Model comparison
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok Code Fast 1
Head-to-head evidence from 10 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 5 #29 (Estimated); Grok Code Fast 1 #180 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok Code Fast 1 share 10 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 26 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 5; 2 to Grok Code Fast 1.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 10
- Claude Sonnet 5 only
- 26
- Grok Code Fast 1 only
- 2
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick Claude Sonnet 5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Grok Code Fast 1 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 10 shared benchmark results across 3 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Claude Sonnet 5 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 65.32 to 38.64. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude Sonnet 5's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 76.7 against 70.8. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 85.2% to 70.8%.
Claude Sonnet 5 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.20 input / $1.50 output per 1M tokens for Grok Code Fast 1. That is roughly 6.7x on output cost alone. Claude Sonnet 5 is the reasoning model in the pair, while Grok Code Fast 1 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Claude Sonnet 5 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for Grok Code Fast 1.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | Claude Sonnet 5 | Δ | Grok Code Fast 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | Claude Sonnet 576.7 | Margin← 5.9 | Grok Code Fast 170.8 |
| Agentic | Claude Sonnet 581.9 | MarginNo overlap | Grok Code Fast 1Not measured |
| Knowledge | Claude Sonnet 557.4 | MarginNo overlap | Grok Code Fast 1Not measured |
| Multimodal | Claude Sonnet 588.3 | MarginNo overlap | Grok Code Fast 1Not measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
SWE-bench Verified
CodingA 85.2%B 70.8%Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 14.4SWE-bench Verified: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 85.2%; Grok Code Fast 1 scored 70.8%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok Code Fast 1 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude Sonnet 5$2 input / $10 output | Grok Code Fast 1$0.2 input / $1.5 output | Grok Code Fast 1 has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude Sonnet 5Not available | Grok Code Fast 1172 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude Sonnet 5Not available | Grok Code Fast 12.81 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude Sonnet 51M | Grok Code Fast 1256K | Claude Sonnet 5 lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic14 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok Code Fast 1 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 80.4% | — | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | 84.7% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/ toolsSource | 57.4% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 81.2% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 1607 | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 46.7% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 55.4% | — | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | 1388 | — | Not comparable |
| AA AutomationBenchSource | 39.2% | — | Not comparable |
| AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource | 44.7% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Harvey LABSource | 90.1% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Tau3 BankingSource | 28.2% | — | Not comparable |
| aaTerminalBench21Source | 80.5% | — | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | — | 75.7% | Not comparable |
CodingClaude Sonnet 5 wins9 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok Code Fast 1 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 85.2% | 70.8% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| SWE-bench ProSource | 63.2% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE MultilingualSource | 78.3% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE MultimodalSource | 28.1% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 80.4% | — | Not comparable |
| FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource | 42.7% | — | Not comparable |
| cursorBench32Source | 61.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | 71.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 53.6% | 36.2% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok Code Fast 1 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| HLESource | 57.4% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | 43.2% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 53.4% | 21.6% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 91.1% | 72.7% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 39.6% | 7.5% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | 15.3% | -36.0% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 38.3% | 23.8% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 37.3% | 78.5% | Claude Sonnet 5 leads |
Multimodal4 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | Grok Code Fast 1 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | — | 41.4% | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok Code Fast 1?
Claude Sonnet 5 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 65.32 to 38.64. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 85.2% and 70.8%.
Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok Code Fast 1?
Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 70.8. Inside this category, AA-SciCode is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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