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Grok 4.5 API Pricing & Cost Calculator

By TechCompare · Updated · How we check

Grok 4.5's $2/$6 pricing undercuts Claude Sonnet 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra per output token. The shorter 500K context window is the catch, so check that you don't need 1M.

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Cost Comparison

Based on 100,000 input tokens (50% cached), 5,000 output tokens, and 100 requests.Prices come live from OpenRouter at each maker's own price where it's listed. Temporary deals are left out.

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Same 100,000 in / 5,000 out (50% cached) scenario, pre-loaded. Adjust tokens, caching, or swap models.
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Grok 4.5 is xAI's frontier reasoning model with a 500K-token context window. It matches Claude Sonnet 5 on input price and sits below Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol.

SpaceXAI: Grok 4.5

xAI's own price

Input
$2
Output
$6
Cached
$0.30

per 1M tokens

Price checked 2026-11-12

How this is calculated

Grok 4.5 is priced at $2.00 per million input tokens and $6.00 per million output tokens, with a prompt caching discount of 85% ($0.30 per million cached reads). Its 500K context window is half of Claude's and Gemini's 1M, which is the main trade-off versus those peers.

Verdict

Use Grok 4.5 for output-dominant reasoning tasks under 500K, where its output rate sits below both Sonnet 5 and Terra. Grok 4.5 lands at $2/M input and $6/M output, with the 85% cache discount dropping cached input to $0.30/M.

The output row is what matters: $6/M is lower than Sonnet 5's $10/M or Terra's $12/M, so output-heavy reasoning workloads cost 40% less per output token than on Sonnet 5 and 50% less than on Terra. The trade is context: the 500K window is half of Claude's and Gemini's 1M, so workloads that fit are cheap and workloads that don't have to chunk or move up.

More API Standalones scenarios

Grok 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Two mid-tier workhorses from different ecosystems. Compare input and output rates side by side.
View details
Grok 4.7 Pricing
What Grok 4.7 costs per request and per month, with prompt caching.
View details
Grok 4.6 Pricing
What Grok 4.6 costs per request and per month, with prompt caching.
View details

Related guides

Token cost calculator
How per-token counts turn into API costs.
View guide
Prompt optimization
Cutting tokens is the cheapest way to cut cost.
View guide

Frequently asked questions

How does Grok 4.5's caching compare to Claude's or Gemini's?
Grok 4.5 offers a caching discount of 85% ($0.30 per million cached), against 90% off on Claude Sonnet 5 ($0.20/M) and 90% off on Gemini 3.6 Flash ($0.075/M). For cache-heavy workloads that gap adds up, so Grok 4.5 fits shorter, less repetitive calls better.
How much does Grok 4.5 cost per million output tokens?
Grok 4.5 charges $6.00 per million output tokens, 40% cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5's $10/M. Both share identical $2.00 per million input pricing. Grok's 85% caching discount brings cached input to $0.30 per million, less aggressive than Claude's 90% ($0.20/M).
Does Grok 4.5 offer a batch discount?
No, xAI doesn't currently list a batch discount on Grok 4.5. For asynchronous bulk workloads, Claude Sonnet 5 batches at $1/$5 and Gemini 3.6 Flash at $0.375/$1.875. Gemini 3.6 Flash is already below Grok at standard rates ($0.75/$3.75). Against Claude Sonnet 5, Grok wins on live output-heavy workloads.

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