Gemini 4 Argon vs Grok 4.6: pricing and benchmarks
Both charge $2.00 per 1M input tokens. Grok 4.6 is 40% cheaper on output tokens ($6.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Grok 4.6 costs $980.00 a month versus $1,100 for Gemini 4 Argon, 11% less. Gemini 4 Argon scores 164.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index vs 156.3 for Grok 4.6.
Prices verified October 17, 2026.
Which should you choose?
Gemini 4 Argon scores 164.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index vs 156.3 for Grok 4.6.
Gemini 4 Argon scores 86.0% on FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3) vs 66.0% for Grok 4.6.
Grok 4.6 costs $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 input-to-output mix) vs $4.00 for Gemini 4 Argon, 25% less.
A trade-off: Gemini 4 Argon is 8.3 ECI points more capable but costs 1.3x as much as Grok 4.6.
Pricing and specs
| Gemini 4 Argon | Grok 4.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | |
| API model ID | gemini-4-argon | grok-4.6 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.10 | $0.50 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $6.00 |
| Long-context rates | — | $4.00 in / $12.00 out above 200K prompt tokens |
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 500K tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | — |
| Batch discount | 50% off | — |
Benchmarks
| Gemini 4 Argon | Grok 4.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 164.6 | 156.3 |
| GPQA Diamond· Science reasoning | 96.4% | 94.0% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3)· Advanced math | 86.0% | 66.0% |
| SimpleQA Verified· Factual accuracy | 76.0% | 49.3% |
| ARC-AGI-2· Abstract reasoning | — | 67.1% |
| DeepSWE· Coding | — | 67.5% |
| APEX-Agents· Agentic work | 82.4% | 65.3% |
Source: Epoch AI, best recorded result per model (CC BY 4.0). A dash means no published score. See all benchmarks
Monthly cost for real workloads
| Workload | Gemini 4 Argon | Grok 4.6 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Support chatbot 100,000 replies a month, ~1,500 input tokens (system prompt + history) and ~400 output tokens each. | $700.00 | $540.00 | Grok 4.6 23% cheaper |
Document Q&A (RAG) 50,000 questions a month with ~8,000 tokens of retrieved context and ~600 output tokens each. | $1,100 | $980.00 | Grok 4.6 11% cheaper |
Coding agent 10,000 agent steps a month, ~40,000 input tokens each (70% read from the prompt cache) and ~2,000 output tokens. | $468.00 | $500.00 | Gemini 4 Argon 6% cheaper |
Estimates use standard list prices and ignore cache-write surcharges. Different tokenizers can count the same text differently, so test with your own prompts.
Gemini 4 Argon vs Grok 4.6 cost calculator
- $980.00/mo$0.02 / request
- Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$1,100/mo$0.02 / request
Standard-tier list prices. Long-context rates apply automatically where the provider publishes a threshold. Excludes cache-write surcharges, taxes, batch and volume discounts.
Gemini 4 Argon pricing notes
Google’s flagship reasoning model for complex coding, agents, math and science.
- Introductory price through November 30, 2026. From December 1, 2026: $4 input, $0.20 cached, $20 output per 1M tokens.
- Not available on the Gemini API free tier.
- Output price includes thinking tokens.
- Max output is 65,536 tokens by default and up to 1,048,576 with long decode.
- Implicit caching only; explicit context caching is not supported.
- Priority inference costs 1.8x the standard rate.
Grok 4.6 pricing notes
xAI’s flagship model for code and everything else, with agentic tool calling and configurable reasoning.
- Requests with 200K or more prompt tokens are billed at $4 input / $1 cached / $12 output for all tokens.
- Web Search costs $5 per 1,000 calls; X Search is billed per item fetched, at $5 per 1,000 posts and $10 per 1,000 user profiles.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Gemini 4 Argon cheaper than Grok 4.6?
- Both charge $2.00 per 1M input tokens. Grok 4.6 is 40% cheaper on output tokens ($6.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), Grok 4.6 costs $980.00 a month versus $1,100 for Gemini 4 Argon, 11% less.
- Which is more capable, Gemini 4 Argon or Grok 4.6?
- Gemini 4 Argon scores 164.6 on the Epoch Capabilities Index vs 156.3 for Grok 4.6.
- How much does Gemini 4 Argon cost per 1M tokens?
- Gemini 4 Argon costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $10.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.10 per 1M cached input tokens on Google’s standard tier.
- How much does Grok 4.6 cost per 1M tokens?
- Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $6.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.50 per 1M cached input tokens on xAI’s standard tier.
- Which has the larger context window, Gemini 4 Argon or Grok 4.6?
- Gemini 4 Argon has the larger context window: 1.05M tokens versus 500K for Grok 4.6.