Grok 4.6 vs Gemma 4 31B IT
Gemma 4 31B IT comes out ahead, 69 to 65 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
xAIGrok 4.6
65/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
- Our pick
GoogleGemma 4 31B IT
69/100- ECI142.8
- Price$0.14 / $0.40
- Context262K
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Gemma 4 31B IT is our pick
Gemma 4 31B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on price. Grok 4.6 wins on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 · Gemma 4 31B IT 142.8
- Lowest priceGemma 4 31B ITGemma 4 31B IT $0.205 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.6Grok 4.6 500,000 · Gemma 4 31B IT 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGrok 4.6: Text, Images · Gemma 4 31B IT: Text, Images
- Self-hostingGemma 4 31B ITPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.6 | Gemma 4 31B IT |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 86 | 69 |
| Price | 25% | 27 | 83 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 48 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 65/100 | 69/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Grok 4.6xAI | Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.6 (best) | 142.8 |
| ECI rank | #19 of 148 (best) | #86 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.0% (best) | 75.8% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 66.0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 99.2% (best) | 73.3% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 49.3% (best) | 10.4% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $0.14 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 | $0.40 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.50 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 | $0.205 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Median of 30 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 500,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 500,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | grok-4.6 | gemma-4-31b-it |
| API providers | 29 | 38 (best) |
| Released | Aug 12, 2026 | Apr 2, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Feb 1, 2026 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Grok 4.6$32.00
- Gemma 4 31B IT$2.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.6 or Gemma 4 31B IT?
Gemma 4 31B IT is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on price. Grok 4.6 wins on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6 or Gemma 4 31B IT?
Gemma 4 31B IT is cheaper at $0.14 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (median across 30 API providers). Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.205 per million tokens for Gemma 4 31B IT versus $3.00 for Grok 4.6 (15× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148) and Gemma 4 31B IT 142.8 (#86 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (154.7–158.9 vs 140.3–144.9), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.6 94.0%, Gemma 4 31B IT 75.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.6 99.2%, Gemma 4 31B IT 73.3%; SimpleQA Verified — Grok 4.6 49.3%, Gemma 4 31B IT 10.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.6 and Gemma 4 31B IT yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.6 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.6 has the largest context window at 500,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Gemma 4 31B IT. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.6 up to 500,000, Gemma 4 31B IT up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.6 accepts text and images; Gemma 4 31B IT accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Gemma 4 31B IT publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.6 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.6 is the newest, released Aug 12, 2026. Gemma 4 31B IT came out Apr 2, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Grok 4.6 Feb 1, 2026.
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.
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