Model comparison
Grok 4.6 vs Qwen3-Max
xAI against Qwen, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.
Catalog record checked September 3, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below
xAI
Grok 4.6
Frontier
Qwen
Qwen3-Max
Frontier
| Specification | Grok 4.6 | Qwen3-Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Qwen |
| Tier | Frontier | Frontier |
| Context window | Winner: 500K | 262K |
| Max output | Winner: 131K | 66K |
| Input / 1M tokens | $2 | Winner: $1.20 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $6 | $6 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Parameters | Not disclosedUnverified | 1T (proprietary) |
| Reasoning levels | low, medium, high, xhigh | low, high, max |
| Modalities | text, image | text, image, video |
| API model id | grok-4.6 | qwen3-max |
| Released | August 12, 2026 | September 23, 2025 |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [high] (2026-08-14) | 61 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-08-14) | Not verifiedUnverified | 52 |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (2026-08-18) | 88 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| GPQA Diamond (2026-08-18) | 94.9 | Not verifiedUnverified |
Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.
Benchmark receipts
- 2026-08-18: Artificial Analysis measurement (independent; tied 1st with Gemini 3.7 Flash high)Agentic terminal work: multi-step tasks executed in a sandboxed shell environment. Comparability: comparable with caveat — Scores across Terminal-Bench major versions (v1 vs v2) are NOT comparable; harness configuration (container, time limits) also shifts results.
- 2026-08-14: Artificial AnalysisComposite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score. Comparability: directly comparable — AA occasionally rebaselines the index scale between snapshots — a score captured on one date is only comparable to same-snapshot scores (check measuredAt).
Pricing tiers: Grok 4.6: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 (≥200K). Cached input $0.50/MTok. Knowledge cutoff Feb 1 2026. · Qwen3-Max: Qwen API $1.20/$6.00 per MTok (≤32K); higher tiers for 32K–256K. OpenRouter lists ~$0.78/$3.90. Proprietary, API-only.
Grok 4.6
Grok 4.6 is xAI's current flagship coding model, strong on LMArena WebDev.
Best for
- Coding agents
- Chat and knowledge
- Cost-sensitive frontier work
Watch out
Token rates double above a 200K-token prompt.
Qwen3-Max
Qwen3-Max is Alibaba's proprietary 1-trillion-parameter API model with multimodal input.
Best for
- Agentic coding
- Multimodal knowledge work
- Long-context via API
Watch out
Max line is proprietary/API-only (no published weights). Per-provider prices differ.
When the cheaper one wins
Both charge $6 per million output tokens at standard rates, so output price is not the split. Prefer the row whose “best for” line matches the job, then confirm the live vendor rate.
Run the model pickerEvidence confidence: High
How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.
- Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
- 4/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: parameter count.
- 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
- Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 8 days ago.
- Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.
Source receipts
Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.
- Grok 4.6: xAI — Grok 4.6 (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Grok 4.6: xAI pricing (grok-4.6 $2/$6, 500K) (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Qwen3-Max: OpenRouter — Qwen3-Max (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Qwen3-Max: AI Release Tracker — Qwen3-Max (accessed 2026-08-29)
Related comparisons
Common questions
Grok 4.6 vs Qwen3-Max
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.
Is Grok 4.6 or Qwen3-Max cheaper for input?
Qwen3-Max is cheaper at $1.20 per million input tokens, against $2 for Grok 4.6 — roughly 1.7× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Grok 4.6 has tiered pricing: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 (≥200K). Cached input $0.50/MTok. Knowledge cutoff Feb 1 2026. Qwen3-Max has tiered pricing: Qwen API $1.20/$6.00 per MTok (≤32K); higher tiers for 32K–256K. OpenRouter lists ~$0.78/$3.90. Proprietary, API-only.
Is Grok 4.6 or Qwen3-Max cheaper for output?
Both cost $6 per million output tokens at standard rates, so output price is not a deciding factor between them.
Which has the larger context window, Grok 4.6 or Qwen3-Max?
Grok 4.6 accepts 500K tokens against 262K for Qwen3-Max. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do Grok 4.6 and Qwen3-Max support the same reasoning levels?
Grok 4.6 exposes low, medium, high, xhigh, while Qwen3-Max exposes low, high, max.
Should I use Grok 4.6 or Qwen3-Max?
Both sit in the frontier tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. Grok 4.6 suits coding agents; Qwen3-Max suits agentic coding.
Next step
Choosing between them
The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.
- Input price: Qwen3-Max costs $1.20 per 1M tokens versus $2 for Grok 4.6 — a 1.7x difference at the headline tier.
- Context: Grok 4.6 takes 500K against 262K for Qwen3-Max — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
- Measured capability: Grok 4.6 leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 61 to 52 (measured 2026-08-14).
Choosing a harness rather than a model — Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, Windsurf, or Lovable? Compare agentic harnesses · Latest releases.