Grok-3 vs o3 Deep Research
Grok-3 (2025) and o3 Deep Research (2025) are frontier-tier reasoning models from xAI and OpenAI. Grok-3 ships a 131k-token context window, while o3 Deep Research ships a 200k-token context window. On pricing, Grok-3 costs $0.80/1M input tokens versus $10/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Grok-3 is ~1150% cheaper at $0.80/1M; pay for o3 Deep Research only for long-context analysis.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Grok-3 | o3 Deep Research |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | RAG, Agents, and Long context |
| Context window | 131k | 200k |
| Cheapest output | $2.40/1M tokens | $40/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 4 tracked | 2 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Grok-3 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $2.40/1M tokens.
- Grok-3 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Grok-3 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- o3 Deep Research has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Local decision data tags o3 Deep Research for RAG, Agents, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Grok-3
$1,240
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Chutes AI
o3 Deep Research
$18,000
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Vercel AI Gateway
Estimated monthly gap: $16,760. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for Grok-3 and o3 Deep Research; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- o3 Deep Research is $37.60/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for o3 Deep Research and Grok-3; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- Grok-3 is $37.60/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-02-17 | 2025-10-10 |
| Context window | 131k | 200k |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | - | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Openness | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Weights | Not released | Not released |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-04 | 2024-06 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Grok-3 | o3 Deep Research |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.80/1M tokens | $10/1M tokens |
| Output price | $2.40/1M tokens | $40/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Grok-3 | o3 Deep Research |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-10. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.