Compare / Google vs xAI

AI labs compared · October 2026

Google vs xAI: which AI lab is ahead?

Each lab's best model on sale goes head to head on every kind of work we measure, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. 20 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.

16 models on sale with our resultsGoogle Best: Gemini 3.8 Flash · newest: Gemini 3.8 Flash
4 models on sale with our resultsxAI Best: Grok 4.7 · newest: Grok 4.7
Google wins 5xAI wins 3

Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 8 both are measured on.

Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe). Models on sale means listed on OpenRouter today.

Google or xAI? The short answer

Google is ahead: its best models beat xAI's in 5 of the 8 kinds of work both are measured on; xAI leads in 3.

  • Pick Google for marketing planning, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
  • Pick xAI for product listings, decks from an analysis and agents and tool use.
  • On our overall leaderboard, Gemini 3.8 Flash is #8 (61 of 100) and Grok 4.7 is #14 (43).
  • Prices start at $0.062 per million tokens for Google (Gemma 3 4B) and $1.56 for xAI (Grok 4.3).

Head to head

61Gemini 3.8 Flash
Best Spring Prompt overall score
43Grok 4.7
40.9Gemini 3.8 Flash
Best Intelligence Index
46.4Grok 4.7
$3.00Gemini 3.8 Flash
Flagship price, per million tokens
$3.00Grok 4.7
$0.062Gemma 3 4B
Cheapest model, per million tokens
$1.56Grok 4.3
16
Models on sale with our results
4

Each line names the model behind the number. Prices are blended, three input tokens to one output, at the developer's list price where we have read it; see every model's price. Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis; overall score from our leaderboard.

Which lab is better for what

For each kind of work, each lab's best model there and its rank among every model on sale. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live 8 of 20Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview 4 of 20Grok 4.7
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is 12 of 19Gemini 3.8 Flash 9 of 19Grok 4.7
User surveysPlanning a user survey and reading its results without being misled 5 of 8Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview not measured
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending 7 of 19Gemini 3.8 Flash 11 of 19Grok 4.7
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 29 of 164Gemini 3.7 Flash 10 of 164Grok 4.6
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 11 of 51Gemini 3.8 Flash 16 of 51Grok 4.6
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 12 of 198Gemini 3.8 Flash 13 of 198Grok 4.6
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 2 of 188Gemini 3.8 Flash 40 of 188Grok 4.5
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 1 of 152Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 43 of 152Grok 4.5
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) 2 of 22Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite not measured

Every model, by intelligence and price

Each dot is a model on sale with an Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis. Up is smarter; left is cheaper. Hover or tap a dot for its name.

GooglexAI

01020304050 $0.01$0.1$1$10 Price per million tokens, blended (log scale) Intelligence Index Gemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.7 FlashGemini 3.6 FlashGrok 4.7Grok 4.6Grok 4.5

On our overall leaderboard

The 4 of their models we rank overall: one score out of 100 across everything we publish (how the score works). Only models with enough of our own results are ranked.

  1. #8Gemini 3.8 Flash61
  2. #10Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview50
  3. #14Grok 4.743
  4. #19Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite27

Benchmark by benchmark

The headline result of every benchmark both labs have models on: each lab's best model and its rank among the models on sale. Green marks the better rank.

MeasureGooglexAI
Agents and tool use
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 19.7%Gemini 3.8 Flash · 23 of 10525.8%Grok 4.7 · 19 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 87.6%Gemini 3.8 Flash · 8 of 11588.4%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 45.8%Gemini 3.8 Flash · 10 of 11350.7%Grok 4.6 · 1 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better $5,396Gemini 3.5 Flash · 22 of 56$9,047Grok 4.6 · 6 of 56
Decks from an analysis
DeckBench · Deck ratingrating, higher is better 894Gemini 3.8 Flash · 12 of 191,229Grok 4.7 · 9 of 19
Marketing planning
ROASBench · Overall scorescore out of 100, higher is better 51.4Gemini 3.8 Flash · 7 of 1936.6Grok 4.7 · 11 of 19
Product listings
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready% of products, higher is better 44.6%Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview · 8 of 2057.1%Grok 4.7 · 4 of 20
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready · sales brief% of products, higher is better 16.1%Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview · 8 of 2033.9%Grok 4.7 · 5 of 20
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better 67.8%Gemini 3.7 Flash · 4 of 3765.3%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 37
GDP.pdf · Professional document tasks% of rubric, higher is better 23.8%Gemini 3.7 Flash · 11 of 3117.2%Grok 4.6 · 19 of 31
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 40.9Gemini 3.8 Flash · 21 of 19846.4Grok 4.7 · 11 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 47.9%Gemini 3.7 Flash · 12 of 19744.1%Grok 4.6 · 21 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 95.3%Gemini 3.8 Flash · 2 of 18794.9%Grok 4.6 · 3 of 187
Sticking to the facts
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 1,477Gemini 3.7 Flash · 12 of 1131,465Grok 4.5 · 28 of 113
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 73.5%Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview · 3 of 7349.3%Grok 4.6 · 26 of 73
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 1,495Gemini 3.8 Flash · 6 of 1661,466Grok 4.5 · 33 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 78.6Gemini 3.8 Flash · 1 of 13863.3Grok 4.6 · 29 of 138

Their models, one against one

Quick answers

Is Google or xAI better?

Google is ahead: its best models beat xAI's in 5 of the 8 kinds of work both are measured on; xAI leads in 3.

What is Google's best model?

Gemini 3.8 Flash: #8 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 40.9 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

What is xAI's best model?

Grok 4.7: #14 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 46.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Google or xAI?

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.6, ranks 10 of 164 models on sale, against 29 for Google's Gemini 3.7 Flash.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Google or xAI?

Google: its best model there, Gemini 3.8 Flash, ranks 12 of 198 models on sale, against 13 for xAI's Grok 4.6.

Which is better for writing, Google or xAI?

Google: its best model there, Gemini 3.8 Flash, ranks 2 of 188 models on sale, against 40 for xAI's Grok 4.5.

Which is cheaper, Google or xAI?

Google's cheapest model with results, Gemma 3 4B, costs $0.062 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $1.56 for Grok 4.3 from xAI.

Other labs compared

Which model is best for your product?

Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from Google, xAI and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.

Talk to usSee the leaderboard