Grok 4 vs Llama 4 405B
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Grok 4 specs · Llama 4 405B specs- PriceGrok 4
Grok 4 publishes pricing ($15.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 4 405B does not.
- Context windowTie
Both ship a 256K-token context window.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesTie
Both handle text, vision.
- OpennessLlama 4 405B
Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License); Grok 4 is API-only.
It's a genuine coin-flip between Grok 4 and Llama 4 405B: 1 category wins each, with the rest tied. Grok 4 publishes pricing ($15.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 4 405B does not. Both ship a 256K-token context window.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License); Grok 4 is API-only.
Grok 4 is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Llama 4 405B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Grok 4 is usually picked for reasoning and research agent workloads, while Llama 4 405B sees more deployments in open source llm and fine tuning. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Grok 4 | Llama 4 405B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Meta |
| Released | Jul 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 256K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-11 | 2024-12 |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Llama 4 Community License) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$31.50 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Grok 4$1.05
- Llama 4 405BPricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- GPQA87.5
Grok 4 fits when…
- Real-time X data access
- Strong on benchmarks at launch
- Less restrictive content policy than peers
Llama 4 405B fits when…
- Strongest open-weight model at launch
- Multimodal (text + vision)
- Wide hosting availability
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Llama 4 Community License).
Consider Grok 3
xAI's first frontier-tier release, established the company's Colossus-trained model line.
Frequently asked
Is Grok 4 or Llama 4 405B cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
Both Grok 4 and Llama 4 405B ship a 256K-token context window.Is Grok 4 or Llama 4 405B better for coding?
Both Grok 4 and Llama 4 405B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License). Grok 4 is API-only.When were Grok 4 and Llama 4 405B released?
Grok 4 was released by xAI on 2025-07-09. Llama 4 405B was released by Meta on 2025-04-05.
The week's AI launches, in your inbox.
One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.