Grok 4.6 Xhigh vs Step 5 Preview compared

If you only looked at the intelligence index, Grok 4.6 (Xhigh) and Step 5 Preview would be hard to tell apart. The figures come from tracked catalogue data, not from our own testing, so treat them as a starting point for a trial on your tasks. What separates them most is responsiveness; Grok 4.6 Xhigh takes 47 seconds to produce its first token, Step 5 Preview 0.91 seconds.

Speed and latency

Grok 4.6 Xhigh generates about 62 tokens per second and Step 5 Preview about 151 tokens per second. On long outputs, that is a real advantage for Step 5 Preview. Before any text appears, Grok 4.6 Xhigh takes 47 seconds and Step 5 Preview 0.91 seconds. Grok 4.6 Xhigh waits 52 times as long before its first token. A first-token wait of that length suits background work better than live conversation.

Add the two numbers up for a 2,000-token reply and Step 5 Preview finishes first: 79 seconds for Grok 4.6 Xhigh, 14 seconds for Step 5 Preview.

How the intelligence index compares

On the intelligence index, Grok 4.6 Xhigh scores 31.0 against 28.5 for Step 5 Preview. It is a small margin for an index that averages many evaluations. In relative terms, Grok 4.6 Xhigh scores 9% higher.

Across the 109 active models with an intelligence score in the catalogue, Grok 4.6 Xhigh ranks 49th and Step 5 Preview ranks 61st.

Neither model has a separate coding or math index recorded yet, so those narrower comparisons will have to wait for more data.

Generation gap

Grok 4.6 Xhigh came first, on August 12, 2026; Step 5 Preview followed on September 18, 2026. They are effectively contemporaries.

What they cost

The list prices are $2.00 in and $6.00 out for Grok 4.6 Xhigh, and $1.00 in and $2.70 out for Step 5 Preview, per million tokens. Grok 4.6 Xhigh costs 2.2 times as much per output token.

For a sample workload of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens, Grok 4.6 Xhigh would cost $3.20 and Step 5 Preview $1.54, a difference of $1.66. Scale it up to an agent that reads 50 million tokens and writes 5 million in a month and the bill is $130 for Grok 4.6 Xhigh against $63.50 for Step 5 Preview. Blended at three input tokens per output token, the effective rates are $3.00 for Grok 4.6 Xhigh and $1.425 for Step 5 Preview.

Is the price in proportion?

Per point of intelligence index, Grok 4.6 Xhigh costs $0.097 of blended price per million tokens and Step 5 Preview $0.050. Grok 4.6 Xhigh costs 1.9 times as much per point, which is the price of its lead.