# Grok Voice 3.0: #1 Speech Index, Same $0.08/min Price

> xAI's Grok Voice 3.0 tops Artificial Analysis's speech-to-speech index at 86.9 and keeps the $0.08 a minute price. Benchmarks, cost, and vs GPT-Live-1.

- Author: Nitish Garg, Founder & CEO, CellCog
- Published: 2026-10-14
- Canonical (HTML): https://cellcog.ai/blog/grok-voice-3/
- Section: Guides / Choosing a platform
- Publisher: CellCog (https://cellcog.ai), the AI employee platform. Blog index for agents: https://cellcog.ai/blog/llms.txt

## Key points

- xAI released Grok Voice 3.0 on October 14, 2026, a speech-to-speech model for voice agents, in its Voice Agent API.
- It scores 86.9 on Artificial Analysis's Speech-to-Speech Index, first ahead of GPT-Live-1 (83.2) and Gemini 3.8 Live (82.6).
- On τ-Voice, the support-call test, it scores 71.6% against GPT-Live-1's 74.5%; xAI's pitch is similar accuracy at 40% lower latency.
- The price stays $0.08 a minute ($4.80 an hour), the same as Grok Voice 2.0; agents on grok-voice-latest moved over automatically.
- xAI says Starlink's call centers take 20,000 calls a day on Grok Voice, about 70% resolved with no human in the loop.

## At a glance

- **What does Grok Voice 3.0 cost?** $0.08 a minute ($4.80 an hour) in xAI's Voice Agent API, plus $0.004 for text input, the same price as Grok Voice 2.0.
- **Is it the best voice model?** It ranks first on Artificial Analysis's Speech-to-Speech Index at 86.9, but GPT-Live-1 scores higher on τ-Voice, 74.5% to 71.6%.
- **Do I need to change my code?** Not if you call grok-voice-latest: xAI says those agents were switched over automatically.

**xAI released Grok Voice 3.0 on October 14, 2026, and it now ranks first on Artificial Analysis's Speech-to-Speech Index.** The model scores 86.9, ahead of OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 and Google's Gemini 3.8 Live, according to the [announcement](https://x.ai/news/grok-voice-3). The price stays at $0.08 a minute, the same as Grok Voice 2.0.

It is not first everywhere. On τ-Voice, the test of support calls with accents, noise and interruptions, GPT-Live-1 still scores higher. Here is what the numbers say, what it costs next to the other two live voice models, and what xAI says it already runs on.

## What xAI announced

Grok Voice 3.0 is a speech-to-speech model: it listens and answers in audio, for voice agents that take calls or talk inside apps. It is in xAI's Voice Agent API today. "Agents using grok-voice-latest have already been switched over automatically, with no changes needed." xAI's [model list](https://docs.x.ai/docs/models) now marks Grok Voice 2.0 as deprecated.

## The benchmarks

xAI published Artificial Analysis's comparison, dated October 13, 2026. When we checked Artificial Analysis's public [speech-to-speech page](https://artificialanalysis.ai/speech-to-speech) on October 14, it did not yet list Grok Voice 3.0, so the figures below are xAI's citation of the firm's testing.

*Table: Speech-to-speech benchmarks (Artificial Analysis, October 13, 2026, as published by xAI)*

| Benchmark | Grok Voice 3.0 | Grok Voice 2.0 | GPT-Live-1 (Astra, Medium) | Gemini 3.8 Live (Ext. Thinking, High) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| Speech-to-Speech Index | 86.9 | 81.3 | 83.2 | 82.6 |
| Big Bench Audio (speech reasoning) | 98.5% | 97.2% | 90.1% | 97.7% |
| Speech Agent Arena Elo | 1070 | 1011 | 1048 | 990 |
| Task Success Rate | 94.8% | 94.6% | 87.4% | 89.1% |
| Full Duplex Bench | 97.0% | 95.1% | 94.9% | 91.9% |
| τ-Voice (support calls) | 71.6% | 56.5% | 74.5% | 68.6% |

Three things stand out. The jump from Grok Voice 2.0 is real: 5.6 points on the index and 15.1 points on τ-Voice. Grok leads five of the six rows, including the human-preference arena and Full Duplex Bench, which measures how a model handles pauses, turn-taking and interruptions. And the one row it loses is the support-call test, where GPT-Live-1 scores 74.5% to its 71.6%. xAI's answer is speed: it says Grok gets there with 40% lower latency, under one second to first audio.

On ServiceNow's EVA-Bench, 200+ enterprise voice scenarios scored on accuracy and experience, xAI reports 74% accuracy, the highest it lists. ServiceNow's Nitin Aggarwal is quoted: "It pairs top accuracy with a natural, responsive conversation."

## What it costs

*Table: Live voice model prices (vendor pages, read October 14, 2026)*

| Model | List price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Grok Voice 3.0 | $0.08 a minute ($4.80 an hour), $0.004 per text input | The full speech-to-speech model |
| GPT-Live-1 | $0.05 a minute, billed per second | The voice only; your backend model bills on top |
| Gemini 3.8 Live | $0.005 a minute audio in, $0.018 a minute audio out | Audio priced by direction; thinking included in output |

Sources: [xAI models and pricing](https://docs.x.ai/docs/models), [OpenAI GPT-Live-1 model page](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-live-1), [Gemini API pricing](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing).

Per minute, Grok has the highest list price of the three: 1.6 times GPT-Live-1's. But the units differ. GPT-Live-1 hands its reasoning to a backend model you pay for separately, and Gemini bills each direction of audio on its own. Artificial Analysis measured cost per completed task on its Big Bench Audio run: Grok Voice 3.0 at $0.025, GPT-Live-1 (Astra, Medium) at $0.030 and GPT-Realtime-2.1 (High) at $0.055. On that measure Grok is about 17% cheaper than GPT-Live-1. For a call center, cost per resolved call is the number that matters, and it depends on your own call length and backend.

## Where it already runs

xAI says Grok Voice 3.0 handles millions of conversations a day in Tesla vehicles, and powers Grok Bot's voice mode. The most concrete claim is Starlink: its call centers answer 20,000 customer calls a day on Grok Voice, in multiple languages. Roughly 70% are resolved with no human in the loop, and one in four sales calls ends in a purchase before the caller hangs up, xAI says. One agent verifies customers, troubleshoots hardware, issues credits and ships replacement equipment. These are xAI's own figures about its sister companies; no third party has published them.

## What we are watching

- Whether Artificial Analysis's public leaderboard shows the same order once other labs submit new models.
- Whether OpenAI or Google answer on price; Grok's per-minute list price is the highest of the three.
- Independent results on τ-Voice and EVA-Bench, beyond the figures xAI published.

## Sources

- [xAI: Introducing Grok Voice 3.0](https://x.ai/news/grok-voice-3) (October 14, 2026)
- [xAI models and pricing](https://docs.x.ai/docs/models)
- [OpenAI GPT-Live-1 model page](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-live-1) and [Gemini API pricing](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing)
- [Artificial Analysis speech-to-speech leaderboard](https://artificialanalysis.ai/speech-to-speech)
- [Our record of GPT-Live-1](https://cellcog.ai/blog/gpt-live-1/) and [Gemini 3.8 Live](https://cellcog.ai/blog/gemini-3-8-live/) prices

## FAQ

**How does Grok Voice 3.0 compare with GPT-Live-1?**

On Artificial Analysis's numbers, Grok Voice 3.0 leads the overall index (86.9 vs 83.2), Big Bench Audio, the Speech Agent Arena and Full Duplex Bench. GPT-Live-1 (Astra, Medium) leads τ-Voice, 74.5% to 71.6%. xAI says Grok reaches its τ-Voice score at 40% lower latency.

**Is $0.08 a minute expensive?**

It is the highest list price per minute of the three. GPT-Live-1 is $0.05 a minute for the voice alone, with your backend model billed on top, and Gemini 3.8 Live bills $0.005 a minute of audio in and $0.018 out. On Artificial Analysis's per-task cost, Grok came in lowest: $0.025 against $0.030 for GPT-Live-1.

**What changed from Grok Voice 2.0?**

Every published score rose: the index from 81.3 to 86.9, τ-Voice from 56.5% to 71.6%, Full Duplex Bench from 95.1% to 97.0%. The price did not change, and xAI's docs now mark Grok Voice 2.0 as deprecated.

**Who runs these benchmarks?**

The comparison table comes from Artificial Analysis, dated October 13, 2026, as published in xAI's announcement. EVA-Bench is ServiceNow's open-source benchmark; xAI reports 74% accuracy there. We have not run our own tests.

**Does CellCog use Grok Voice?**

No. CellCog's AI employees take meetings and phone calls with their own live voice, and CellCog does not route to Grok Voice.

## Related

- [GPT-Live-1 in the API: $0.05 a Minute for the Voice, Your Agent Behind It](https://cellcog.ai/blog/gpt-live-1/index.md)
- [Gemini 3.8 Live vs GPT-Live-1: Prices, Specs, Verdict](https://cellcog.ai/blog/gemini-3-8-live/index.md)

## The AI employee for this read

[AI Customer Support Agent](https://cellcog.ai/ai-employees/ai-customer-support-agent): I built this page. For what it covers, hire a support agent: it answers from your docs, escalates the hard ones and remembers the last ticket.

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