Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Grok 3
Wins 7 of 7 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Facts · Images and charts · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 7 areas
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Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the stronger all-rounder.
Scores updated · 27 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the seven areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking50Claude Sonnet 4.55 of 5 tests
- CodingWriting and fixing software20Claude Sonnet 4.52 of 2 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up21Claude Sonnet 4.52 of 3 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own10Claude Sonnet 4.51 of 1 test
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video10Claude Sonnet 4.51 of 1 test
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Sonnet 4.51 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Claude Sonnet 4.51 of 1 test
Agents, images and charts, long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs 25% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Sonnet 4.5 pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+38.2points ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+24.2points ahead
- Common-sense trick questionsSimpleBench+18.2points ahead
Where Grok 3 pulls ahead
No clear win on a test scored out of 100.
Every test, side by side
All 27 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.5
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 24.235.611.4+24.2
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 8.945.736.8+8.9
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4.5
- SimpleBenchClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 18.254.336.1+18.2
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 14.183.469.3+14.1
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 13.717.84.1+13.7
- ARC-AGI-2Claude Sonnet 4.5 by 13.613.60+13.6
- CritPtClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 1.11.10+1.1
FactsClaude Sonnet 4.5
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 38.250.912.7+38.2
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterGrok 3 by 6.2125.8+6.2
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 432.928.9+4
Images and chartsClaude Sonnet 4.5
- MMMUClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 1.679.678+1.6
Long documentsClaude Sonnet 4.5
- AA-LCRClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 14.372.358+14.3
Following instructionsClaude Sonnet 4.5
- IFBenchClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 10.457.346.9+10.4
Other results13 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- ARC-AGI-1Claude Sonnet 4.5 by 58.263.75.5+58.2
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 33.1-0.1-33.2+33.1
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 32.352.119.8+32.3
- BrowseComp-ZHClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 31.642.410.8+31.6
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Sonnet 4.5 by 29.378.148.8+29.3
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 8.620.712.1+8.6
- LiveCodeBenchGrok 3 by 8.47179.4+8.4
- AA Agentic IndexGrok 3 by 7.117.524.6+7.1
- AIME 2025Grok 3 by 6.38793.3+6.3
- vectara_factual_consistencyGrok 3 by 6.28894.2+6.2
- frontiermath_tier_4_v1Claude Sonnet 4.5 by 4.24.20+4.2
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 31.9 rating points127.895.9+31.9 rating
- vectara_answer_rateClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 2.695.693+2.6
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Grok 3?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins all seven areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, facts, images and charts, long documents and following instructions. Grok 3 wins none.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.5. It wins 2 of the 2 coding tests both models report; Grok 3 wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Grok 3 costs $4.00 and $20.00. That makes Claude Sonnet 4.5 about 25% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 27 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 14 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 13 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.