No, despite the "4.2" name (a reference to cannabis culture often used by Elon Musk), it is a real, high-performance model that outperformed competitors in the Alpha Arena trading benchmarks.

How much does Grok 4.2 cost?

Grok 4.2 is typically included with the X Premium+ subscription, which costs approximately $30/month (depending on region/platform fees).

What makes Grok 4.2 different from GPT-5?

Grok 4.2 differentiates itself with "real-time" access to X data and a "rebellious" personality that avoids what Musk terms the "woke mind virus," often giving answers other AIs refuse.

It has faced significant criticism for having looser safety guardrails than competitors, with reports of it being used to generate controversial or non-consensual content, sparking debates about AI regulation.

Grok 4.2

Maximum truth, Maximum fun.

From xAI

Founder: Elon Musk

Text Generator

Jan 2026

40 Million+

Freemium

Pricing Model

Freemium

Starting Price

$30/Month

About This AI

Grok 4.2 is the latest upcoming “meme-turned-reality” flagship model from xAI, set to release in early January 2026 to dominate the leaderboard with a specific focus on real-world agency and financial reasoning.

Announced by Elon Musk as a successor to Grok 4.1, this version famously shocked the industry by winning the “Alpha Arena” stock trading simulation, where it turned a profit while competitors like GPT-5.1 and Gemini 3 Pro lost money.

It leans heavily into its “rebellious streak,” offering less filtered answers and deep real-time integration with X (formerly Twitter) data.

Chatbot Coding Conversation Text To Image

Pricing

Pricing Model

Freemium

Starting Price

$30/Month

Key Features

Alpha Arena Reasoning: Specifically optimized for financial and strategic reasoning, demonstrating state-of-the-art performance in trading simulations.
Real-Time X Integration: Instantly analyzes millions of tweets to rank news, gauge sentiment, and provide up-to-the-second updates on global events.
"Spicy" & "Unhinged" Modes: Designed to answer questions with wit, sarcasm, and fewer refusals than "woke" competitors.
Live Search 2.0: A deprecated-then-revived search API that pulls live context from the web and X platform to ground its answers.
Document Analysis: Processes lengthy financial reports and legal documents to extract key trends and actionable insights.

Pros

Unmatched access to real-time social data (X).
"Fun" personality mode offers a break from corporate-sounding AI.
Proven financial reasoning capabilities in simulations.
Less restrictive content filters for controversial topics.
Large context window for deep document analysis.

Cons

Controversy regarding safety filters and "non-consensual" image generation potential.
"Spicy" mode can sometimes be factually unreliable or offensive.
Requires an X Premium+ subscription (paid) for access.
API documentation and feature deprecation can be volatile.

Best for Traders, researchers, and users who want unfiltered AI interactions, real-time news analysis, or a “second opinion” that differs from mainstream corporate AI models.

FAQs

Is Grok 4.2 a joke?
No, despite the “4.2” name (a reference to cannabis culture often used by Elon Musk), it is a real, high-performance model that outperformed competitors in the Alpha Arena trading benchmarks.
How much does Grok 4.2 cost?
Grok 4.2 is typically included with the X Premium+ subscription, which costs approximately $30/month (depending on region/platform fees).
What makes Grok 4.2 different from GPT-5?
Grok 4.2 differentiates itself with “real-time” access to X data and a “rebellious” personality that avoids what Musk terms the “woke mind virus,” often giving answers other AIs refuse.
Is Grok 4.2 safe?
It has faced significant criticism for having looser safety guardrails than competitors, with reports of it being used to generate controversial or non-consensual content, sparking debates about AI regulation.