--- title: "Is Grok 4.5 still undominated? · Undominated.ai" canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/x-ai__grok-4.5/ description: "Grok 4.5: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Sep 23, 2026. Unrated stays unrated." --- # Is Grok 4.5 still undominated? · Undominated.ai > Grok 4.5: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Sep 23, 2026. Unrated stays unrated. # Is Grok 4.5 a good deal? Whether anything in this catalogue beats Grok 4.5 on both quality and price, and what you give up if it does. A computation on the current catalogue, not an opinion. 13 undominated of 136 · Sep 23, 2026 [1 · Choose & set workload](#check-input)[2 · Read verdict](#check-verdict)[3 · Inspect alternatives](#check-options) As of Sep 23, 2026, Grok 4.5 is dominated for Balanced on LMArena. Muse Spark 1.3 scores 39.6 higher and costs 33% less, with a covering envelope. 13 of 136 rated, priced standard models are undominated. [Inspect model evidence](/models/x-ai__grok-4.5/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=x-ai%2Fgrok-4.5%2Cmeta%2Fmuse-spark-1.3) Current model Grok 4.5 Balanced 3 tokens in per 1 out Balanced Summarise Chat Code gen Agentic Monthly spend (USD) Used only to say how many months a named switching cost would take to earn back. Leave blank to skip. Switching cost (USD) Muse Spark 1.3 is both better and cheaper than Grok 4.5: 39.6 points higher on LMArena and 33% less per million tokens, $1.00 cheaper at this mix. [Grok 4.5](https://undominated.ai/models/x-ai__grok-4.5/) LMArena Elo · higher is better Scale starts at 1040 Elo ** 1450.1 Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better ** $3.00/M [Muse Spark 1.3](https://undominated.ai/models/meta__muse-spark-1.3/) LMArena Elo · higher is better Scale starts at 1040 Elo ** 1489.7 Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better ** $2.00/M Grok 4.5 takes text, image, file, returns up to 450,000 tokens from a 500,000-token context, and is listed by 4 sellers. Compared against 136 rated, priced models on this lens: 2 models dominate it and give up nothing, 5 more dominate it but give something up. Grok 4.5 scores 1450.1 at $3.00 per million tokens for this mix. ## Envelope-safe replacements Each row scores at least as high, costs no more, and covers this model’s context, output, modalities, tools, and reasoning. A cheaper narrower model is not listed here. | Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You save | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Muse Spark 1.3](/models/meta__muse-spark-1.3/) | 1489.7 +39.6 | $2.00/M | 33% | | [Muse Spark 1.1](/models/meta__muse-spark-1.1/) | 1480.2 +30.1 | $2.00/M | 33% | ## Higher score, lower price, named losses Not a drop-in. The loss is why these are not a recommendation. | Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You give up | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Gemini 3.8 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.8-flash/) | 1494.7 | $1.50/M | max output | | [Gemini 3.7 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.7-flash/) | 1490.5 | $1.50/M | max output | | [Gemini 3.6 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.6-flash/) | 1476.1 | $1.50/M | max output | | [GLM 5.3](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3/) | 1475.1 | $1.29/M | max output, image, file | | [GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/) | 1471.9 | $0.237/M | file | 136 rated, priced standard models. Chartreuse is the frontier. Cobalt is the model you named, when it is not on the staircase. Copy watch URL [Open the frontier](/frontier/) The link keeps the model and mix, using the current catalogue. Monthly spend and switching cost stay in this browser tab and are left out of the link. ## Saved decision references Save the model, workload, catalogue date and capability-preservation rule in this browser. Spend, switching cost and bill contents are not saved. No account or notifications. Constraint: replacements must preserve the model’s capabilities; any losses remain named trade-offs. Historical decisions cannot be fully replayed from saved references: past prices, scores and capability evidence are not stored. Save this reference ## Continue your investigation - [Build a shortlist](/compare/) - [Inspect alternatives](/alternatives/) - [Check billing conditions](/traps/) - [Read model evidence](/models/)