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Summarise · 3 checks · max 400 tokens · benched 2026-09-16

Grok 4.6 vs Grok 4.5 vs Grok 4.20 vs Grok 4.3 on one-sentence changelog summary

xAI models side by side on "One-sentence changelog summary": Grok 4.5 scores 9/10; Grok 4.5 is the cheapest answer scoring 8+ at $1.39 per 1,000 runs. Outputs, checks, judge reasons, latency and cost.

The prompt every model received

User

Summarise this release note in one sentence of at most 30 words. Output only the sentence.

Release 4.7.0: The public API now enforces a rate limit of 600 requests per minute per key (previously unlimited). Requests over the limit return HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Webhook deliveries are now signed with HMAC-SHA256 and the old unsigned mode will be removed in 4.9. We also fixed a bug where exporting more than 10,000 rows produced an empty file.

Rubric for the judge: A single accurate sentence that prioritises the rate limit and signed webhooks; no bullet list, no preamble.

Side by side

Every cell is one OpenRouter call at temperature 0 with the prompt's token cap and reasoning effort "low" where the model supports it. Cost is usage × the catalogue rate in models.json. Quality is one judge call to anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 against the prompt's rubric, cached per prompt version.

Grok 4.6

x-ai/grok-4.6

9/10
Latency
535ms
Cost
$0.00340
Per 1,000
$3.40

314 in · 494 out (452 reasoning) · 23 words · checks 2/3

  • max_words
  • contains
  • regex
Release 4.7.0 adds a 600 req/min API rate limit returning 429, HMAC-SHA256 webhook signing (unsigned removed in 4.9), and fixes empty large exports.

Judge: Accurate single sentence under 30 words (27), prioritizes rate limit and webhook signing as required, no preamble or bullets, though 'req/min' abbreviation is slightly informal.

Grok 4.5

x-ai/grok-4.5

9/10
top judge scorecheapest scoring 8+
Latency
278ms
Cost
$0.00139
Per 1,000
$1.39

314 in · 163 out (133 reasoning) · 16 words · checks 2/3

  • max_words
  • contains
  • regex
Release 4.7.0 adds API rate limits (600 req/min), HMAC-SHA256 webhook signatures, and fixes large export bugs.

Judge: Accurate single sentence under 30 words (16 words), prioritizes rate limits and signed webhooks as required, no preamble or bullets, though 'large export bugs' is slightly less precise than 'exporting >10,000 rows produced empty file'.

Grok 4.20

x-ai/grok-4.20

9/10
Latency
488ms
Cost
$0.00166
Per 1,000
$1.66

294 in · 571 out (531 reasoning) · 22 words · checks 2/3

  • max_words
  • contains
  • regex
Release 4.7.0 adds 600/min API rate limits with 429 errors, HMAC-SHA256 webhook signatures, and a fix for empty exports over 10,000 rows.

Judge: Accurate single sentence under 30 words (24 words), prioritizes rate limits and signed webhooks as required, no preamble or bullet list, minor: could emphasize deprecation of unsigned mode more explicitly.

Grok 4.3

x-ai/grok-4.3

9/10
Latency
338ms
Cost
$0.00165
Per 1,000
$1.65

300 in · 565 out (525 reasoning) · 21 words · checks 2/3

  • max_words
  • contains
  • regex
Release 4.7.0 adds a 600 req/min API rate limit (with 429 responses), HMAC-SHA256 webhook signing, and fixes the >10k-row export bug.

Judge: Accurate single sentence under 30 words (24 words), prioritizes rate limit and webhook signing as required, no preamble or bullets, though could have been slightly more explicit about the Retry-After header.

Frequently asked

What does this prompt test?

Summarise: A single accurate sentence that prioritises the rate limit and signed webhooks; no bullet list, no preamble. The deterministic checks are max_words, contains, regex.

Which model should I pick for this task?

If the judge's bar of 8/10 is good enough for you, Grok 4.5 at $1.39 per 1,000 runs. If you need the top score, Grok 4.5 at $1.39 per 1,000 runs.

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