ChatGPT offers broader capabilities, superior writing quality, and 200+ million users with extensive plugin integrations, while Grok provides real-time internet access via X, edgier responses, and lower operational costs through Elon Musk's infrastructure investment.
ChatGPT vs Grok — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Choose ChatGPT if you need production-grade AI for work tasks, complex reasoning, creative writing, and extensive third-party integrations across professional workflows. Choose Grok if you prioritize real-time information access, want an unrestricted conversational AI without safety guardrails, or are already embedded in the X/Twitter ecosystem and value low-cost access through Premium subscriptions.
Conversational AI assistant by OpenAI with advanced reasoning and multimodal capabilities.
Real-time AI assistant with internet access built into X Premium
Structured comparison data for ChatGPT vs Grok with 195 attributes.
Minimum Monthly Cost for Advanced Features
Coding Task Accuracy (HumanEval Benchmark)
Complex Reasoning Accuracy (AIME Benchmark)
Code Generation Quality (HumanEval Benchmark)
Coding Performance (HumanEval Benchmark)
ChatGPT vs Grok — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for ChatGPT vs Grok.
Can I use these AIs without a subscription?
Yes, both offer free tiers. ChatGPT's free tier uses GPT-3.5 with limited features. Grok is free for X Premium subscribers only (not free tier users). If you want zero-cost access to advanced AI, ChatGPT's free tier (GPT-3.5) is the only option, though it's less capable than paid models.
Can Grok access current information while ChatGPT cannot?
Yes. Grok has live internet access via the X Platform API, enabling real-time lookup of current events, stock prices, and breaking news. ChatGPT's knowledge cutoff is April 2024, though ChatGPT can browse the web with the web browsing plugin (paid tier only). For real-time financial data and news, Grok has a native advantage.
Which AI is better for professional work: emails, reports, coding?
ChatGPT is significantly better for professional workflows. It has 86% accuracy on complex reasoning tasks versus Grok's estimated 60%, 5,000+ integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Notion, and other enterprise tools, and a more polished writing style. Grok's edgy tone is less suitable for formal business communication.
What's the total cost difference over one year?
ChatGPT Plus costs $240/year ($20/month). Grok requires X Premium at $168/year ($14/month). However, if you don't already have X Premium, ChatGPT is effectively $72 cheaper annually. For API users, ChatGPT costs $0.03 per 1M input tokens while Grok access is bundled with Premium, making Grok cheaper at scale.
Does Grok refuse to answer certain questions more often?
No, Grok refuses significantly fewer requests. Grok has a ~2% refusal rate while ChatGPT refuses approximately 15% of edge-case queries due to stricter content policies. If you want fewer restrictions and more controversial topic engagement, Grok is more permissive. However, this also means less safety filtering for harmful content.