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. Pick MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%) or microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without openai distillation. On a tight budget at scale, MAI-Thinking-1 is the value pick.
Grok 4.5 (xAI) and MAI-Thinking-1 (Microsoft) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. 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. MAI-Thinking-1 is microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Context window: Grok 4.5 holds 2× more — 500K (~750 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: MAI-Thinking-1 is the newer model by about 35 days (released August 12, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
Grok 4.5
MAI-Thinking-1
Provider
xAI (US)
Microsoft (US)
Released
July 8, 2026
August 12, 2026
Context window
500K (~750 pages)
256K (~384 pages)
Price (in/out)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Not published
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about GPT-5.5-Codex quality at roughly half the cost: Grok 4.5 — Its 500K window holds about 2× more than MAI-Thinking-1's 256K in a single prompt.
Extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than Opus 4.8: Grok 4.5 — XAI's first coding-focused model — pitched as Opus-class but faster, more token-efficient, and cheaper, undercutting GPT-5.5-Codex — and it carries the larger 500K context.
In-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor: Grok 4.5 — Grok 4.5 lists in-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor among its strengths; MAI-Thinking-1 does not.
Very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%): MAI-Thinking-1 — Microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence — and it is the newer of the two.
Microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation: MAI-Thinking-1 — MAI-Thinking-1 lists microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation among its strengths; Grok 4.5 does not.
Efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class: MAI-Thinking-1 — Grok 4.5 is comparatively weak here — smaller 500K context (halved from the 1M generation), with pricing that doubles above 200K tokens
Lowest cost at scale: MAI-Thinking-1 — Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Grok 4.5's $2/$6 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input: Grok 4.5 — Its 500K window is about 2× larger than MAI-Thinking-1's 256K, fitting roughly 750 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: MAI-Thinking-1 — At Not published 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.
Anyone whose priority is cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost: Grok 4.5 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%): MAI-Thinking-1 — That is its strongest area.
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 are real: 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.
MAI-Thinking-1: where it fits
Microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. Released August 12, 2026 by Microsoft, it is built for very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%), microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation, efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class, and competitive with Claude Opus 4.6 on SWE-Bench Pro (vendor-reported).
Its trade-offs: closed and in private preview — no open weights, no published pricing, thin availability, and benchmarks are largely self-reported.
The bottom line for this matchup
Grok 4.5 and MAI-Thinking-1 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. MAI-Thinking-1 costs less per token; Grok 4.5 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Grok 4.5 for cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost, MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.5 or MAI-Thinking-1 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, Grok 4.5 leans toward cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost while MAI-Thinking-1 leans toward very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.5 or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 is cheaper — $2/$6 per 1M tokens vs Not published.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.5 — 500K vs 256K, about 2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Grok 4.5 and MAI-Thinking-1 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Grok 4.5, MAI-Thinking-1 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, Grok 4.5 or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 — released August 12, 2026, about 35 days after Grok 4.5.
Grok 4.5 vs MAI-Thinking-1
xAI · US | Microsoft · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
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. Pick MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%) or microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without openai distillation. On a tight budget at scale, MAI-Thinking-1 is the value pick.
Grok 4.5 (xAI) and MAI-Thinking-1 (Microsoft) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. 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. MAI-Thinking-1 is microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Context window: Grok 4.5 holds 2× more — 500K (~750 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: MAI-Thinking-1 is the newer model by about 35 days (released August 12, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Grok 4.5
MAI-Thinking-1
Provider
xAI (US)
Microsoft (US)
Released
July 8, 2026
August 12, 2026
Context window
500K (~750 pages)
256K (~384 pages)
Price (in/out)
$2/$6 per 1M tokens
Not published
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about GPT-5.5-Codex quality at roughly half the cost
Grok 4.5
Its 500K window holds about 2× more than MAI-Thinking-1's 256K in a single prompt.
Extreme token efficiency — around 4x fewer output tokens per task than Opus 4.8
Grok 4.5
XAI's first coding-focused model — pitched as Opus-class but faster, more token-efficient, and cheaper, undercutting GPT-5.5-Codex — and it carries the larger 500K context.
In-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor
Grok 4.5
Grok 4.5 lists in-IDE coding, trained on real Cursor developer sessions and shipped natively in Cursor among its strengths; MAI-Thinking-1 does not.
Very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%)
MAI-Thinking-1
Microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence — and it is the newer of the two.
Microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation
MAI-Thinking-1
MAI-Thinking-1 lists microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation among its strengths; Grok 4.5 does not.
Efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class
MAI-Thinking-1
Grok 4.5 is comparatively weak here — smaller 500K context (halved from the 1M generation), with pricing that doubles above 200K tokens
Lowest cost at scale
MAI-Thinking-1
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Grok 4.5's $2/$6 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
Grok 4.5
Its 500K window is about 2× larger than MAI-Thinking-1's 256K, fitting roughly 750 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ MAI-Thinking-1
At Not published 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.
Anyone whose priority is cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost
→ Grok 4.5
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%)
→ MAI-Thinking-1
That is its strongest area.
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 are real: 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.
MAI-Thinking-1: where it fits
Microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. Released August 12, 2026 by Microsoft, it is built for very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%), microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation, efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class, and competitive with Claude Opus 4.6 on SWE-Bench Pro (vendor-reported).
Its trade-offs: closed and in private preview — no open weights, no published pricing, thin availability, and benchmarks are largely self-reported.
The bottom line for this matchup
Grok 4.5 and MAI-Thinking-1 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. MAI-Thinking-1 costs less per token; Grok 4.5 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Grok 4.5 for cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost, MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Grok 4.5 and MAI-Thinking-1 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, Grok 4.5 leans toward cheap, token-efficient agentic coding — about gpt-5.5-codex quality at roughly half the cost while MAI-Thinking-1 leans toward very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.5 or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 is cheaper — $2/$6 per 1M tokens vs Not published.
Which has the bigger context window?
Grok 4.5 — 500K vs 256K, about 2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Grok 4.5 and MAI-Thinking-1 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Grok 4.5, MAI-Thinking-1 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, Grok 4.5 or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 — released August 12, 2026, about 35 days after Grok 4.5.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.