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Grok 4.6 launch timeline from official release to API and gateway availability
Release Watch

Grok 4.6 Release Date: Official Launch and Availability

EvoLink Team
EvoLink Team
Product Team
August 12, 2026
Updated on August 13, 2026
5 min read
Grok 4.6 officially launched on August 12, 2026. xAI published the model announcement and developer documentation on the same day. The API model ID is grok-4.6, the context window is 500,000 tokens, and the model is available through the xAI API and named gateway partners. EvoLink also lists a live Grok 4.6 route with current pricing. Developers looking for access, model ID, or price should use the Grok 4.6 API page; this article preserves the release timeline and explains what changed.

The direct answer

QuestionConfirmed answer on August 13, 2026
Is Grok 4.6 released?Yes. xAI announced it on August 12, 2026.
What is the API model ID?grok-4.6 — not the URL-style grok-4-6.
Is it available on EvoLink?EvoLink lists the route as live with a current pricing surface.
What is the context window?500,000 tokens.
Which APIs are documented?Chat Completions and Responses.
What should production teams do first?Run representative tasks, validate usage and billing, and keep a tested fallback.

The launch resolves the biggest pre-release uncertainties: model identity, API availability, context, pricing, reasoning controls, and partner access are now documented. Parameter-count rumors and other pre-release speculation are no longer useful for deciding how to integrate the model and have been removed from this page.

What xAI officially launched

Grok 4.6 is positioned for coding, long-running agents, knowledge work, and visual or interactive software tasks. Official documentation lists text and image input with text output, a 500K context window, function calling, structured output, configurable reasoning, and server-side tools. The documented reasoning levels are low, medium, high, and xhigh.

The standard direct-API rates for prompts below 200K tokens are $2 per million input tokens, $0.50 per million cached input tokens, and $6 per million output tokens. When total prompt input reaches 200K tokens, xAI applies the long-context tier: $4 input, $1 cached input, and $12 output per million tokens. Channel prices can differ, so always use the price surface for the route you will actually deploy.

Launch factOfficial stateWhy it matters
Model IDgrok-4.6Prevents requests from using the hyphenated page slug by mistake.
Context500K tokensSupports large repositories and document sets, but also introduces long-context pricing.
Reasoninglow, medium, high, xhighLets teams trade response time and usage against task difficulty.
API surfacesChat Completions and ResponsesSupports conventional chat flows and tool-driven agent workflows.
ModalitiesText and image input; text outputEnables visual analysis without implying image generation.
Rate limits shown in the model docs150 RPS and 50M TPMUseful as an upstream reference; effective limits still depend on account and route.

A provider launch proves that an upstream model exists. A gateway listing proves that a specific access layer has configured a route and commercial surface. Neither alone guarantees that every account, region, workload, or quota behaves identically.

On EvoLink, use the model ID grok-4.6, review the live price module, and test both Chat Completions and Responses if your workload depends on tools. EvoLink's value is that teams can evaluate Grok beside other models through one gateway and retain a fallback without rebuilding provider-specific authentication for every comparison.
Grok 4.6 release verification workflow from official launch through API and production route checks
Grok 4.6 release verification workflow from official launch through API and production route checks

What developers should verify before production

CheckMinimum evidenceStop condition
Model identityRequested and returned model identity are consistentUnexpected alias or route behavior
CostUsage fields reconcile with the EvoLink price surfaceUnexplained token or tool charges
Long contextA task near and above 200K prompt tokens behaves as expectedCost jump or quality regression is not understood
ReasoningThe selected effort level improves accepted-task qualityHigher effort only adds latency or output cost
ToolsSchema validity, tool arguments, recovery, and loop count passRepeated or malformed calls
FallbackA second model can accept the shared request subsetRollback requires an application rewrite
Start with offline replay or shadow traffic. Promote only the workloads where Grok 4.6 improves accepted-task quality, total completion time, or cost after retries. The Grok 4.6 vs Grok 4.5 guide covers the upgrade decision; the Grok 4.6 vs Kimi K3 guide covers cross-provider routing.

FAQ

When was Grok 4.6 released?

xAI officially announced Grok 4.6 on August 12, 2026.

What is the Grok 4.6 API model ID?

Use grok-4.6. The hyphenated grok-4-6 form is used in page URLs and should not be sent as the API model value.

Yes. EvoLink lists a live Grok 4.6 route and current pricing. Check the model page for the active commercial surface before deployment.

How large is the context window?

The documented context window is 500,000 tokens. Long-context pricing begins when prompt input reaches 200,000 tokens.

Is Grok 4.6 the same price as Grok 4.5?

Their standard direct input and output rates are the same, but their cached-input rates differ. Gateway prices should be checked on the relevant live route.

Should teams replace Grok 4.5 immediately?

No automatic replacement is recommended. Replay real tasks, compare accepted-task cost and reliability, canary the winning workloads, and keep a rollback route.

Sources

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