Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Grok 3 Mini
Claude Haiku 4.5 (2025) and Grok 3 Mini (2025) are general-purpose language models from Anthropic and xAI. Claude Haiku 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while Grok 3 Mini ships a 131k-token context window. On pricing, Grok 3 Mini costs $0.3/1M input tokens versus $0.8/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Grok 3 Mini is ~167% cheaper at $0.3/1M; pay for Claude Haiku 4.5 only for coding workflow support.
Specs
| Released | 2025-10-01 | 2025-02-17 |
| Context window | 200k | 131k |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | decoder only | - |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-02 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Grok 3 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.8/1M tokens | $0.3/1M tokens |
| Output price | $4/1M tokens | $0.5/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Grok 3 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark rows are currently sourced for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on vision: Claude Haiku 4.5, function calling: Claude Haiku 4.5, tool use: Claude Haiku 4.5, and code execution: Claude Haiku 4.5. Both models share multimodal input and structured outputs, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Claude Haiku 4.5 lists $0.8/1M input and $4/1M output tokens, while Grok 3 Mini lists $0.3/1M input and $0.5/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Grok 3 Mini lower by about $1.4 per million blended tokens. Availability is 8 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 when coding workflow support, larger context windows, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Grok 3 Mini when provider fit and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Grok 3 Mini?
Claude Haiku 4.5 supports 200k tokens, while Grok 3 Mini supports 131k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Grok 3 Mini?
Grok 3 Mini is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $0.8/1M input and $4/1M output tokens. Grok 3 Mini costs $0.3/1M input and $0.5/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude Haiku 4.5 or Grok 3 Mini open source?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is listed under Proprietary. Grok 3 Mini is listed under Proprietary. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Grok 3 Mini?
Claude Haiku 4.5 has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Grok 3 Mini?
Both Claude Haiku 4.5 and Grok 3 Mini expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Where can I run Claude Haiku 4.5 and Grok 3 Mini?
Claude Haiku 4.5 is available on Microsoft Foundry, Anthropic, Snowflake Cortex, AWS Bedrock, and GCP Vertex AI. Grok 3 Mini is available on OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.