XAI VS ALIBABA
Grok Build 0.1 vs Qwen3 Max
Grok Build 0.1 is about 1.9x cheaper than Qwen3 Max on a blended 3:1 input:output rate — the same 10K-in/2K-out request costs $0.014 vs $0.024. Grok Build 0.1 has the larger context window (256,000 vs 252,000 tokens).
Pricing verified
API pricing per 1M tokens
| Model | Input / 1M tokens | Output / 1M tokens | Blended (3:1 mix) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok Build 0.1 | $1.00 | $2.00 | $1.25 |
| Qwen3 Max | $1.20 | $6.00 | $2.40 |
Rates from official xAI pricing and official Alibaba pricing, checked 2026-08-11.
What a real workload costs
Example: one request with 10,000 input tokens and 2,000 output tokens, then that request at 100,000 runs per month.
| Model | Per request (10K in / 2K out) | Per month (100K requests) | Monthly delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok Build 0.1 | $0.014 | $1,400 | — |
| Qwen3 Max | $0.024 | $2,400 | +$1,000 |
Model your own prompt sizes and volumes in the token cost analyzer, or check caching savings with the prompt caching calculator.
Specs side by side
| Spec | Grok Build 0.1 | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | Alibaba |
| Context window | 256,000 tokens | 252,000 tokens |
| Model class | General text | Reasoning |
| Tokenizer | Proprietary (counts estimated) | qwen (exact, public) |
Count tokens for each model on its own page: Grok Build 0.1 token counter and Qwen3 Max token counter. All xAI models are on the Grok Token Counter. All Alibaba models are on the Qwen Token Counter.
FAQ
Grok Build 0.1 vs Qwen3 Max FAQ
Which is cheaper, Grok Build 0.1 or Qwen3 Max?
Grok Build 0.1 is cheaper. At rates checked 2026-08-11, Grok Build 0.1 costs $1.00 input / $2.00 output per 1M tokens, while Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 input / $6.00 output — about a 1.9x difference on a typical 3:1 input-heavy workload.
How much does a real request cost on Grok Build 0.1 vs Qwen3 Max?
A request with 10,000 input tokens and 2,000 output tokens costs about $0.014 on Grok Build 0.1 and $0.024 on Qwen3 Max. At 100,000 such requests per month that is $1,400 vs $2,400 — a difference of $1,000 per month.
Which has the bigger context window, Grok Build 0.1 or Qwen3 Max?
Grok Build 0.1. It supports 256,000 tokens of context versus 252,000 tokens — roughly 192,000 English words in one request.
Do Grok Build 0.1 and Qwen3 Max count tokens the same way?
Not exactly. Grok Build 0.1 uses a proprietary tokenizer (counts are estimates) and Qwen3 Max uses the published qwen tokenizer. The same prompt will tokenize differently, which shifts effective cost per word.