SpaceXAI released Grok 4.5 on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 — its first major model launch since the company went public several weeks ago. The company positioned the model as a capable, cost-efficient alternative to leading AI models from competitors including Anthropic and OpenAI.
In a post on X, SpaceXAI founder Elon Musk compared the new model to Anthropic’s Opus line, which is designed for intensive and complex tasks. “It is an Opus-class model, but faster, more token-efficient and lower cost,” Musk wrote. He later added that the company’s internal assessment places Grok 4.5 as “roughly comparable to Opus 4.7, but much faster.”
SpaceXAI says Grok 4.5 can handle coding, app-building, office work, research, writing, and other routine knowledge tasks. The company also claims the model offers “twice greater token efficiency” than other leading models — a potentially significant advantage given growing cost concerns among AI consumers.
On pricing, SpaceXAI has set Grok 4.5 at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. By comparison, Anthropic’s Opus 4.7 costs $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens. OpenAI’s pricing ranges from $1 input/$6 output for its Luna model to $5 input/$30 output for its most expensive Sol model.
Benchmark metrics released Wednesday suggested Grok 4.5 is competitive with top models from rivals, though SpaceXAI did not claim best-in-class performance across the board.
The launch comes during a busy week for AI releases. OpenAI is scheduled to release GPT 5.6 on Thursday — a model the company has called its “strongest yet,” and one whose rollout had previously been delayed due to security concerns raised by the Trump administration.
Source: TechCrunch