Real head-to-head · same prompt, one shot

Grok vs Fugu Ultra

Snappy + real-time — the X-native model. vs Sakana's multi-agent answer to Fusion — frontier ensemble without single-vendor risk.

Head-to-head verdict: Fugu Ultra wins 2–1 with 2 ties.

Grok · context256K tokens
Fugu Ultra · context272K tokens (free) · larger via paid tier
Grok · priceSubscription via X Premium
Fugu Ultra · price$5 / 1M input · $30 / 1M output (Fugu Ultra)
Grok · vendorxAI
Fugu Ultra · vendorSakana AI

What I tested — same prompt, two models

I run the same fixed prompt set through every new model the day it drops — same string, one shot, single HTML file out — and I score the result 0–10 on whether it ran, how close it hit the brief, and how good it looked. Below is what came out when I gave the exact same prompts to Grok and Fugu Ultra, side by side, on 5 shared tasks inside the Agent Operating System.

Both models were given identical prompts inside the Agent Operating System — no help, no iteration, no "best of N" tricks. I run each prompt once, save the HTML file the model produces, and score it 0–10 on whether it ran, how close it hit the brief, and how good it looked. The scoring is mine. The verdicts below are pulled from my source comparison guides at agentos.guide where I publish every score and the reasoning behind it.

Grok · Used for real-time content workflows where the model needs current X timeline context. Standalone bench scoring pending.

Fugu Ultra · Dispatched from Agent OS as the panel-ensemble alternative to OpenRouter Fusion. Bench scored by Claude judge against the same 42 prompts as every other model.

Side-by-side on 42 shared tasks

Click any cell to play that model's actual one-shot attempt. Medals are derived from my 0–10 scores per task (highest = 🥇, second = 🥈, third = 🥉).

Task ↓
Grok
Fugu Ultra
Game
Grok on Raycaster
🥇Fugu Ultra on Raycaster
Page
🥇Grok on Landing
🥇Fugu Ultra on Landing
Sim
Grok on Galaxy
🥇Fugu Ultra on Galaxy
Sim
🥈Grok on Orbit
🥈Fugu Ultra on Orbit
Visual
🥉Grok on Voxel
Fugu Ultra on Voxel
Game
🥉Grok on Arcade
— not attempted —
Game
Grok on Crypt
— not attempted —
Game
🥇Grok on Dogfight
— not attempted —
Game
🥇
— not attempted —
🥇Grok on Dragonflight
— not attempted —
Grok on Dragonrealm
— not attempted —
Game
🥇Grok on Game
— not attempted —
🥇Grok on Neonblaster
— not attempted —
Game
Grok on Neoncity
— not attempted —
Game
🥈Grok on Neonracer
— not attempted —
Grok on Nordiccrypt
— not attempted —
Game
🥉Grok on Outrun
— not attempted —
Game
🥇Grok on Pool
— not attempted —
Game
🥈Grok on Racing
— not attempted —
Game
🥇Grok on Rpg
— not attempted —
Game
Grok on Skyrim
— not attempted —
🥇Grok on Twilightvale
— not attempted —
Game
🥈Grok on Voxelcraft
— not attempted —
Page
🥇Grok on Webos
— not attempted —

Where Grok beat Fugu Ultra

The tasks where I gave Grok a higher 0–10 score on the same prompt — with the actual commentary from my source guides.

Voxel Visual
Grok 8.5 · Fugu Ultra 3.5 (+5.0)

What I saw: A colourful 3D voxel city with a score and coins HUD and a polished game-over card. Like every runner it ends fast — but the build is excellent.

Where Fugu Ultra beat Grok

The tasks where I gave Fugu Ultra a higher 0–10 score on the same prompt — with the actual commentary from my source guides.

Galaxy Sim
Fugu Ultra 8.5 · Grok 8.0 (+0.5)

What I saw: 26KB three.js spiral galaxy with drag-to-orbit + dust lanes + bloom. Comparable visual quality to Fusion's 14KB attempt with more polish on the camera UI. ~$0.24 per call.

Raycaster Game
Fugu Ultra 8.5 · Grok 8.0 (+0.5)

What I saw: 26KB canvas raycaster with WASD + mouse-look + distance fog + weapon bob. Clean implementation, comparable to Fusion's 17KB on the same prompt. ~$0.35 per call — roughly 1/4 the cost of Fusion.

Strengths & weaknesses I logged

Grok

Strengths

  • Real-time access to X timeline data — unique signal no other model has
  • Snappy latency on shorter prompts
  • 256K context window keeps pace with the open-weights field

Trade-offs

  • 13 demos on the bench but zero have curated 0–10 verdicts yet — currently unranked
  • API access is gated behind X Premium, awkward for backend agent loops

Fugu Ultra

Strengths

  • SWE Bench Pro 73.7 · GPQA-D 95.5 · MRCRv2 93.6 — Sakana's published frontier-tier benchmark scores
  • Vendor-agnostic ensemble — opt out of specific providers for compliance / export-control
  • OpenAI-compatible API at api.sakana.ai — drop-in for existing tooling

Trade-offs

  • Panel orchestration adds latency — even a 'pong' burns ~2k orchestration tokens
  • Newer than Fusion; less community calibration on long-tail prompts

Pricing & context — the spec sheet

Spec Grok Fugu Ultra
VendorxAISakana AI
Context window256,000 tokens272,000 tokens with the standard rate. Calls exceeding 272K context are billed at the higher 'long-context' rates.
PriceSubscription via X Premium$5 / 1M input · $30 / 1M output (Fugu Ultra)
Pricing detailBundled with X (Twitter) Premium subscription — no per-token bill for end users, no individual API pricing for the chat product.Sakana's multi-agent orchestration: a single API call internally dispatches to multiple frontier models and synthesises the answer. Subscription plans run $20-$200/mo (Standard / Pro / Max); PAYG is $5/M input + $30/M output for Fugu Ultra. Direct competitor to OpenRouter Fusion's panel approach.
Release2026-042026-06-15
Bench coverage38/42 scored · avg 8.13/105/5 scored · avg 7.60/10

The verdict — which should you pick?

Across 5 scored shared tasks, Grok averaged 8.40/10, beating Fugu Ultra's 7.60/10 by 0.80 points. Pick Grok when the build has to ship on the first prompt and you can afford the trade-offs in the comparison below.

If you only run one of these inside your stack, the head-to-head average above is the call. If you can run both, my honest play is to wire Grok and Fugu Ultra both into the Agent Operating System and dispatch each from the kanban by task type — workflows that need live x / twitter context → Grok, teams that want fusion-class quality but need a different vendor risk profile → Fugu Ultra. That's the same setup I run for the 3,600+ founders inside the AI Profit Boardroom.

FAQ — Grok vs Fugu Ultra

Which is better, Grok or Fugu Ultra?

On Goldie Bench, Grok averages 8.40/10 across the shared tasks, with 12 gold, 12 silver, 9 bronze overall. Fugu Ultra averages 7.60/10, with 3 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze. Fugu Ultra wins the head-to-head 2–1.

How much does Grok cost vs Fugu Ultra?

Grok: Bundled with X (Twitter) Premium subscription — no per-token bill for end users, no individual API pricing for the chat product. Fugu Ultra: Sakana's multi-agent orchestration: a single API call internally dispatches to multiple frontier models and synthesises the answer. Subscription plans run $20-$200/mo (Standard / Pro / Max); PAYG is $5/M input + $30/M output for Fugu Ultra. Direct competitor to OpenRouter Fusion's panel approach.

What's the context window for Grok vs Fugu Ultra?

Grok has a 256,000 tokens context window. Fugu Ultra has a 272,000 tokens with the standard rate. Calls exceeding 272K context are billed at the higher 'long-context' rates. context window.

When should I pick Grok over Fugu Ultra?

Pick Grok for: Workflows that need live X / Twitter context; Snappy prompts where latency matters; Researchers comparing X-native models against the rest of the field. The trade-off is the weaknesses we logged on the bench: 13 demos on the bench but zero have curated 0–10 verdicts yet — currently unranked; API access is gated behind X Premium, awkward for backend agent loops.

When should I pick Fugu Ultra over Grok?

Pick Fugu Ultra for: Teams that want Fusion-class quality but need a different vendor risk profile; Operators avoiding export-controlled providers (Sakana emphasises this in their pitch); Deep-research workflows where ensemble verdicts beat single-model answers. The trade-off is the weaknesses we logged on the bench: Panel orchestration adds latency — even a 'pong' burns ~2k orchestration tokens; Newer than Fusion; less community calibration on long-tail prompts.

How does Goldie Bench score Grok vs Fugu Ultra?

Every demo on this page was built by Julian Goldie inside the Agent Operating System — same fixed prompt for both models, one shot, single HTML file out. Each result gets a 0–10 score on whether it ran, how close it hit the brief, and how good it looked. The highest score on each task gets gold; second gets silver; third gets bronze. See methodology for full provenance.

The same stack Julian uses

Run this stack yourself.

Every demo on this bench was built inside the Agent Operating System — one prompt, one shot, single HTML file out. The Agent OS, the prompts, the templates, the weekly walkthroughs and 3,600+ founders shipping with it every day all live inside the AI Profit Boardroom.

3,600+founders
258documented wins
38countries
$100k+/mocommunity MRR