grok-4.3
The most affordable model in the current Grok line, aimed at cost-sensitive production use. Keeps real-time X grounding while trimming price.
At a glance
Released
Mar 18, 2026
Provider
xAI
Context window
256,000 tokens
Max output
64,000 tokens
Modalities
Text + image → text
Knowledge cutoff
February 2026
API model ID
grok-4.3License
Proprietary (API only)
Pricing
Standard
Input$1.25 / 1M
Output$2.50 / 1M
Long-context requests are billed at $2.50 in / $5 out per 1M. A typical 1,500-token prompt with a 650-token answer costs ≈ $0.003 on the standard tier. Run your own prompt through the calculator →
What's new vs the previous model
Compared withgrok-4.2 (January 2026)
- Lower price and faster responses than 4.2
- Reduced reasoning depth versus higher tiers
Best use cases
Cost-sensitive apps
Serves high-volume features where price is the priority.
Simple reasoning
Handles routine analysis and drafting adequately.
Live-data lookups
Answers current-events questions with X grounding.
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Low cost
- Real-time grounding
- Fast
Limitations
- Limited deep reasoning
- No audio or video input
How to test it
- No-code: open grok.com and pick grok-4.3 from the model switcher — no API key needed.
- Playground: sign in to the xAI Console and run prompts in the workbench, then copy the generated code.
- API: create a key in the xAI Console and call the API (example below).
curl https://api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions \
# OpenAI-compatible endpoint
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "grok-4.3",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain tokenization in one paragraph."}]
}'