Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B for fast, cheap inference from a sparse moe (3.8b active of 25.2b total) or near-31b-dense quality at a fraction of the compute and memory-bandwidth cost. Pick Grok 4.5 for cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost or extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than opus 4.8. Choose Gemma 4 26B A4B if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Grok 4.5 if you want a managed API.
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Google) and Grok 4.5 (xAI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Gemma 4 26B A4B is an Apache-2.0 open MoE with 25.2B total but only 3.8B active parameters, delivering near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the inference cost. Grok 4.5 is xAI's first coding-focused model — pitched as Opus-class but faster, more token-efficient, and cheaper, undercutting GPT-5.5-Codex. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Price: Gemma 4 26B A4B is about 13× cheaper on input ($0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens vs $2/$6 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
Context window: Grok 4.5 holds 1.9× more — 500K (~750 pages) vs 256K (~393 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: Grok 4.5 is the newer model by about 3 months (released July 8, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Gemma 4 26B A4B
Grok 4.5
Provider
Google (US)
xAI (US)
Released
April 2, 2026
July 8, 2026
Context window
256K (~393 pages)
500K (~750 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, video, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Fast, cheap inference from a sparse MoE (3.8B active of 25.2B total): Gemma 4 26B A4B — A core design strength of Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the compute and memory-bandwidth cost: Gemma 4 26B A4B — A core design strength of Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Strong reasoning and coding (88.3% AIME 2026 no-tools, 77.1% LiveCodeBench v6): Gemma 4 26B A4B — A core design strength of Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about GPT-5.5-Codex quality at roughly half the cost: Grok 4.5 — A core design strength of Grok 4.5.
Extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than Opus 4.8: Grok 4.5 — A core design strength of Grok 4.5.
In-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor: Grok 4.5 — A core design strength of Grok 4.5.
Lowest cost at scale: Gemma 4 26B A4B — At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input: Grok 4.5 — Its 500K window is about 1.9× larger, fitting roughly 750 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Gemma 4 26B A4B — At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Grok 4.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Grok 4.5 — Larger 500K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs: Gemma 4 26B A4B — Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Grok 4.5 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is fast, cheap inference from a sparse moe (3.8b active of 25.2b total): Gemma 4 26B A4B — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost: Grok 4.5 — That is its strongest area.
Gemma 4 26B A4B: where it fits
An Apache-2.0 open MoE with 25.2B total but only 3.8B active parameters, delivering near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the inference cost. Released April 2, 2026 by Google, it is built for fast, cheap inference from a sparse MoE (3.8B active of 25.2B total), near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the compute and memory-bandwidth cost, strong reasoning and coding (88.3% AIME 2026 no-tools, 77.1% LiveCodeBench v6), and multimodal input (text/image, plus video processed as frames up to 60s) with native function calling.
Its trade-offs are real: all 25.2B parameters must be loaded into memory even though only 3.8B are active per token, and 256K context trails 1M-token frontier rivals, and this variant has no audio input (audio is E2B/E4B/12B only). At $0.15 in / $0.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Grok 4.5: where it fits
XAI's first coding-focused model — pitched as Opus-class but faster, more token-efficient, and cheaper, undercutting GPT-5.5-Codex. Released July 8, 2026 by xAI, it is built for cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about GPT-5.5-Codex quality at roughly half the cost, extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than Opus 4.8, in-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor, and top-tier placement on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
Its trade-offs: smaller 500K context (halved from the 1M generation), with pricing that doubles above 200K tokens, and eU launch delayed; no open weights. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Gemma 4 26B A4B gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Grok 4.5 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemma 4 26B A4B or Grok 4.5 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Gemma 4 26B A4B leans toward fast, cheap inference from a sparse moe (3.8b active of 25.2b total) while Grok 4.5 leans toward cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Grok 4.5?
Gemma 4 26B A4B is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Grok 4.5 is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.5 — 500K vs 256K, about 1.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 26B A4B and Grok 4.5 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4 26B A4B, Grok 4.5 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Grok 4.5?
Grok 4.5 — released July 8, 2026, about 3 months after Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Grok 4.5
Google · US | xAI · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B for fast, cheap inference from a sparse moe (3.8b active of 25.2b total) or near-31b-dense quality at a fraction of the compute and memory-bandwidth cost. Pick Grok 4.5 for cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost or extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than opus 4.8. Choose Gemma 4 26B A4B if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Grok 4.5 if you want a managed API.
Gemma 4 26B A4B (Google) and Grok 4.5 (xAI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Gemma 4 26B A4B is an Apache-2.0 open MoE with 25.2B total but only 3.8B active parameters, delivering near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the inference cost. Grok 4.5 is xAI's first coding-focused model — pitched as Opus-class but faster, more token-efficient, and cheaper, undercutting GPT-5.5-Codex. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: Gemma 4 26B A4B is about 13× cheaper on input ($0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens vs $2/$6 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
▸Context window: Grok 4.5 holds 1.9× more — 500K (~750 pages) vs 256K (~393 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: Grok 4.5 is the newer model by about 3 months (released July 8, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Gemma 4 26B A4B
Grok 4.5
Provider
Google (US)
xAI (US)
Released
April 2, 2026
July 8, 2026
Context window
256K (~393 pages)
500K (~750 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, video, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Fast, cheap inference from a sparse MoE (3.8B active of 25.2B total)
Gemma 4 26B A4B
A core design strength of Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the compute and memory-bandwidth cost
Cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about GPT-5.5-Codex quality at roughly half the cost
Grok 4.5
A core design strength of Grok 4.5.
Extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than Opus 4.8
Grok 4.5
A core design strength of Grok 4.5.
In-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor
Grok 4.5
A core design strength of Grok 4.5.
Lowest cost at scale
Gemma 4 26B A4B
At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
Grok 4.5
Its 500K window is about 1.9× larger, fitting roughly 750 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Gemma 4 26B A4B
At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Grok 4.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Grok 4.5
Larger 500K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Gemma 4 26B A4B
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Grok 4.5 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is fast, cheap inference from a sparse moe (3.8b active of 25.2b total)
→ Gemma 4 26B A4B
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost
→ Grok 4.5
That is its strongest area.
Gemma 4 26B A4B: where it fits
An Apache-2.0 open MoE with 25.2B total but only 3.8B active parameters, delivering near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the inference cost. Released April 2, 2026 by Google, it is built for fast, cheap inference from a sparse MoE (3.8B active of 25.2B total), near-31B-dense quality at a fraction of the compute and memory-bandwidth cost, strong reasoning and coding (88.3% AIME 2026 no-tools, 77.1% LiveCodeBench v6), and multimodal input (text/image, plus video processed as frames up to 60s) with native function calling.
Its trade-offs are real: all 25.2B parameters must be loaded into memory even though only 3.8B are active per token, and 256K context trails 1M-token frontier rivals, and this variant has no audio input (audio is E2B/E4B/12B only). At $0.15 in / $0.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Grok 4.5: where it fits
XAI's first coding-focused model — pitched as Opus-class but faster, more token-efficient, and cheaper, undercutting GPT-5.5-Codex. Released July 8, 2026 by xAI, it is built for cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about GPT-5.5-Codex quality at roughly half the cost, extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than Opus 4.8, in-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor, and top-tier placement on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
Its trade-offs: smaller 500K context (halved from the 1M generation), with pricing that doubles above 200K tokens, and eU launch delayed; no open weights. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Gemma 4 26B A4B gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Grok 4.5 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both Gemma 4 26B A4B and Grok 4.5 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Gemma 4 26B A4B leans toward fast, cheap inference from a sparse moe (3.8b active of 25.2b total) while Grok 4.5 leans toward cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Grok 4.5?
Gemma 4 26B A4B is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Grok 4.5 is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.5 — 500K vs 256K, about 1.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Gemma 4 26B A4B and Grok 4.5 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Gemma 4 26B A4B, Grok 4.5 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Grok 4.5?
Grok 4.5 — released July 8, 2026, about 3 months after Gemma 4 26B A4B.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.