Grok · Mid-tier · 1,000K context window

Grok 4.3 pricing for chain of thought

$0.0163 per call at 3,000 input / 5,000 output tokens.

Per call

$0.0163

10K calls/mo

$162.5

Cache savings

84% off input

Batch savings

50% off all

Calculate your Grok 4.3 costs

Adjust token counts, volume, and discount toggles to model your chain of thought spend. Prices verified daily against provider pricing pages.

Configure your usage

3,000
100100K
5,000
5050K
10,000
1001M

Estimated cost

Monthly cost
$163
10,000 calls/month
Cost per call$0.0163
Daily cost$5
Input rate$1.25/MTok
Output rate$2.50/MTok
Analyze your real spend

Quick start

Call Grok 4.3 with the OpenAI Python SDK pointed at api.x.ai:

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["XAI_API_KEY"],
)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="grok-4.3",
    max_tokens=5000,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your prompt here"}]
)
# Cost: ~$0.0163 per call at standard rates
# Input:  $1.25/MTok
# Output: $2.50/MTok

How Grok 4.3 compares on cost

Per-call cost for all models scoring 50+ on chain of thought benchmarks. Hover for details.

Cheapest viable option: Claude Sonnet 5 at $0.0560/call (-245% less, 90/100 quality).

What drives chain of thought cost

Reasoning tasks invert the usual ratio: the model produces far more tokens than it consumes, because the intermediate steps are the work. Output pricing dominates completely, and models that reason at length cost more than their headline rate suggests. Comparing reasoning models on input price is actively misleading; compare them on output.

For Grok 4.3 specifically, that means output tokens cost 2.0x more than input, at $2.50 vs $1.25 per MTok. At this use case’s 3,000/5,000 token split, output accounts for 77% of the $0.0163 per-call cost.

Complete Grok 4.3 pricing breakdown

Standard token rates

Direction$/MTokTokens per call
Input$1.253,000
Output$2.505,000

Prompt caching: 84% off input tokens

Caching drops input cost from $1.25 to $0.20/MTok. For repeated system prompts, that saves $0.003150 per call.

Batch API: 50% off all tokens

Submit requests asynchronously and receive 50% off all token costs. This works best for offline pipelines where latency requirements are flexible.

Monthly cost projections

Monthly volumeCost per callStandard monthlyCached monthlyYou save with caching
10,000 calls$0.0163$162.5$131$31.5
50,000 calls$0.0163$812.5$655$157.5
100,000 calls$0.0163$1,625$1,310$315
500,000 calls$0.0163$8,125$6,550$1,575
1,000,000 calls$0.0163$16,250$13,100$3,150

Grok 4.3 quality benchmarks for chain of thought

Benchmark data for chain of thought is pending for Grok 4.3. Test against your own evaluation suite before moving to production.

Performance across all task types

Grok 4.3 scores by task type. Chain of Thought highlighted.

Task typeConfidence scoreRank out of 20

Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 29 of 2026. This snapshot is 8 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.

Alternative models for chain of thought

9 models score 80+ on chain of thought benchmarks, sorted by input rate. Cheapest: Claude Sonnet 5 (-245% less, 90/100 quality).

ModelProviderInput $/MTokOutput $/MTokQualityPer callvs Grok
Claude Sonnet 5Claude$2.00$10.0090/100$0.0560245% more
GPT 5.6 TerraGPT$2.00$12.0082/100$0.0660306% more
Gemini 3.1 ProGemini$2.00$12.0090/100$0.0660306% more
GPT 5.4GPT$2.50$15.0080/100$0.0825408% more
Claude Sonnet 4.6Claude$3.00$15.0088/100$0.0840417% more
GPT 5.6 SolGPT$4.00$20.0096/100$0.1120589% more
Claude Opus 4.8Claude$5.00$25.0097/100$0.1400762% more
GPT 5.5GPT$5.00$30.0095/100$0.1650915% more
Claude Fable 5Claude$10.00$50.0098/100$0.28001623% more

About Grok 4.3

Provider

Grok

Tier

Mid-tier

Context

1,000K tokens

Released

Mar 2026

xAI publishes no release date for this model; dated to the March 4.20-generation launch whose pricing and 1M context window it shares. Priced from the live models table, which is what matters for costing traffic.

Other models from Grok

ModelTierInput $/MTokOutput $/MTokContext
Grok 4.6Flagship$2.00$6.00500K
Grok 4.5Flagship$2.00$6.00500K
Grok Build 0.1Fast / Budget$1.00$2.00256K

You can compare Grok 4.3 head-to-head against any other model on our model comparison pages, or track how pricing has changed over time on the pricing history tracker.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Grok 4.3 cost for chain of thought per API call?

A typical chain of thought call using Grok 4.3 costs about $0.0163 per call. This estimate uses 3,000 input tokens and 5,000 output tokens at standard rates. Standard rates are $1.25 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens.

Is Grok 4.3 the best model for chain of thought?

Our benchmark data does not yet include a chain of thought ranking for Grok 4.3. We recommend testing it against your own evaluation criteria before production usage.

What is the cheapest model for chain of thought with good quality?

The most affordable model for chain of thought above 80/100 quality is Claude Sonnet 5. It comes from Claude at $2.00 per million input tokens. Output costs $10.00 per million tokens with a quality score of 90/100. Switching from Grok 4.3 to Claude Sonnet 5 saves about -245% per API call.

How can I reduce my Grok 4.3 costs for chain of thought?

Three strategies lower Grok 4.3 costs for this task type effectively. Prompt caching gives a 84% discount on input tokens when reusing system prompts. The batch API gives 50% off all tokens for asynchronous processing workloads. Prompt optimization reduces token counts through more concise instructions and context windows. Combining caching with batching brings your cost from $0.0163 to about $0.001300 per call.

How does Grok 4.3 pricing compare to other Grok models?

Grok has 3 other models alongside Grok 4.3 today: Grok 4.6 at $2.00/$6.00 per million tokens (flagship), Grok 4.5 at $2.00/$6.00 per million tokens (flagship), Grok Build 0.1 at $1.00/$2.00 per million tokens (fast / budget). The right choice depends on whether your chain of thought workload prioritizes quality, cost, or speed.

What context window does Grok 4.3 support?

Grok 4.3 supports a context window of 1,000K tokens per API call. This sets the maximum combined length of your input prompt and generated response. For chain of thought, typical calls use 3,000 input and 5,000 output tokens. That is well within this limit, leaving room for longer prompts or multi-turn conversations.

Track what you spend on AI

This calculator estimates costs based on published rates only. Connect your API usage to see where your money goes and which models drive your spend.