,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-4.1 is proprietary; Grok 3 is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 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.