GPT-5.3 Chat vs Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Qwen3.5 0.8B
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) comes out ahead, 66 to 57 and 40 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
OpenAIGPT-5.3 Chat
40/100- ECI—
- Price$1.75 / $14.00
- Context128K
- Our pick
xAIGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)
66/100- ECI—
- Price$1.25 / $2.50
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 0.8B
57/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context262K
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is our pick
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.5 0.8B (57) and GPT-5.3 Chat (40). It leads on context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) $1.56 · GPT-5.3 Chat $4.81 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · Qwen3.5 0.8B unpriced
- Longest contextGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) 1,000,000 · Qwen3.5 0.8B 262,144 · GPT-5.3 Chat 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Qwen3.5 0.8BGPT-5.3 Chat: Text, Images · Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.5 0.8B: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingQwen3.5 0.8BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | GPT-5.3 Chat | Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) | Qwen3.5 0.8B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 50 | 70 | 70 |
| Context window | 40% | 24 | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 40/100 | 66/100 | 57/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-5.3 ChatOpenAI | Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)xAI | Qwen3.5 0.8BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.75 | $1.25 (best) | — |
| Output | $14.00 | $2.50 (best) | — |
| Cached input | — | $0.20 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $4.81 | $1.56 (best) | — |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $5.00 | — |
| Price source | Median of 4 providers | Official xAI API | — |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 16,384 tokens | 30,000 tokens | 81,920 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | — | grok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning | — |
| API providers | 4 | 13 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Mar 3, 2026 | Mar 9, 2026 | Mar 2, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 31, 2025 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- GPT-5.3 Chat$45.50
- Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)$17.50
- Qwen3.5 0.8B—
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-5.3 Chat, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) or Qwen3.5 0.8B?
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3.5 0.8B (57) and GPT-5.3 Chat (40). It leads on context window. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.3 Chat, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) or Qwen3.5 0.8B?
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is cheaper at $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). GPT-5.3 Chat costs $1.75 input / $14.00 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.56 per million tokens for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) versus $4.81 for GPT-5.3 Chat (3.1× as much). Qwen3.5 0.8B has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. GPT-5.3 Chat has not been scored yet, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) has not been scored yet and Qwen3.5 0.8B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.3 Chat, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Qwen3.5 0.8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 0.8B and 128,000 for GPT-5.3 Chat. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.3 Chat up to 16,384, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) up to 30,000, Qwen3.5 0.8B up to 81,920 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-5.3 Chat accepts text and images; Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.5 0.8B accepts text, images and video. Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.5 0.8B publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.3 Chat and Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the newest, released Mar 9, 2026. GPT-5.3 Chat came out Mar 3, 2026; Qwen3.5 0.8B came out Mar 2, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.3 Chat Aug 31, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
