Which model performs better on math benchmarks?

Claude 4.6 Sonnet has stronger math performance, scoring 95.6% on AIME 2025 and 89.9% on GPQA Diamond. Grok 4.1 Fast scores 85.3% on GPQA Diamond, making Claude the better choice for competition-level or advanced mathematics.

Is Grok's real-time web search useful for math problems?

Web search helps with applied math, statistics, or problems requiring current data, but pure mathematics doesn't benefit much. For theoretical math, both models rely on training data equally. Grok's advantage here is minimal for typical math use cases.

Should I use Claude's extended thinking for math?

Yes—Claude's extended thinking is ideal for complex multi-step math problems as it allows the model to work through reasoning more thoroughly. This feature significantly boosts accuracy on difficult math challenges compared to standard reasoning.

What's the price difference for a math-heavy workflow?

Claude costs $20/mo (Pro) or $100/mo (Max), while Grok is $8/mo (X Premium) or $16/mo (Premium+). If price is the primary factor and you're already on X/Twitter, Grok is dramatically cheaper. However, Claude's superior math performance may justify the higher cost for demanding applications.

Compare Claude vs Grok

Claude vs Grok for Math

Claude significantly outperforms Grok for mathematics, with a commanding 95.6% score on AIME 2025 compared to no published benchmark for Grok on that metric, and a 4.6-point advantage on GPQA Diamond (89.9% vs 85.3%). Claude's extended thinking feature also provides an edge for complex multi-step mathematical problems that benefit from deeper reasoning. If pure math performance is your priority, Claude is the clear choice.

Head-to-Head for Math

Criteria	Claude	Grok	Winner
Competition Math (AIME Benchmark)	Dominant: 95.6% accuracy	No AIME benchmark data	Claude
Scientific Reasoning (GPQA)	Excellent: 89.9% accuracy	Strong: 85.3% accuracy	Claude
Complex Multi-step Problems	Extended thinking capability	Standard reasoning only	Claude
Real-time Mathematical Data	No web search	Web search included	Grok
Subscription Cost	$20-100/mo expensive	$8-16/mo included X	Grok

Competition Math (AIME Benchmark)

Claude

Dominant: 95.6% accuracy

Grok

No AIME benchmark data

Scientific Reasoning (GPQA)

Claude

Excellent: 89.9% accuracy

Grok

Strong: 85.3% accuracy

Complex Multi-step Problems

Claude

Extended thinking capability

Grok

Standard reasoning only

Real-time Mathematical Data

Grok

Claude

No web search

Grok

Web search included

Subscription Cost

Grok

Claude

$20-100/mo expensive

Grok

$8-16/mo included X

See Them Answer a Math Question

We asked both models the same math-focused prompt.

“Solve this step-by-step: If f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5, find f'(x), determine the critical points, and explain whether each is a local minimum or maximum.”

Claude 4.6 Sonnet

Solve this step-by-step: If f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5, find f'(x), determine the critical points, and explain whether each is a local minimum or maximum.

Solving f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5

Step 1: Find f'(x)

Applying the power rule to each term:

$f(x) = 3x^2 - 2x + 5$

$f'(x) = 6x - 2$

Step 2: Find Critical Points

Critical points occur where f'(x) = 0

$6x - 2 = 0$ $6x = 2$ $x = \frac{1}{3}$

Find the y-coordinate: $f\!\left(\frac{1}{3}\right) = 3\!\left(\frac{1}{9}\right) - 2\!\left(\frac{1}{3}\right) + 5 = \frac{1}{3} - \frac{2}{3} + 5 = \frac{14}{3}$

Critical Point: (1/3, 14/3)

Step 3: Classify the Critical Point

Method 1 — Second Derivative Test

$f''(x) = 6$

Since f''(1/3) = 6 > 0, the curve is concave up → Local Minimum

Method 2 — First Derivative Sign Chart (confirmation)

Interval	Test Value	f'(x)	Direction
x < 1/3	x = 0	f'(0) = -2 < 0	Decreasing ↘
x > 1/3	x = 1	f'(1) = 4 > 0	Increasing ↗

The function goes down then up → confirms Local Minimum ✓

Summary

Property	Value
f'(x)	6x - 2
Critical Point	x = 1/3
Classification	Local Minimum
Minimum Value	14/3 ≈ 4.67

Key Insight: Since the leading coefficient (3) is positive, this parabola opens upward, meaning the single critical point is always a global minimum, not just local.

Grok 4.1 Fast

Solve this step-by-step: If f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5, find f'(x), determine the critical points, and explain whether each is a local minimum or maximum.

Step 1: Find the first derivative $f'(x)$

The function is $f(x) = 3x^2 - 2x + 5$ .

Differentiate term by term:

Derivative of $3x^2$ is $6x$ .
Derivative of $-2x$ is $-2$ .
Derivative of $5$ is $0$ .

Thus, $f'(x) = 6x - 2$ .

Step 2: Determine the critical points

Critical points occur where $f'(x) = 0$ (or where $f'(x)$ is undefined, but here it is defined everywhere).

Solve $6x - 2 = 0$ :
$6x = 2$
$x = \frac{2}{6} = \frac{1}{3}$ .

There is one critical point: $x = \frac{1}{3}$ .

Step 3: Classify the critical point (local min or max)

Use the second derivative test.
First, find the second derivative: $f''(x) = 6$ (constant and positive everywhere).

Evaluate at the critical point: $f''\left(\frac{1}{3}\right) = 6 > 0$ .

Since $f''\left(\frac{1}{3}\right) > 0$ , the critical point is a local minimum.

Additional notes:

This is a quadratic function with a positive leading coefficient ( $a = 3 > 0$ ), so the parabola opens upwards, confirming the vertex at $x = \frac{1}{3}$ is the global minimum.
No local maxima exist (as expected for an upward-opening parabola).

Claude 4.6 Sonnet

Solve this step-by-step: If f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5, find f'(x), determine the critical points, and explain whether each is a local minimum or maximum.

Solving f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5

Step 1: Find f'(x)

Applying the power rule to each term:

$f(x) = 3x^2 - 2x + 5$

$f'(x) = 6x - 2$

Step 2: Find Critical Points

Critical points occur where f'(x) = 0

$6x - 2 = 0$ $6x = 2$ $x = \frac{1}{3}$

Find the y-coordinate: $f\!\left(\frac{1}{3}\right) = 3\!\left(\frac{1}{9}\right) - 2\!\left(\frac{1}{3}\right) + 5 = \frac{1}{3} - \frac{2}{3} + 5 = \frac{14}{3}$

Critical Point: (1/3, 14/3)

Step 3: Classify the Critical Point

Method 1 — Second Derivative Test

$f''(x) = 6$

Since f''(1/3) = 6 > 0, the curve is concave up → Local Minimum

Method 2 — First Derivative Sign Chart (confirmation)

Interval	Test Value	f'(x)	Direction
x < 1/3	x = 0	f'(0) = -2 < 0	Decreasing ↘
x > 1/3	x = 1	f'(1) = 4 > 0	Increasing ↗

The function goes down then up → confirms Local Minimum ✓

Summary

Property	Value
f'(x)	6x - 2
Critical Point	x = 1/3
Classification	Local Minimum
Minimum Value	14/3 ≈ 4.67

Key Insight: Since the leading coefficient (3) is positive, this parabola opens upward, meaning the single critical point is always a global minimum, not just local.

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Detailed Breakdown

When it comes to mathematics, Claude holds a measurable edge over Grok based on benchmark performance and reasoning depth. Claude's AIME 2025 score of 95.6% places it among the top performers on competitive math benchmarks, while its GPQA Diamond score of 89.9% — compared to Grok's 85.3% — reflects stronger performance on graduate-level science and quantitative reasoning. On Humanity's Last Exam, Claude scores 33.2% versus Grok's 17.6%, a gap that becomes meaningful for users tackling university-level or research-grade math problems.

Claude's extended thinking mode is particularly valuable for math. When enabled, it works through multi-step problems systematically — showing intermediate derivations, checking its own logic, and catching errors mid-calculation. For problems like epsilon-delta proofs, differential equations, or combinatorics, this deliberate reasoning process produces more reliable results than a single-pass response. Claude also handles LaTeX formatting naturally, making it easy to copy outputs into academic papers or typesetting tools.

Grok has genuine strengths in math as well. Its real-time web search and DeepSearch features let it pull in current mathematical resources, look up theorems, or reference recent papers — something Claude cannot do natively. For students researching a topic rather than solving a specific problem, that access to live information adds real value. Grok also benefits from competitive pricing: at $8/month through X Premium, it's significantly cheaper than Claude's $20/month Pro plan, which matters for budget-conscious learners.

In practice, however, Grok's writing quality is less polished, and its explanations can feel less structured when walking through complex derivations step by step. For a student learning calculus or linear algebra, clarity of explanation matters as much as the final answer — and Claude tends to present solutions in a more pedagogically useful way.

For real-world use cases: Claude is the better choice for students working through problem sets, professionals doing quantitative analysis, or researchers needing rigorous derivations with detailed intermediate steps. Grok is a reasonable option for quick lookups, checking formulas against current sources, or users already embedded in the X ecosystem who want decent math support without an additional subscription.

Recommendation: Choose Claude for serious math work. Its benchmark scores, extended thinking, and structured explanations make it the more dependable tool when accuracy and clarity are non-negotiable. Grok is a capable backup — especially if you value real-time search — but for math specifically, Claude's depth of reasoning gives it a consistent advantage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Try math tasks with Claude and Grok

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Claude vs Grok for Math

Head-to-Head for Math

Competition Math (AIME Benchmark)

Scientific Reasoning (GPQA)

Complex Multi-step Problems

Real-time Mathematical Data

Subscription Cost

See Them Answer a Math Question

Solving f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5

Step 1: Find f'(x)

Step 2: Find Critical Points

Step 3: Classify the Critical Point

Method 1 — Second Derivative Test

Method 2 — First Derivative Sign Chart (confirmation)

Summary

Step 1: Find the first derivative $f'(x)$

Step 2: Determine the critical points

Step 3: Classify the critical point (local min or max)

Solving f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5

Step 1: Find f'(x)

Step 2: Find Critical Points

Step 3: Classify the Critical Point

Method 1 — Second Derivative Test

Method 2 — First Derivative Sign Chart (confirmation)

Summary

Detailed Breakdown

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Topics for Claude vs Grok

Math Comparisons for Other Models

Head-to-Head for Math

Competition Math (AIME Benchmark)

Scientific Reasoning (GPQA)

Complex Multi-step Problems

Real-time Mathematical Data

Subscription Cost

See Them Answer a Math Question

Solving f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5

Step 1: Find f'(x)

Step 2: Find Critical Points

Step 3: Classify the Critical Point

Method 1 — Second Derivative Test

Method 2 — First Derivative Sign Chart (confirmation)

Summary

Step 1: Find the first derivative f′(x)f'(x)f′(x)

Step 2: Determine the critical points

Step 3: Classify the critical point (local min or max)

Solving f(x) = 3x² - 2x + 5

Step 1: Find f'(x)

Step 2: Find Critical Points

Step 3: Classify the Critical Point

Method 1 — Second Derivative Test

Method 2 — First Derivative Sign Chart (confirmation)

Summary

Detailed Breakdown

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Topics for Claude vs Grok

Math Comparisons for Other Models

Step 1: Find the first derivative $f'(x)$