ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Hy4 preview vs Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Macaron V1 Venti

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) comes out ahead, 52 to 44 and 44 on our weighted score, though Macaron V1 Venti is 21% cheaper per token.

  1. Tencent

    Hy4 preview

    Released Aug 28, 2026

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.834 / $2.50
    • Context1.02M
  2. Our pick

    xAI

    Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)

    Released Mar 9, 2026

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.25 / $2.50
    • Context1M
  3. Mindlab

    Macaron V1 Venti

    Released Jul 21, 2026

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.825 / $2.48
    • Context1.05M
01 — Verdict

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is our pick

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against Macaron V1 Venti (44) and Hy4 preview (44). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. 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 priceMacaron V1 VentiMacaron V1 Venti $1.24 · Hy4 preview $1.25 · Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) $1.56 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMacaron V1 VentiMacaron V1 Venti 1,048,576 · Hy4 preview 1,024,000 · Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Hy4 preview: Text · Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Macaron V1 Venti: Text
  • Self-hostingHy4 preview and Macaron V1 VentiPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightHy4 previewGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)Macaron V1 Venti
Price50%433944
Inputs & features30%357035
Context window20%606061
Overall100%44/10052/10044/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Hy4 preview vs Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) vs Macaron V1 Venti specifications side by side
SpecificationHy4 previewTencentGrok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)xAIMacaron V1 VentiMindlab
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.834$1.25$0.825 (best)
Output$2.50$2.50$2.48 (best)
Cached input$0.042 (best)$0.20—
Blended (3:1)$1.25$1.56$1.24 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $5.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Tencent TokenHub APIOfficial xAI APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window1,024,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output64,000 tokens30,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYeshighNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryOpenMIT
API model IDhy4-previewgrok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning—
API providers17 (best)131
ReleasedAug 28, 2026Mar 9, 2026Jul 21, 2026
Knowledge cutoff———
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Hy4 preview$13.34
  • Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning)$17.50
  • Macaron V1 Venti$13.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Hy4 preview, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) or Macaron V1 Venti?

Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against Macaron V1 Venti (44) and Hy4 preview (44). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Hy4 preview, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) or Macaron V1 Venti?

Macaron V1 Venti is cheaper at $0.825 input / $2.48 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Hy4 preview costs $0.834 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Tencent TokenHub API price); Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) costs $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.24 per million tokens for Macaron V1 Venti versus $1.25 for Hy4 preview (1× as much) and $1.56 for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Hy4 preview has not been scored yet, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) has not been scored yet and Macaron V1 Venti has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hy4 preview, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) and Macaron V1 Venti 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?

Macaron V1 Venti has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,024,000 for Hy4 preview and 1,000,000 for Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning). Maximum output per response: Hy4 preview up to 64,000, Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) up to 30,000, Macaron V1 Venti up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Hy4 preview accepts text; Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Macaron V1 Venti accepts text. Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Hy4 preview and Macaron V1 Venti publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Hy4 preview is the newest, released Aug 28, 2026. Macaron V1 Venti came out Jul 21, 2026; Grok 4.20 (Non-Reasoning) came out Mar 9, 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 Nov 2, 2026.