Grok 3 Mini vs Grok 4

Overview (our 12-test suite): Grok 3 Mini wins 1 test (tool calling); Grok 4 wins 2 tests (strategic analysis, multilingual); the other 9 tests are ties on our scale. Detailed walk-through: - tool calling: Grok 3 Mini scores 5 vs Grok 4's 4; Grok 3 Mini is tied for 1st ("tied for 1st with 16 other models out of 54") while Grok 4 ranks 18 of 54 — this matters for function selection, argument accuracy and sequencing in tool-driven agents. - strategic analysis: Grok 4 scores 5 vs Grok 3 Mini's 3; Grok 4 is tied for 1st on this benchmark, so it handles nuanced tradeoff reasoning and numeric tradeoffs better in our tests. - multilingual: Grok 4 scores 5 vs Grok 3 Mini's 4; Grok 4 ranks tied for 1st (stronger non-English parity in our testing). - long context: both score 5 and are tied for 1st (supports retrieval/accuracy at 30K+ tokens). - faithfulness, persona consistency, classification: both score 5/5 (tied for 1st across many models), indicating reliable adherence to source material and consistent persona in our tests. - structured output, constrained rewriting, creative problem solving, safety calibration, agentic planning: tied or close (both 3–4 range depending on task). Practical meaning: Grok 3 Mini gives best-in-class tool orchestration and long-context behavior at a fraction of the cost; Grok 4 is the choice when multilingual fidelity and strategic, numeric reasoning matter most. Rankings context: where a model is “tied for 1st” it shares top-tier performance with many models; Grok 4’s wins are top-ranked in strategic analysis and multilingual ("tied for 1st"), while Grok 3 Mini’s tool calling lead is also top-ranked in our dataset.

Per 1,000-token unit (per_mtok): Grok 3 Mini input $0.30 + output $0.50 = $0.80 per 1k tokens. Grok 4 input $3 + output $15 = $18.00 per 1k tokens. Scaled to monthly volumes: 1M tokens = 1,000 units → Grok 3 Mini $0.80×1,000 = $800; Grok 4 $18×1,000 = $18,000. At 10M tokens: $8,000 vs $180,000. At 100M tokens: $80,000 vs $1,800,000. Who should care: startups and high-volume APIs will see enormous savings with Grok 3 Mini; teams that need Grok 4’s multilingual/strategic strengths and image/file inputs may justify the ~22.5× per-1k cost gap ($18 / $0.8 ≈ 22.5×).

Choose Grok 3 Mini if you need enterprise-scale cost efficiency, long-context reasoning (131,072 tokens), top tool calling performance (5), and high faithfulness/persona consistency — ideal for high-throughput chatbots, agent orchestration, and logic-heavy tasks with tight budgets. Choose Grok 4 if you require the best multilingual output (5), stronger strategic analysis (5), larger 256k context window, or image/file input support and can absorb much higher token costs for those gains.