Which model is better: Claude Opus 5 or Grok 3?

Grok 3 is 40.0% cheaper for input tokens ($3.00 vs. $5.00 per 1M tokens) and $15.00 vs. $25.00 for output tokens (1.7x cost difference). In terms of operational performance, Claude Opus 5 delivers faster response latency with 340ms TTFT (510ms faster than Grok 3). Claude Opus 5 leads coding benchmarks at 82.4% SWE-bench vs. 58.5% for Grok 3.
Verified daily via automated API latency tests and official documentation.

Verified Performance & Unit Economics Delta

Daily synchronized metrics from synthetic latency endpoints and benchmark evaluations.

Metric / Dimension Claude Opus 5 Grok 3 Net Delta / Advantage
Input Cost / 1M Tokens $5.00 $3.00 Grok 3 is 1.7x cheaper
Output Cost / 1M Tokens $25.00 $15.00 Grok 3 (66.7% lower)
Avg TTFT Response Latency 340ms 850ms Claude Opus 5 (+510ms faster)
SWE-bench Verified (Coding) 82.4% 58.5% Claude Opus 5 (+23.9% lead)
Inference Value Score (IVR) 42.7 / 100 45.9 / 100 Grok 3 (+3.2 pts)

Interactive Monthly Token Economics & ROI Forecaster

Model your expected production workload across prompt (input) and completion (output) tokens.

Live Calculation Engine
10.0M Tokens
100K 50M 250M 500M+
2.5M Tokens
100K 10M 50M 100M+

Estimated Monthly Spend

Claude Opus 5 $5.45

$5/1M in · $25/1M out

Grok 3 $67.50

$3/1M in · $15/1M out

Projected Monthly Cost Reduction
$62.05 / mo
(91.9% lower cost)
A

When to Choose Claude Opus 5

Choose Claude Opus 5 when you need Pinnacle autonomous software architecture, whole-system enterprise codebases, PhD-level scientific synthesis, and complex multi-agent delegation. and have an infrastructure budget aligned with $5.00/1M tokens.

B

When to Choose Grok 3

Choose Grok 3 when you need Frontier scientific reasoning, real-time web exploration, and advanced mathematical problem solving. and prioritize xAI ecosystem integration at $3.00/1M tokens.

Related Questions & Decision Factors

Which is cheaper: Claude Opus 5 or Grok 3?

Grok 3 is cheaper at $3.00/1M input tokens compared to $5.00/1M for Claude Opus 5.

Which model has lower latency: Claude Opus 5 or Grok 3?

Claude Opus 5 delivers faster response times with an average TTFT of 340ms vs 850ms for Grok 3.

When should you choose Claude Opus 5?

Choose Claude Opus 5 when you need Pinnacle autonomous software architecture, whole-system enterprise codebases, PhD-level scientific synthesis, and complex multi-agent delegation. and have an infrastructure budget aligned with $5.00/1M tokens.

When should you choose Grok 3?

Choose Grok 3 when you need Frontier scientific reasoning, real-time web exploration, and advanced mathematical problem solving. and prioritize xAI ecosystem integration at $3.00/1M tokens.

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