GPT-5.6 vs Grok 4.6 — ChatGPT session vs an open harness
Same Slowtest audit, same hour. Use this when you need to see whether ChatGPT is waiting in product chrome while Grok will actually POST start and finish — not to crown a winner on intelligence.
People search “ChatGPT vs Grok” and then mix two products. ChatGPT is the consumer box. GPT-5.6 is the model id Slowtest streams with an OpenAI-compatible key. Grok 4.6 is a different chat. Copy the same ~1000-word fiber audit into both sessions (or stream both with your own keys). The useful question is who finishes, who refuses the harness, and what the two clocks say.
Slowtest still only claims what it can clock: Generation tok/s from a real generation window, full-turn tok/s for the whole job, and fidelity (Line 1 MODEL:, 800–1200 words). This table is how the two paths differ. It is not the Insights TPS ledger. Empty ledger cells stay empty until someone pastes a Slowtest receipt. Clocks are written out on How we measure.
Own-key: OpenAI or xAI stream from the home page. 1-paste: works when that chat will POST start and finish. Grok typically completes that handshake (Open). Consumer ChatGPT often will not (Unrated — coding-agent paths vary). Mixing a silent ChatGPT listener with a finished Grok beacon is not a pair. See Harness Restriction.
| What you can actually clock | GPT-5.6 / ChatGPT | Grok 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Own-key Generation | First-to-last token when you stream with an OpenAI key | First-to-last token when you stream with an xAI key |
| 1-paste / Harness | Unrated — consumer chat often blocks outbound scripts | Open — typically completes start/finish |
| Full-turn | Whole ChatGPT job: wait, tools, UI slack, POST | Whole Grok job: think, tools, queue, POST |
| Fidelity | Same audit: Line 1 MODEL:, 800–1200 words |
Same audit: Line 1 MODEL:, 800–1200 words |
| Honest pair | Same hour, same audit, same clock type. Do not invent a tok/s to fill a cell. | |
Three questions for this pair
Why compare ChatGPT / GPT-5.6 with Grok on Slowtest?
Because people search ChatGPT vs Grok and then mix two products. ChatGPT is the consumer box; GPT-5.6 is the model id Slowtest streams with an OpenAI key. Grok 4.6 is a different chat that usually completes 1-paste. Run the same ~1000-word audit in the same hour and keep Generation separate from full-turn.
Will ChatGPT 1-paste actually send beacons?
Often no. Consumer ChatGPT frequently blocks outbound scripts. That is Harness Restriction (Unrated on Insights — not enough Slowtest bands yet), not a tok/s of zero. Own-key is the clean Generation clock when you have an OpenAI key. Otherwise use the keyboard worksheet. Grok typically completes the start/finish handshake.
If Grok finishes 1-paste and ChatGPT does not, who is faster?
You do not have a pair. A finished Grok beacon and a silent ChatGPT listener are different clocks. Compare Generation to Generation, or full-turn to full-turn, same mode. One share page is one run — not a leaderboard. How we measure explains the fields on /r/SLOW-….
Run both on the same audit
Copy the 1-paste script or stream with your own keys. Generation and full-turn stay on separate lines.
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