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Claude vs Grok: Which AI chat app should you pay for?

Facts checked Oct 22, 2026. Every number links to its source.

Summary

Derived from sourced facts, not from builder opinions
  • Claude Pro costs $20 a month. Grok's main paid tier, Premium, costs $30 and includes Cursor Pro and X Premium+ benefits. Grok also has an $8 Plus plan.
  • No published test compares the two apps. As models run through the API by Vals AI, Claude Opus 5.5 (Claude Pro and up) scored 65.15% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 and Grok 4.5, the model announced for the Grok app, 8.59%.
  • As models in Arena text votes, Claude Opus 5.5 ranks 2 (1516) and Grok 4.5 ranks 57 (1448).
  • Claude Code is not in Claude Free: it comes with paid plans from $20. Grok's free plan includes a starter allowance for Cursor's coding agents.

Choose Claude if

  • You want Opus 5.5, which Claude Pro includes.
  • You plan to use Claude Code, which every paid Claude plan includes.
  • You want Claude models without paying API prices in Cursor.
  • You want the stronger model on coding tests: Grok 4.5 scored far below Claude Opus 5.5 on Terminal-Bench 4.0.

Choose Grok if

  • You want a paid plan under $20 (Plus at $8).
  • You use X or Cursor and want them in the same plan.
  • You want a coding agent on the free plan.
Claude
Grok

Follow both to get an email when either one changes its price, limits or behavior.

Plans

Claude plans

Free
Free

Sonnet and Haiku · web search, memory, connectors, Artifacts

Pro
$20/month

Claude Code and Opus included · $17/month billed annually

Max
$100/month

From $100: 5x or 20x Pro usage

Team Standard seat
$25/month

Per seat, monthly · $20 billed annually

Enterprise
$20/month

Per seat billed annually, 20-seat minimum, plus usage at API rates

Grok plans

Free
Free

Daily Grok access · starter Cursor allowance · standard X

Plus
$8/month

More Grok and Cursor usage · X checkmark and fewer ads

Premium
$30/month

SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+ benefits · 4x Plus usage · $25/month billed annually

Super
$100/month

15x Plus usage

Ultra
$200/month

50x Plus usage

Subscription agents are priced per seat with usage limits, so this compares plans rather than dividing a subscription by a guessed number of tasks.

Side by side

ClaudeGrok
MakerAnthropic
SpaceXSI (formerly xAI)
PlansFree $0 · Pro $20/month ($17 billed annually) · Max from $100 (5x or 20x Pro usage) · Team Standard $25/seat monthly ($20 annual), Premium $125 ($100 annual) · Enterprise $20/seat plus usage at API rates
The X Subscription: Free $0 · Plus $8 · Premium $30 (4x Plus usage) · Super $100 (15x) · Ultra $200 (50x) · existing SuperGrok plans continue
Usage limitsRolling 5-hour windows on every plan, plus weekly limits on paid plans · Pro gives at least 5x Free usage per 5 hours, Max 5x or 20x Pro · no fixed message counts · paid plans can buy usage credits at API rates
One weekly usage pool per paid seat, shared across Grok products and Cursor · no published message counts · extra usage through top-ups
Models in the appCurrent models are Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and Fable 5.1 · Free gets Sonnet and Haiku · Opus from Pro · Fable with usage credits on Pro and up to 50% of weekly limits on Max
Not published
Context windowUp to 1M tokens on every plan, depending on the model
Not published
Key featuresFree: web search, file creation and code execution, memory, connectors, Artifacts, Claude Design, Slides and Docs · Pro adds Claude Code, Research, unlimited Projects, Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365
Not published
Coding agentClaude Code is included in every paid plan and shares the plan's usage limits
Cursor is part of The X Subscription · Free includes a starter allowance for Cursor's agents · third-party models in Cursor are billed separately at API list prices
Model trainingOpt-out on Free, Pro and Max · off by default on Team and Enterprise
Not published
Model in the appNot publishedGrok 4.5 is the latest model SpaceXSI has announced for grok.com, X, iOS and Android (2026-07-22) · the Grok 4.6 and 4.7 announcements name Cursor, Grok Build and the API
Newest modelNot publishedGrok 4.7, released 2026-09-21 on the xAI API, Cursor and Grok Build
Build ModeNot publishedBuilds and publishes websites, apps and games from chat, in early beta for SuperGrok Heavy

Scores appear side by side only when both were published for the same test. Settings differ between sources, so small gaps can reverse under another harness.

Updates

Claude

27 recorded incidents in the last 90 days.

Limits change

Accounts that keep trying to extract Claude's reasoning face stricter usage limits

Anthropic said users who repeatedly try to extract Claude's reasoning now get stricter usage limits, and accounts with persistent distillation attempts are banned. The same post restates that blocked pre-output requests have been billed again since September 24.

Who is affected:
Accounts whose prompts repeatedly try to get Claude to reveal its full reasoning.
What to do:
No action needed for normal use. Do not build workflows that try to extract hidden reasoning.

Grok

Plan change

The X Subscription replaces separate Grok, Cursor and X Premium plans

SpaceXSI introduced The X Subscription, one plan covering Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor and X Premium with a weekly shared pool of Grok model usage. On Premium and above, third-party models in Cursor are billed separately at API list prices. Current Cursor plans keep included third-party usage until the user switches.

Who is affected:
New Cursor, SuperGrok and X Premium subscribers, and anyone who uses Claude, GPT or Gemini models inside Cursor.
Action needed:
If you rely on third-party models in Cursor, check the cost before switching plans and set a spending cap.

FAQ

Is Claude better than Grok?

No published test compares the two apps. As models, Claude Opus 5.5 scored 65.15% on Vals AI's Terminal-Bench 4.0 and Grok 4.5, the model announced for the Grok app, 8.59%. Opus 5.5 also ranks well above Grok 4.5 in Arena votes.

How much do Claude and Grok cost?

Claude: Free, Pro $20 ($17 a month billed annually) and Max from $100. Grok: Free, Plus $8, Premium $30, Super $100 and Ultra $200.

Can I use Claude models with a Grok plan?

Only in Cursor, on Premium and above, and billed separately at API list prices. They are not part of the plan's included usage.

Which model does the Grok app use?

Grok 4.5 is the latest model SpaceXSI has announced for the Grok app, on July 22, 2026. Its announcements for Grok 4.6 and Grok 4.7 name Cursor, Grok Build and the API, not the Grok app.

Is Grok free?

Yes. The free plan includes daily Grok access and a starter Cursor allowance.

Can I bring my Grok memory to Claude?

Yes, as text. Claude's memory import takes what another assistant knows about you, pasted under Settings, Memory, Start import. It cannot import past chats.

Does Claude train on my chats?

Only if you allow it on Free, Pro and Max, where you can opt out. It is off by default on Team and Enterprise.

Related comparisons

Claude vs ChatGPTClaude vs Gemini appChatGPT vs GrokDeepSeek vs ClaudeClaude vs PerplexityClaude pageGrok page

Sources and method

Prices, specs and limits come from each maker's own pages. Benchmark scores come from independent benchmark publishers and the makers' announcements, with the setting each was measured in. Changes come from changelogs, deprecation pages and status pages. The summary is written from these facts only.