Grok vs Claude

Grok and Claude in one paragraph each

Grok is xAI's assistant, the company that became part of SpaceX in 2026 and now uses the names SpaceXAI and SpaceXSI. It is closely linked to X, has a direct and sometimes cheeky voice, and its official apps add web and X search, voice and picture making. Its newest model is Grok 4.7.

Claude is the assistant from Anthropic. Its reputation rests on careful writing, long documents and programming, and its current family has three sizes: Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5. Claude reads text, images and files but does not create images.

Grok.Online, our independent site, runs Grok models only; Claude is not in our chat.

Side-by-side comparison

OpenRouter list price, Oct 2026.

Writing and tone

Here the two feel most different. Claude's default style is calm, thorough and polite; it tends to ask itself whether a request is wise and will say so. Grok's default is shorter and more opinionated, with a sense of humour that some people love and others find too casual. For a cover letter, a policy summary or a sensitive message to a colleague, many people prefer Claude's measured voice. For a quick take, a punchy caption or a frank opinion, Grok often gets there in fewer words.

Both follow style instructions well. A prompt such as "Write in plain, friendly British English, no jokes, 150 words" will narrow the gap considerably.

Coding and long documents

Claude has long been a favourite of programmers, and Anthropic's models power many coding tools. xAI has pushed hard in the same direction: Grok 4.5 was trained together with the team behind the Cursor code editor, which SpaceX bought in 2026, and Grok 4.7 was introduced with a focus on coding and long agent tasks. In practice, both families are strong enough that the tool you use them in matters as much as the model.

For long documents, Claude's one-million-token window and file input make it easy to drop in a full report or contract. Grok 4.3 offers a similar window, and Grok 4.20 offers more on OpenRouter, but in our chat you paste text or attach images rather than uploading documents.

Cost for developers

At the top end, Grok is the cheaper choice: Grok 4.7 costs half as much as Opus 5.5 for input and less than a third for output. Against the mid-range Sonnet 5.5, Grok 4.7 has the same input price and a lower output price. At the low end the picture flips: Claude Haiku 5.5 costs a fraction of what Grok 4.20 or Grok 4.3 do, which makes it attractive for simple, high-volume tasks such as sorting or tagging text. See our Grok API guide for request examples.

Free access

Both companies offer limited free use in their own apps, with an account required. On Grok.Online you can use three Grok models without registering, up to 30 messages a day, with up to 10 of them on Grok 4.7. Chats stay in your browser, and you can share a conversation with a link. Anthropic's free tier gives you Claude in its own apps; it is not offered here, so you would test it there and compare the answers side by side.

How to compare them yourself

The fairest test takes about fifteen minutes. Pick three tasks you actually do, for example a short email you need to send, a paragraph you want to tighten and a question from your own field where you know the right answer. Give each assistant the same prompt, word for word, and do not tell either one about the other. Then look at four things:

1. Accuracy. Did it get the facts and numbers right on the question you can check?
2. Fit. Did it follow your length, tone and format, or did you have to ask twice?
3. Effort. How much editing does the result need before you can use it?
4. Honesty. When it did not know something, did it say so or guess?

You can run the Grok half of the test here without signing up. Use Grok 4.3 Thinking for anything with steps or numbers, and Grok 4.7 for the hardest task. Our guide to checking AI answers has more ideas for spotting confident mistakes.

Choose Grok if…

• you prefer short, direct answers and a relaxed tone;
• you want a flagship-level model at a lower price than Claude Opus;
• you care about X, or want image and video creation in the same official app;
• you want to start right now without an account, in our chat with Grok 4.7.

Choose Claude if…

• you write a lot of careful, formal or sensitive text and like a measured default voice;
• you want to upload long files such as PDFs directly;
• you need a very cheap small model for simple bulk work, where Haiku 5.5 shines;
• your coding tools are already built around Claude.

More comparisons: Grok vs ChatGPT, Grok vs Gemini, or the full comparison hub.

FAQ

Is Claude better than Grok at writing?

Many people prefer Claude's default style for formal writing, but Grok writes well when you describe the tone you want. Try the same prompt in both.

Which is cheaper, Grok or Claude?

Grok 4.7 is cheaper than Claude Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 for output. Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper than every Grok model.

Can Claude make images like Grok?

No. Claude reads images but does not create them. Grok creates them in xAI's apps through Grok Imagine, though not in our chat.

Can I use Claude on this site?

No. Our chat offers three xAI models and nothing from Anthropic.