Head to head · Chat & research · updated Oct 26, 2026
ChatGPT vs Grok
ChatGPT scores 88 to Grok's 76 on public evidence for deep research & AI search, and they rank #1 and #4 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
ChatGPT
OpenAI's general-purpose chat assistant with web browsing, file analysis, image generation and voice.
+ The broadest feature set in one place: Deep Research, code-executing data analysis on uploaded spreadsheets, voice mode and a huge library of custom GPTs.
− Free and Plus tiers hit message caps on the best models at busy times, and answers can be confidently wrong without citations unless you ask it to search.
Grok
xAI's assistant with live access to X posts, DeepSearch research mode and a looser content policy.
+ Pulls real-time posts from X into answers, which makes it the fastest way to research breaking news and public sentiment.
− Fewer guardrails and a reliance on X content mean more unverified claims and off-color outputs than other assistants.
Side by side
public evidence| ChatGPT | Grok | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 88 | 76 |
| GitHub stars | closed source | closed source |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 215 | 1 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 89 | 18 |
| Last activity | 0 days ago | 0 days ago |
| Pricing | Free tier · Plus $20/mo, Pro $200/mo | Free tier · SuperGrok $30/mo; also bundled with X Premium+ |
| Platforms | web, mac, windows, ios, android, api | web, ios, android, api |
| Maker | OpenAI | xAI |
Which one?
Pick ChatGPT if
- you want the stronger public evidence (88 vs 76)
- you need it on mac, windows
Best for an all-round first assistant to try.
Pick Grok if
Pulls real-time posts from X into answers, which makes it the fastest way to research breaking news and public sentiment.
Best for real-time news and X sentiment.