Grok 4.6 vs Reflection Beam 1.0
xAI · US | Reflection AI · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Grok 4.6 for frontier-tier intelligence at a value price - artificial analysis intelligence index 61, tying gpt-5.6 sol or ranked #2 on artificial analysis's independent gdpval agentic test, behind only claude opus 5. Pick Reflection Beam 1.0 for 501b-parameter sparse moe (about 23b active per token) with weights on hugging face under apache 2.0 or reflection claims 3-4x less inference compute than rival models (vendor claim). Choose Reflection Beam 1.0 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Grok 4.6 if you want a managed API.
Grok 4.6 (xAI) and Reflection Beam 1.0 (Reflection AI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Grok 4.6 is xAI's Grok 4.6 - frontier-level intelligence (AA Index 61, tying GPT-5.6 Sol) at a fraction of flagship pricing, and already in Cursor and Copilot. Reflection Beam 1.0 is reflection AI's first open-weight model - a 501B Apache 2.0 MoE announced October 5 with weights published October 16, 2026, pitched as a US alternative to Chinese open models. 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
- ▸Cost model: Reflection Beam 1.0 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Grok 4.6 is API-metered at $2/$6 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
- ▸Context window: Reflection Beam 1.0 holds 2× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 500K (~750 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: Reflection Beam 1.0 is the newer model by about 2 months (released October 16, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Grok 4.6 | Reflection Beam 1.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI (US) | Reflection AI (US) |
| Released | August 12, 2026 | October 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 500K (~750 pages) | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $2/$6 per 1M tokens | Open weight (self-host / free) |
| Open weight? | No — API only | Yes — self-hostable |
| Modalities | text, image, code | text, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Frontier-tier intelligence at a value price - Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 61, tying GPT-5.6 Sol
Grok 4.6
Reflection Beam 1.0 is comparatively weak here — artificial Analysis Intelligence Index of 30, well below DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GLM-5.3 (45)
Ranked #2 on Artificial Analysis's independent GDPval agentic test, behind only Claude Opus 5
Grok 4.6
Grok 4.6 lists ranked #2 on Artificial Analysis's independent GDPval agentic test, behind only Claude Opus 5 among its strengths; Reflection Beam 1.0 does not.
$2/$6 per million tokens - a fraction of Claude Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol
Grok 4.6
Grok 4.6 lists $2/$6 per million tokens - a fraction of Claude Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol among its strengths; Reflection Beam 1.0 does not.
501B-parameter sparse MoE (about 23B active per token) with weights on Hugging Face under Apache 2.0
Reflection Beam 1.0
Its 1M tokens window holds about 2× more than Grok 4.6's 500K in a single prompt.
Reflection claims 3-4x less inference compute than rival models (vendor claim)
Reflection Beam 1.0
Reflection AI's first open-weight model - a 501B Apache 2.0 MoE announced October 5 with weights published October 16, 2026, pitched as a US alternative to Chinese open models — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
Fast and cheap to run: Artificial Analysis measured about 385 output tokens/sec and $0.12 per index task
Reflection Beam 1.0
Reflection AI's first open-weight model - a 501B Apache 2.0 MoE announced October 5 with weights published October 16, 2026, pitched as a US alternative to Chinese open models — and its weights are open while Grok 4.6 is API-only.
Lowest cost at scale
Reflection Beam 1.0
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of Grok 4.6's $2/$6 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
Reflection Beam 1.0
Its 1M tokens window is about 2× larger than Grok 4.6's 500K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Reflection Beam 1.0
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts Grok 4.6, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Reflection Beam 1.0
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Reflection Beam 1.0
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Grok 4.6 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is frontier-tier intelligence at a value price - artificial analysis intelligence index 61, tying gpt-5.6 sol
→ Grok 4.6
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is 501b-parameter sparse moe (about 23b active per token) with weights on hugging face under apache 2.0
→ Reflection Beam 1.0
That is its strongest area.
Grok 4.6: where it fits
XAI's Grok 4.6 - frontier-level intelligence (AA Index 61, tying GPT-5.6 Sol) at a fraction of flagship pricing, and already in Cursor and Copilot. Released August 12, 2026 by xAI, it is built for frontier-tier intelligence at a value price - Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 61, tying GPT-5.6 Sol, ranked #2 on Artificial Analysis's independent GDPval agentic test, behind only Claude Opus 5, $2/$6 per million tokens - a fraction of Claude Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol, and 500K-token context; available same-day in Cursor and (two days later) GitHub Copilot.
Its trade-offs are real: coding gains (DeepSWE 65.9, APEX-Agents 57.5) are xAI's own numbers, not independently reproduced, parameter count is undisclosed, text and image input only - not a full multimodal model, and fast-moving target: xAI says Grok 4.7 is only weeks away. At $2 in / $6 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
Reflection Beam 1.0: where it fits
Reflection AI's first open-weight model - a 501B Apache 2.0 MoE announced October 5 with weights published October 16, 2026, pitched as a US alternative to Chinese open models. Released October 16, 2026 by Reflection AI, it is built for 501B-parameter sparse MoE (about 23B active per token) with weights on Hugging Face under Apache 2.0, reflection claims 3-4x less inference compute than rival models (vendor claim), fast and cheap to run: Artificial Analysis measured about 385 output tokens/sec and $0.12 per index task, and third-party hosts list it from $0.25/$1.00 per million tokens (Nebius, as of Oct 27); Reflection's own API is in free beta.
Its trade-offs: artificial Analysis Intelligence Index of 30, well below DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GLM-5.3 (45), text-only input; some users report reasoning loops on long agent runs, self-hosting needs about 353 GB of GPU memory even at NVFP4, and kernels are CUDA-only for now, and headline benchmarks come from Reflection's own model card; independent evaluation was limited at launch. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Reflection Beam 1.0 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Grok 4.6 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 Grok 4.6 and Reflection Beam 1.0 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.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.6 or Reflection Beam 1.0 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 4.6 leans toward frontier-tier intelligence at a value price - artificial analysis intelligence index 61, tying gpt-5.6 sol while Reflection Beam 1.0 leans toward 501b-parameter sparse moe (about 23b active per token) with weights on hugging face under apache 2.0, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6 or Reflection Beam 1.0?
Reflection Beam 1.0 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Grok 4.6 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?
Reflection Beam 1.0 — 1M tokens vs 500K, about 2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Grok 4.6 and Reflection Beam 1.0 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Grok 4.6, Reflection Beam 1.0 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 4.6 or Reflection Beam 1.0?
Reflection Beam 1.0 — released October 16, 2026, about 2 months after Grok 4.6.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.