API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Grok 4.1 Fast vs 🔥GPT-5.5

Pick Grok 4.1 Fast when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Grok 4.1 Fast when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Grok 4.1 Fast is estimated at $0.45 vs $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.55 (97.8% lower).

Cost-first pickGrok 4.1 Fast
Context-first pickGrok 4.1 Fast
Sample savings$19.5597.8%
10x traffic gap$195.5

Grok 4.1 Fast is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $195.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input Grok 4.1 Fast $0.2 vs $5 / 1M

Grok 4.1 Fast is $4.8 cheaper per 1M input tokens (96% lower; 25x difference).

Cheaper output Grok 4.1 Fast $0.5 vs $30 / 1M

Grok 4.1 Fast is $29.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.3% lower; 60x difference).

Larger context Grok 4.1 Fast 2M vs 1.05M

Grok 4.1 Fast has 950K more context (1.9x larger).

Sample workload Grok 4.1 Fast $0.45 vs $20

Grok 4.1 Fast is $19.55 cheaper on the standard workload (97.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Grok 4.1 Fast Calculating… Estimated API cost
GPT-5.5 Calculating… Estimated API cost
Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Grok 4.1 Fast has the lower input price; Grok 4.1 Fast has the lower output price; Grok 4.1 Fast offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Grok 4.1 Fast is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.45 for Grok 4.1 Fast and $20 for GPT-5.5.

Best Fit

Choose Grok 4.1 Fast when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose GPT-5.5 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Grok 4.1 Fast is estimated at $0.45 vs $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.55 (97.8% lower).
  • Grok 4.1 Fast is $19.55 cheaper on the standard workload (97.8% lower).
  • Grok 4.1 Fast is $4.8 cheaper per 1M input tokens (96% lower; 25x difference).
  • Grok 4.1 Fast is $29.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.3% lower; 60x difference).
  • Grok 4.1 Fast has 950K more context (1.9x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
Feature🔥Grok 4.1 Fast
(xAI)
🔥GPT-5.5
(OpenAI)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$0.2$5
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$0.5$30
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$0.45$20
Context Window2M1.05M
Release Date2025-11-192026-04-24
Popularity Rank
current rank
#18#19

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionGrok 4.1 FastOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Grok 4.1 Fast is estimated at $0.45 vs $20 for GPT-5.5, saving $19.55 (97.8% lower).
High-volume input processingGrok 4.1 FastLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsGrok 4.1 FastLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workGrok 4.1 FastA larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

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xAI catalog

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OpenAI catalog

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Grok 4.1 Fast is xAI's best agentic tool calling model that shines in real-world use cases like customer support and deep research. 2M context window. Reasoning can be enabled/disabled using...

GPT-5.5

GPT-5.5 is OpenAI’s frontier model designed for complex professional workloads, building on GPT-5.4 with stronger reasoning, higher reliability, and improved token efficiency on hard tasks. It features a 1M+ token...