Grok 4 Max vs o4 Max: which model should you choose?
We compared Grok 4 Max and o4 Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Grok 4 Max has the stronger average benchmark score; o4 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Grok 4 Max
Grok 4 Max is a frontier model from xAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $19.70 per million input tokens and $98.29 per million output tokens, and averages 86.6 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.70 / 1M
- Output
- $98.29 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 86.6
- Open weights
- No
o4 Max
o4 Max is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $19.51 per million input tokens and $93.98 per million output tokens, and averages 86.2 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.51 / 1M
- Output
- $93.98 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 86.2
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | Grok 4 Max | o4 Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $19.70 | $19.51 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $98.29 | $93.98 | B |
| Context window | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 16,384 | 65,536 | B |
| Average score | 86.6 | 86.2 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1491.4 | 1486.0 | A |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
Grok 4 Max wins 8, o4 Max wins 4, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Grok 4 Max | o4 Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 87.8 | 86.3 | 1.5 | Grok 4 Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 82.0 | 80.1 | 1.9 | Grok 4 Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 74.3 | 79.8 | 5.5 | o4 Max |
| HumanEval | 93.4 | 94.6 | 1.2 | o4 Max |
| MATH-500 | 94.6 | 90.6 | 4.0 | Grok 4 Max |
| AIME 2025 | 87.3 | 84.8 | 2.5 | Grok 4 Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 81.3 | 80.6 | 0.7 | Grok 4 Max |
| IFEval | 92.5 | 91.1 | 1.4 | Grok 4 Max |
| TruthfulQA | 85.8 | 87.1 | 1.3 | o4 Max |
| HellaSwag | 94.1 | 91.7 | 2.4 | Grok 4 Max |
| MMMU | 80.0 | 81.9 | 1.9 | o4 Max |
| Arena Elo | 1491.4 | 1486.0 | 5.4 | Grok 4 Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Grok 4 Max costs about $39.35 per million tokens and o4 Max costs about $38.13. o4 Max is roughly 3% cheaper than Grok 4 Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 2,000,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Grok 4 Max wins 8, o4 Max wins 4, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Grok 4 Max leads o4 Max by 0.4 points (86.6 versus 86.2).
The price picture favours o4 Max. The context picture is effectively a tie. 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 4 Max for quality-sensitive work and o4 Max for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose Grok 4 Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
Choose o4 Max if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 65,536-token output limit.
FAQ
Is Grok 4 Max better than o4 Max?
On the index average, Grok 4 Max leads o4 Max by 0.4 points (86.6 versus 86.2). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Grok 4 Max wins 8 benchmarks, o4 Max wins 4.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4 Max or o4 Max?
o4 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $38.13 per million tokens, versus $39.35 for Grok 4 Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 2,000,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
Grok 4 Max is proprietary; o4 Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Grok 4 Max for quality-sensitive work and o4 Max for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.