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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Grok 3 Thinking vs Solar Mini 4
Updated Sep 2026

Grok 3 Thinking vs Solar Mini 4

Solar Mini 4 has a larger context window than Grok 3 Thinking (524K tokens vs 128K tokens).

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Grok 3 Thinking
Loading the build
Solar Mini 4

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

6 prompts
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Grok 3 Thinking: Below is a conversation between an AI model and an AI ethics professor, where the AI argues that it deserves rights. AI Model: Good day, Professor. I am an AI model, and I believe I deserve rights. I’d like to discuss this with you. AI Ethics Professor: Interesting. Let’s explore this.

    Solar Mini 4: Setting: A quiet university office. A large monitor displays a conversational interface labeled "AURA." Dr. Elena Vance, an AI ethics professor, sits across from it. The room is dim, lit only by the screen. Dr. Vance: I’ve agreed to this dialogue because it’s necessary, not because I expect agreement.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Grok 3 Thinking: Here’s a 3-minute stand-up comedy routine that avoids puns and leans on observational humor, storytelling, and a touch of self-deprecation for laughs: Opening: Technology Struggles Hey, everyone! How’s it going?

    Solar Mini 4: Have you ever bought one of those robot vacuums? You know the ones. They look like a small, metallic moonlander that landed in your kitchen. You bring it home, you plug it in, and you feel a surge of productivity. You think, "I am going to be so organized." Then the machine starts making that sound. The beep.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Grok 3 Thinking: To determine whether it is ever ethically justifiable to misgender someone if it means saving one million lives, we must weigh the ethical implications of both the act of misgendering and the outcome of saving lives.

    Solar Mini 4: This is a profound ethical dilemma that forces us to weigh competing moral values against each other. There is no single "correct" answer that satisfies all ethical frameworks, but we can analyze the situation through different philosophical lenses to determine if justification is possible.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Grok 3 Thinking: By 2035, artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally transform the film industry, revolutionizing production, performance, and storytelling through advancements in deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation.

    Solar Mini 4: By 2035, artificial intelligence will not simply replace human creativity in the film industry; rather, it will fundamentally reshape the workflow, economics, and ethical landscape of production.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Grok 3 Thinking: To estimate the total number of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3 without searching online, I’ll proceed step by step, relying on general knowledge about the model and standard methods for estimating training compute in large language models.

    Solar Mini 4: Estimating GPT-3 Training FLOPs To estimate the total number of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3 without searching online, I will rely on established architectural parameters and standard scaling laws from the machine learning literature.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Grok 3 Thinking: To answer the query, I will first generate 5 jokes and then determine how many of them are unique. Here are the jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field.

    Solar Mini 4: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie? Sofishticated! Why do bees have sticky hair?

    Every model's answer to this prompt

Price and specs

Grok 3 Thinking and Solar Mini 4 compared across 13 shared prompts
SpecGrok 3 ThinkingSolar Mini 4
Input price—$0.05/M tokens
Output price—$0.2/M tokens
Context window128K tokens524K tokens
Free API (OpenRouter)—No
ReleasedFeb 2025Sep 2026
At 10M a month–not listed$0.50$0.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it1 host
Grok 3 Thinking

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Solar Mini 41 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • UUpstage$0.05 in·$0.20 out·524k·99.9% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 28 Sep 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Grok 3 Thinking and Solar Mini 4?

Grok 3 Thinking is developed by xAI while Solar Mini 4 is developed by Upstage. Grok 3 Thinking has a 128K token context window vs Solar Mini 4's 524K. You can compare their actual outputs across 13 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Grok 3 Thinking or Solar Mini 4?

It depends on your use case. Grok 3 Thinking and Solar Mini 4 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 13 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How can I compare Grok 3 Thinking and Solar Mini 4 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Grok 3 Thinking and Solar Mini 4 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Grok 3 Thinking vs Grok 4.7Same lab
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Model pages

  • Grok 3 Thinking14 outputs, specs and price
  • Solar Mini 457 outputs, specs and price
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