Grok 4.3 vs Qwen3 Max vs GPT-5.4 mini
Grok 4.3 comes out ahead, 67 to 63 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
xAIGrok 4.3
67/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.25 / $2.50
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max
50/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
OpenAIGPT-5.4 mini
63/100- ECI148.8
- Price$0.75 / $4.50
- Context400K
Grok 4.3 is our pick
Grok 4.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63) and Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.3Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.3 149.2 · GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 · Qwen3 Max 142.4
- Lowest priceGrok 4.3Grok 4.3 $1.56 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.3Grok 4.3 1,000,000 · GPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · Qwen3 Max 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGrok 4.3Grok 4.3: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 Max: Text · GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.3 | Qwen3 Max | GPT-5.4 mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 77 | 68 | 77 |
| Price | 25% | 41 | 32 | 39 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 25 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 37 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 67/100 | 50/100 | 63/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Grok 4.3xAI | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | GPT-5.4 miniOpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 149.2 (best) | 142.4 | 148.8 |
| ECI rank | #55 of 148 (best) | #91 of 148 | #56 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 88.8% (best) | 72.6% | 86.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 42.8% | 19.0% | 51.2% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 93.3% (best) | 73.3% | 88.9% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 33.2% | 48.8% (best) | 29.4% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.25 | $1.20 | $0.75 (best) |
| Output | $2.50 (best) | $6.00 | $4.50 |
| Cached input | $0.20 | — | $0.075 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.56 (best) | $2.40 | $1.69 |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $5.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 400,000 tokens |
| Max output | 30,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | No | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | grok-4.3 | qwen3-max | gpt-5.4-mini |
| API providers | 27 | 16 | 29 (best) |
| Released | Apr 17, 2026 | Sep 23, 2025 | Mar 17, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2025 | 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.
- Grok 4.3$17.50
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
- GPT-5.4 mini$16.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.3, Qwen3 Max or GPT-5.4 mini?
Grok 4.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63) and Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.3, Qwen3 Max or GPT-5.4 mini?
Grok 4.3 is cheaper at $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). GPT-5.4 mini costs $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.56 per million tokens for Grok 4.3 versus $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (1.1× as much) and $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.3 149.2 (#55 of 148), GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148) and Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.6–150.8 vs 147.1–150.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.3 88.8%, GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 mini 51.2%, Grok 4.3 42.8%, Qwen3 Max 19.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.3 93.3%, GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%, Qwen3 Max 73.3%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3 Max 48.8%, Grok 4.3 33.2%, GPT-5.4 mini 29.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.3, Qwen3 Max and GPT-5.4 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.3 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.3 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.4 mini and 262,144 for Qwen3 Max. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.3 up to 30,000, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.3 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 Max accepts text; GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images. Grok 4.3 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Grok 4.3, Qwen3 Max and GPT-5.4 mini are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.3 is the newest, released Apr 17, 2026. GPT-5.4 mini came out Mar 17, 2026; Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, GPT-5.4 mini 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 Oct 4, 2026.
