Grok 4 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B
Grok 4 (2026) and Qwen3-235B-A22B (2025) are frontier reasoning models from xAI and Alibaba. Grok 4 ships a 256k-token context window, while Qwen3-235B-A22B ships a 128K-token context window. On Aider Polyglot, Grok 4 leads by 20.0 pts. On pricing, Qwen3-235B-A22B costs $0.4/1M input tokens versus $3/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Qwen3-235B-A22B is ~650% cheaper at $0.4/1M; pay for Grok 4 only for coding workflow support.
Specs
| Released | 2026-03-01 | 2025-01-01 |
| Context window | 256k | 128K |
| Parameters | — | 235B |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Proprietary | Apache 2.0 |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | - |
Pricing and availability
| Grok 4 | Qwen3-235B-A22B | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $3/1M tokens | $0.4/1M tokens |
| Output price | $15/1M tokens | $1.2/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Grok 4 | Qwen3-235B-A22B | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Grok 4 | Qwen3-235B-A22B |
|---|---|---|
| Aider Polyglot | 79.6 | 59.6 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, Aider Polyglot has Grok 4 at 79.6 and Qwen3-235B-A22B at 59.6, with Grok 4 ahead by 20.0 points. The largest visible gap is 20.0 points on Aider Polyglot, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on multimodal input: Grok 4, reasoning mode: Grok 4, and code execution: Grok 4. Both models share 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, Grok 4 lists $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens, while Qwen3-235B-A22B lists $0.4/1M input and $1.2/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Qwen3-235B-A22B lower by about $5.96 per million blended tokens. Availability is 3 providers versus 3, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Grok 4 when coding workflow support and larger context windows are central to the workload. Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B 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.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Grok 4 or Qwen3-235B-A22B?
Grok 4 supports 256k tokens, while Qwen3-235B-A22B supports 128K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4 or Qwen3-235B-A22B?
Qwen3-235B-A22B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Grok 4 costs $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens. Qwen3-235B-A22B costs $0.4/1M input and $1.2/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Grok 4 or Qwen3-235B-A22B open source?
Grok 4 is listed under Proprietary. Qwen3-235B-A22B is listed under Apache 2.0. 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 multimodal input, Grok 4 or Qwen3-235B-A22B?
Grok 4 has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for reasoning mode, Grok 4 or Qwen3-235B-A22B?
Grok 4 has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Grok 4 and Qwen3-235B-A22B?
Grok 4 is available on Microsoft Foundry, OpenRouter, and Replicate API. Qwen3-235B-A22B is available on Fireworks AI, AWS Bedrock, and OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.