Grok 4: Everything You Need to Know (2026)

Grok 4 is xAI's flagship large language model and the company's most ambitious release to date. Built by Elon Musk's AI lab, it went from an underdog chatbot tied to X (formerly Twitter) to a genuine contender in the frontier model race. This guide covers what Grok 4 can do, how it stacks up against GPT-5 and Claude Opus 4, how to access it, and whether it is worth using for your projects.

What Is Grok 4?

Grok 4 is a large language model developed by xAI, trained on a massive dataset that includes real-time data from the X platform, web crawls, books, and code repositories. It launched in late 2025 as a successor to Grok 3, bringing significant improvements in reasoning, coding, mathematics, and multimodal understanding.

Key differentiators include:

Real-time information access via the X platform and web search
Extended thinking mode for multi-step reasoning problems
DeepSearch for comprehensive research tasks that synthesize multiple sources
Native image understanding and generation capabilities
OpenAI-compatible API for easy integration into existing toolchains

Grok 4 Model Variants

xAI offers several model variants under the Grok 4 family:

Model	Context Window	Best For	Speed	Cost (API)
Grok 4	128K tokens	Complex reasoning, coding, analysis	Medium	$10 / 1M input, $30 / 1M output
Grok 4 Mini	128K tokens	Fast tasks, chat, summaries	Fast	$2 / 1M input, $6 / 1M output
Grok 4 Vision	128K tokens	Image + text understanding	Medium	$12 / 1M input, $35 / 1M output

All models support streaming, function calling, and JSON mode.

Benchmark Performance

Grok 4 performs competitively with the top frontier models. Here is how it compares on key benchmarks:

Benchmark	Grok 4	GPT-5	Claude Opus 4	Gemini 2.5 Pro
MMLU-Pro	89.2	90.1	89.8	88.5
HumanEval (coding)	93.1	94.2	92.8	91.4
MATH (competition)	87.5	88.0	86.9	87.1
GPQA Diamond	78.3	79.1	78.8	76.2
ARC-AGI	62.4	64.1	63.7	59.8

Grok 4 is particularly strong in reasoning-heavy tasks and benefits from its real-time data access for questions about current events, which static benchmarks do not capture.

How to Access Grok 4

There are three main ways to use Grok 4:

1. X Platform (Free and Paid)

The simplest way to use Grok is through the X app or website at x.com/i/grok.

Free X accounts get access to Grok 4 Mini with approximately 10 messages per day
X Premium ($8/month) unlocks Grok 4 with approximately 100 messages per day
X Premium+ ($16/month) gives unlimited Grok 4 access plus image generation and DeepSearch

2. xAI API (Developer Access)

For programmatic access, use the xAI API. It follows the OpenAI SDK format, so integration is straightforward.

Sign up at console.x.ai and generate an API key. New accounts get $25 in free credits.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your-xai-api-key",
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="grok-4",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum entanglement in simple terms."}
    ],
    temperature=0.7,
    max_tokens=1024
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Using cURL:

curl https://api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "grok-4",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What happened in the stock market today?"}
    ]
  }'

3. Third-Party Platforms

Grok 4 is available through several third-party API providers and AI playgrounds, often at lower prices due to competition. Check platforms like Together AI, OpenRouter, or Fireworks AI for alternative access.

Grok 4 Standout Features

DeepSearch

DeepSearch is Grok 4's research mode. When activated, it breaks down complex questions into sub-queries, searches multiple sources (including real-time X posts and the web), synthesizes findings, and produces a comprehensive report with citations.

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="grok-4",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Research the current state of nuclear fusion energy startups and their latest milestones."}
    ],
    extra_body={"search": True}  # enables web/X search
)

Real-Time Data

Unlike most LLMs that have a knowledge cutoff, Grok 4 can access real-time information from X and the web. This makes it uniquely suited for:

Current events and breaking news
Market data and financial analysis
Social media trend analysis
Sports scores and live event coverage

Extended Thinking

For complex problems, Grok 4 supports an extended thinking mode where it reasons step-by-step before producing a final answer. This is similar to Claude's extended thinking and OpenAI's o3 model.

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="grok-4",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Prove that there are infinitely many primes."}
    ],
    extra_body={"thinking": {"enabled": True}}
)

Image Understanding and Generation

Grok 4 Vision can analyze images, charts, screenshots, and documents. It also supports image generation through xAI's Aurora model, accessible via the API and the X interface.

Grok 4 vs. GPT-5 vs. Claude Opus 4

Here is a practical comparison for common use cases:

Use Case	Best Model	Why
Coding & debugging	GPT-5 or Claude Opus 4	Slightly higher HumanEval scores and better at long codebases
Current events	Grok 4	Real-time X and web data access
Long document analysis	Claude Opus 4	200K context window vs. 128K
Research & synthesis	Grok 4 (DeepSearch)	Built-in multi-source research pipeline
Creative writing	Claude Opus 4	More nuanced, less formulaic output
Math & reasoning	GPT-5	Marginally better on competition math
Cost-sensitive apps	Grok 4 Mini	Cheapest among the frontier minis

Limitations to Know About

Grok 4 is a strong model, but it has some notable limitations:

Content moderation is looser than competitors. Grok is intentionally less restrictive, which can be a pro or con depending on your use case.
Occasional hallucination with real-time data. While real-time access is a strength, Grok sometimes presents unverified X posts as facts.
Smaller ecosystem. GPT and Claude have larger plugin ecosystems, more third-party integrations, and broader community support.
API stability. The xAI API is newer and has experienced more downtime than OpenAI or Anthropic's APIs.

Pricing Summary

Access Method	Cost	What You Get
X Free	$0	Grok 4 Mini, ~10 msgs/day
X Premium	$8/month	Grok 4, ~100 msgs/day
X Premium+	$16/month	Grok 4 unlimited, DeepSearch, image gen
API (free tier)	$0 ($25 credits)	All models, 60 RPM, 30-day expiry
API (paid)	Pay-per-token	Full access, higher rate limits

Getting Started: Quick Setup Checklist

For casual use: Sign up for a free X account and go to x.com/i/grok
For development: Create an account at console.x.ai, grab your API key, and install the OpenAI Python SDK
For heavy usage: Subscribe to X Premium+ or set up a paid API account
For integration: Use the OpenAI-compatible endpoint so you can swap models easily

# Quick test from your terminal
pip install openai

python -c "
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(api_key='your-key', base_url='https://api.x.ai/v1')
r = client.chat.completions.create(model='grok-4-mini', messages=[{'role':'user','content':'Hello Grok!'}])
print(r.choices[0].message.content)
"

Wrapping Up

Grok 4 has firmly established xAI as a serious player in the frontier model space. Its real-time data access, competitive benchmark performance, and OpenAI-compatible API make it a practical choice for developers and researchers. The free tier through X is generous enough for casual use, and the API pricing is competitive for production workloads.

If you are building AI-powered applications that involve media generation -- images, video, talking avatars, or voice -- alongside LLM capabilities, check out Hypereal AI for a unified API that handles all of it.

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