Grok vs Sol
Alt-frontier value coding vs OpenAI max-effort ceiling — price, tempo, and agentic STR. Public stats are peer-relative ranks (40–95 band among scored Builds), not absolute “% intelligence.”
Grok 4.5 · API · High effort
The alt-frontier code smith — near-Opus agentic coding at a third the token bill.
GPT-5.6 Sol · API · Max effort
The ecosystem operator — max-effort Sol for hard agents, not cheap chat.
Six attributes (peer public)
Same-harness & loadout
| Signal | Grok | Sol |
|---|---|---|
| Vals SWE Verified · mini-swe-agent | 86.6% | 96.2% |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 83.3% (vendor) | 88.0% AA max |
| List price (in/out per MTok) | $2 / $6 | $5 / $30 |
| AA decode / high TTFT | ~93 tok/s · ~14s | ~75 tok/s · ~151s max |
| Arena Elo (openlm) | 1505 | 1509 |
Large Existing Codebase
Decisive on Execution: Sol — public ranges do not overlap (Grok 64.8–72.8 vs Sol 90.9–98.9).
- Large Existing CodebaseSol · conf A
Independent SWE Verified gap is large (96.2% vs 86.6%); peer STR max is Sol.
Quest Fit → - Autonomous Coding AgentSol · conf A
Ceiling pick when harness is named and wrong is expensive — cost is the tax.
Quest Fit → - Best Under BudgetGrok · conf A
$2/$6 vs $5/$30 plus far lower TTFT at high effort.
Quest Fit → - Vibe Code a New AppGrok · conf B
Iteration tempo + price; Sol still wins pure ceiling if budget is open.
Quest Fit → - Fast EverydayGrok · conf A
DEX peer max; Sol max-effort is not a sprinter.
Quest Fit →
Grok: Near-Opus agentic coding at $2/$6 with class-leading tempo and preference Elo.
Sol: Highest independent SWE Verified in the peer set — pay $5/$30 and max-effort TTFT for the ceiling.