Compare/Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)

Qwen3 Max ThinkingvsGrok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)

Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.

Alibaba

Qwen3 Max Thinking

Input
$1.2/M
Output
$6/M
Speed
34 tok/s
TTFT
1.58s
xAI

Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)

Input
$2/M
Output
$6/M
Speed
189 tok/s
TTFT
0.31s

Winner by Category

Cheaper
Qwen3 Max Thinking
Faster (tok/s)
Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)
Lower Latency
Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)
Benchmarks (7-0)
Qwen3 Max Thinking

Pricing Comparison

MetricQwen3 Max ThinkingGrok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)
Input ($/M tokens)$1.2$2
Output ($/M tokens)$6$6
Cost for 1M input + 100K output tokens:
Qwen3 Max Thinking$1.80
Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)$2.60

Speed Comparison

Output Speed (tokens/s) — higher is better
Qwen3 Max Thinking
34 tok/s
Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)
189 tok/s
Time to First Token (seconds) — lower is better
Qwen3 Max Thinking
1.58s
Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)
0.31s

Benchmark Comparison

Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks

Intelligence Index
39.929.7
Coding Index
30.525.4
Math Index
GPQA Diamond
86.1%78.5%
MMLU-Pro
LiveCodeBench
AIME 2025
MATH-500
Humanity's Last Exam
26.2%22.5%
SciCode
43.1%32.2%
IFBench
70.7%47.8%
TerminalBench
24.2%22.0%
Qwen3 Max Thinking7 wins
0 winsGrok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 Max Thinking or Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)?

Qwen3 Max Thinking is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $2.40/M tokens vs $3.00/M for Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning).

Which model performs better on benchmarks?

Qwen3 Max Thinking wins 7 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.

Which is faster for real-time applications?

Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning) generates tokens faster at 189 tok/s vs 34 tok/s. However, Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning) has lower time-to-first-token (0.31s vs 1.58s).

When should I use Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning)?

Choose based on your priorities: Qwen3 Max Thinking for lower cost, Qwen3 Max Thinking for stronger benchmark performance, and Grok 4.20 Beta 0309 (Non-reasoning) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.