Key takeaways
- As of November 1, 2026, Grok's paid plans run $8, $30, $100 and $200 a month, and Gemini's run $4.99, $19.99 and from $99.99.
- xAI's Premium plan at $30 bundles SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+, while Google AI Pro at $19.99 bundles Gemini 4 models and 5 TB of storage.
- Grok's top API model costs $2 input and $6 output per million tokens, and Gemini 4 Argon costs $2 and $10 until Google's price rise on December 1.
Grok vs Gemini comes down to what you want bundled with the chatbot. As of November 1, 2026, Grok's paid plans from xAI start at $8 a month and bundle X and the Cursor coding tool, while Google's Gemini plans start free and add Google storage, Gmail and Docs features. This comparison is based on the two companies' own Gemini plans page, Gemini API pricing, xAI's subscription announcement and xAI's model docs. It is based on those docs and published results, not on our own testing.
If you also weigh Claude, see our Grok vs Claude comparison.
Grok vs Gemini at a glance
All prices are monthly, in US dollars, as read on November 1, 2026.
| Grok (xAI) | Gemini (Google) | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes, with daily Grok access and a starter Cursor allowance | Yes, $0 with a Google Account, Flash-Lite model, 15 GB storage |
| Entry paid plan | Plus, $8 | Google AI Plus, $4.99 |
| Mid plan | Premium, $30 | Google AI Pro, $19.99 |
| Top plans | Super $100, Ultra $200 | Google AI Ultra, from $99.99 (a $199.99 tier is also listed) |
| What the plan adds | Grok chat, voice, image and video generation, Grok Bot, Cursor, X benefits | Gemini 4 models, Deep Research, video generation, Gmail and Docs features, Google storage |
| Biggest API model listed | grok-4.7, 500k context, $2 input and $6 output per million tokens | gemini-4-argon, $2 input and $10 output per million tokens (through November 30) |
How much Grok costs
On October 12, 2026, xAI announced a single X subscription that bundles Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor and X. It has five tiers: Free, Plus at $8, Premium at $30, Super at $100 and Ultra at $200. Usage is relative: Premium is 4x Plus, Super is 15x Plus and Ultra is 50x Plus. xAI says Premium combines SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+, which cost $90 a month together before.
Paid plans share one pool of Grok usage across the Grok apps, the Grok tab on X and Cursor. Going over is billed at API list prices. Existing SuperGrok, Cursor and X Premium subscribers keep their plans unless they choose to switch. xAI's pricing page still names SuperGrok Lite, SuperGrok Plus and SuperGrok Heavy, and the announcement does not explain how those fit the new tiers. We could not read the pricing page itself, so check it before you buy.
The announcement does not say which Grok models each tier includes or give absolute message caps.
How much Gemini costs
Google lists four consumer plans on its plans page, read on November 1, 2026. Free costs nothing. Google AI Plus is $4.99 and gives 2x the free limits, Flash access and 400 GB of storage. Google AI Pro is $19.99 and adds Gemini 4 Argon, Pro and Flash, 4x the free limits, 5 TB of storage, Gemini in Gmail and Docs, and YouTube Premium Lite. Google AI Ultra starts at $99.99 with 5x the Pro limits, and a $199.99 tier gives up to 20x.
Google's help page on limits says the context window is 32k tokens without a plan, 128k on AI Plus and 1 million on Pro and Ultra. Limits reset every five hours until a weekly limit is reached, and Google says they can change without notice. For more on the newest model, see our piece on whether Gemini 4 Argon is free.
Grok vs Gemini for developers
xAI's model docs list grok-4.7 with a 500k-token context at $2.00 per million input tokens and $6.00 per million output tokens below 200k tokens of prompt. Above 200k, those rise to $4.00 and $12.00 for the whole request. grok-4.3 offers a 1M context at $1.25 input and $2.50 output.
Google's API page lists gemini-4-argon at $2.00 input and $10.00 output per million tokens through November 30, 2026, rising to $4.00 and $20.00 from December 1. gemini-3.8-flash is $0.75 input and $3.75 output through December 31, then doubles on January 1, 2027. The page does not state context windows for most models.
At today's list prices Grok's top model is cheaper on output than Gemini's. That changes on December 1 if Google's scheduled increase goes ahead. Price per token says nothing about quality, and neither company's pages give independent benchmark scores, so we are not ranking the models.
Which one fits
Grok fits people who already use X or Cursor, because the subscription is built around those. Gemini fits people who live in Gmail, Docs and Google storage, and it has the cheaper entry paid plan and the cheaper mid plan, at $4.99 and $19.99 against $8 and $30. The tiers are not like for like, since Grok's Premium includes Cursor Pro and X Premium+ in its price.
Watch two dates: Google's API price increase for Gemini 4 Argon on December 1, 2026, and xAI's rollout of the new subscription to all existing accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok cheaper than Gemini?
Not at the consumer level. As of November 1, 2026 Gemini's paid plans start at $4.99 and $19.99, against $8 and $30 for Grok's Plus and Premium, though Grok's Premium also includes Cursor Pro and X Premium+.
Is Gemini free?
Yes. Google lists a free plan at $0 with a Google Account, with the Flash-Lite model, image generation, Deep Research, Gemini Live and 15 GB of storage, as read on November 1, 2026.
Is Grok free?
Yes. xAI's October 12, 2026 announcement lists a Free tier with daily Grok access and a starter Cursor coding allowance, with limited usage.
Which has the bigger context window, Grok or Gemini?
In the apps, Google says Gemini Pro and Ultra subscribers get 1 million tokens. In the API, xAI lists 500k for grok-4.7 and 1M for grok-4.3, and Google's pricing page does not state windows for most Gemini models.