Grok 4 vs Amazon Nova Micro
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 · Amazon Nova Micro specs- PriceAmazon Nova Micro
Amazon Nova Micro is roughly 107.1× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $15.00 per 1M).
- Context windowGrok 4
Grok 4 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesGrok 4
Grok 4 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Amazon Nova Micro.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Grok 4 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Amazon Nova Micro's 1. Amazon Nova Micro is roughly 107.1× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $15.00 per 1M). Grok 4 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Grok 4 handles text, vision while Amazon Nova Micro handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Grok 4 is the newer of the two, released 7 months after Amazon Nova Micro, 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 Amazon Nova Micro sees more deployments in cheapest llm and fastest llm. 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 | Amazon Nova Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Other |
| Released | Jul 2025 | Dec 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | $0.035 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-11 | , |
| Open weights | No | No |
| 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 $0.315
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs $3.15
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs $6.09
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $31.50 vs $0.315 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $315 vs $3.15 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $540 vs $6.09 per month, model B comes out ahead.
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
- Amazon Nova Micro$0.011
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
- Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 128K for Amazon Nova Micro.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Amazon Nova Micro fits when…
- Lowest-cost frontier-lab model
- Native AWS integration
- Generous 128k context for the price tier
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 107.1× cheaper than Grok 4 on output tokens.
Consider Grok 3
xAI's first frontier-tier release, established the company's Colossus-trained model line.
Frequently asked
Is Grok 4 or Amazon Nova Micro cheaper?
Amazon Nova Micro is cheaper at $0.14 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Grok 4.Which has the larger context window?
Grok 4 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K for Amazon Nova Micro.Is Grok 4 or Amazon Nova Micro better for coding?
Both Grok 4 and Amazon Nova Micro 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?
Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.When were Grok 4 and Amazon Nova Micro released?
Grok 4 was released by xAI on 2025-07-09. Amazon Nova Micro was released by Other on 2024-12-03.
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