Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Grok 4.6
At a Glance
| Compare | Grok 4.6xAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency | ||
| IntelligenceHigher is better · MM Intelligence v2.5 | UnrankedNot in the 46-model eligible cohort | #21 of 4664.1 score · 3/3 sources · complete |
| CostLower is better · Published-token output estimate | UnrankedNot in the 44-model eligible cohort | #22 of 44$0.097 per LiveBench case |
| EfficiencyHigher is better · MM Efficiency v1.5 | UnrankedNot in the 38-model eligible cohort | #16 of 3856.7 score · 3/3 sources · complete |
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $2.00Xai ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $6.00Xai ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 131K | 500K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 29, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Llama-3.1-405B-Instruct | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Meta | xAI |
| Family | Llama 3 1 405b Instruct | Grok 4 |
| Model | Llama-3.1-405B-Instruct | Grok 4.6 |
| Version | Llama-3.1-405B-Instruct | Grok 4.6 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2024-07-23 | Unknown |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | 2026-02-01 |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 131K | 500K |
| Total parameters | 405.9B | Unknown |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | llama3.1 | Unknown |
| Open weights | Yes | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Provider access | Together Ai (Standard) | Xai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct Capabilities
Grok 4.6 Capabilities
Related Comparisons
All text comparisons →| A | Pair | B | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs | Grok 4.5xAI | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peerstext | |
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
 Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
 DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peerstext | |
 MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext | |
Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | vs | cross-developer peerstext | |
| vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peerstext |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct vs Grok 4.6 FAQs
Is Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Grok 4.6, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6?+
Only Grok 4.6 has a directly sourced input price: $2.00 per million tokens. Only Grok 4.6 has a directly sourced output price: $6.00 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6?+
Grok 4.6 has the larger sourced context window. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct supports 131K and Grok 4.6 supports 500K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6 be self-hosted?+
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is the only model in this pair currently marked as self-hostable. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is open weight; Grok 4.6 is not marked open weight.
Can Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Grok 4.6 understand images?+
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is not documented with image input; Grok 4.6 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is — and Grok 4.6 is —.
Do Llama 3.1 405B Instruct and Grok 4.6 support reasoning and tool use?+
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct: tool calling. Grok 4.6: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6?+
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has 1 sourced provider route; Grok 4.6 has 1, a tie.
Which offers better value, Llama 3.1 405B Instruct or Grok 4.6?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.