claude-sonnet-5 vs grok-4.3
Fourteen priced metrics for the same 2,000-in / 300-out call, with and without provider caching, and what TokenZero's cascade would do with the pair.
At list prices as of 2026-10-26, grok-4.3 costs $1.41 per million blended tokens on a 2,000-in / 300-out call against $3.04 for claude-sonnet-5, 53.6% less. With the static prefix cached both drop further: $4.30 versus $1.68 per thousand calls. TokenZero routes only prompts its classifier scores simple and holds a 99.8% parity floor.
· Source: provider list prices verified in pricing table 2026-10-26; costs computed by the same code that signs TokenZero receipts
At a glance
- Cheaper per blended token
- grok-4.3 by 53.6% (computed)
- claude-sonnet-5 blended $/1M
- $3.04 (computed)
- grok-4.3 blended $/1M
- $1.41 (computed)
- Input $/1M
- $2.00 vs $1.25
- Output $/1M
- $10.00 vs $2.50
- Cached input $/1M
- $0.200 vs $0.200
- Cache discount
- 90% vs 84% (computed)
- Monthly at 100k calls
- $700 vs $325 (computed)
- Saved per 1M calls
- $3,750 (computed)
- Providers
- anthropic vs xai
- Lifecycle
- active, no retirement announced vs active, no retirement announced
- Parity floor for routing
- 99.8% (shadow-eval breaker)
claude-sonnet-5 vs grok-4.3: list prices and the same workload on both (USD, table 2026-10-26)
| Metric | claude-sonnet-5 | grok-4.3 | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provider · tier | anthropic · mid | xai · mid | different providers |
| Input $/1M | $2.00 | $1.25 | 37.5% gap |
| Output $/1M | $10.00 | $2.50 | 75% gap |
| Cached input $/1M | $0.200 | $0.200 | 90% / 84% off input |
| Cache write $/1M | $2.500 | no surcharge | |
| Minimum cacheable prefix | 1024 tokens | 1024 tokens | |
| Effective blended $/1M (2,000 in / 300 out) | $3.04 | $1.41 | grok-4.3 53.6% less |
| Per call | $0.00700 | $0.00325 | $0.00375 |
| Per month at 100k calls | $700 | $325 | $375 |
| …with the 1,500-token prefix cached | $430 | $168 | $263 |
| Long-context threshold | single tier | 200,000 tokens ($2.50 in / $5.00 out above) | |
| Processing tiers | speed: fast 2x | standard only | |
| Lifecycle | active, no retirement announced | active, no retirement announced | |
| Cheaper sibling (cascade target) | claude-haiku-5-5 | — | |
| TokenZero cascade recommendation | none (cascade stays within one provider; cross-provider moves only on failover) | $3,750 saved per 1M calls if every call moved; $1,500 at a 40% simple-prompt share | 99.8% parity floor, breaker on |
Use either model through TokenZero
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://tokenzero.sh
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://tokenzero.sh/v1
# keep your own keys; cache formatting on, routing advisory, signed receipt per callFree up to $500/month of routed spend; paid plans take 15% of verified savings with a 3x-ROI-or-$0 rule.
What is not on this page
Third-party quality scores (coding ELO, extraction accuracy, reasoning benchmarks) and per-model latency are not shown because TokenZero does not measure them; the numbers above are prices and the arithmetic on them. The latency benchmark shows what the gateway does measure.
Questions people ask
Which is cheaper, claude-sonnet-5 or grok-4.3?
grok-4.3. At list prices as of 2026-10-26 it costs $1.41 per million blended tokens versus $3.04 for claude-sonnet-5, a 53.6% gap on a 2,000-input / 300-output call. Per month at 100,000 calls that is $325 versus $700.
How much does prompt caching change the claude-sonnet-5 vs grok-4.3 gap?
Cached input costs $0.200 on claude-sonnet-5 and $0.200 on grok-4.3 per million. With a 1,500-token static prefix cached, 100,000 calls cost $430 and $168 respectively; TokenZero's formatter places the breakpoints and sets prompt_cache_key automatically.
Can TokenZero route claude-sonnet-5 traffic to grok-4.3 safely?
Not automatically: cascade routing stays inside one provider so the request shape, tools and keys are unchanged. Cross-provider moves happen only on failover when you name the fallback model and key. Use the calculator to price a manual migration of the workload.
Is claude-sonnet-5 or grok-4.3 being retired?
claude-sonnet-5: active, no retirement announced. grok-4.3: active, no retirement announced. TokenZero audits flag retired ids and the gateway warns in X-TokenZero-Warning with the provider's replacement.