# Grok vs Side Reader

Grok records 203,846,050 monthly visits with -0.8% month-over-month growth and Freemium pricing. Side Reader records 355 monthly visits with -36.5% growth and Freemium pricing.

| Metric | [Grok](https://openaitools.app/tool/grok) | [Side Reader](https://openaitools.app/tool/side-reader) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://grok.com | https://www.side-reader.com |
| Categories | AI Assistant, AI Search Engine, AI Image Generator, AI Chatbot | AI PDF, AI Reader, AI Chatbot, AI PDF Summarizer |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Monthly Visits | 203,846,050 | 355 |
| MoM Growth Rate | -0.8% | -36.5% |
| Primary Market | United States | Vietnam |
| Direct Visits | 133,669,269 | 149 |
| Review Score | 3.3 | 5 |
| Saved Count | 31 | 0 |
| Supported Platforms | Website | Website |

## Grok

Developed by xAI, Grok has transformed from an X-exclusive chatbot into a standalone frontier AI ecosystem accessible at grok.com, on iOS and Android, inside the X platform, and via the xAI API. By late 2026, xAI retired the original Grok 3 and initial Grok 4 checkpoints in favor of an upgraded Grok 4 family led by Grok 4.7 (released September 21, 2026, 500K-token context window), alongside Grok 4.5, the 1M-context Grok 4.3, the 2M-context Grok 4.1 Fast, and the specialized Grok Build 0.1 coding model.

Grok differentiates itself through unfiltered real-time information retrieval and an integrated creative and coding suite. Its DeepSearch engine synthesizes live breaking news, public sentiment, and primary discussions directly from the X firehose alongside the open web—giving it a distinct real-time edge over static-cutoff competitors. Within the grok.com workspace, paid users share a unified weekly compute pool across conversational reasoning, Voice mode, Imagine (native photorealistic image and video generation), Grok Bot automation, and Grok Build (which replaced the older Grok Studio as xAI's dedicated agentic coding environment).

In October 2026, xAI streamlined its consumer pricing by unifying standalone SuperGrok plans and X Premium memberships into The X Subscription—bundling full Grok access, X Premium perks, and the Cursor code editor across five tiers: Free ($0), Plus ($8/month), Premium ($30/month, matching the classic $30/month SuperGrok tier), Super ($100/month, matching SuperGrok Plus), and Ultra ($200/month), while legacy SuperGrok Lite ($10/mo) and Heavy ($300/mo) subscribers remain grandfathered and Grok Business serves teams at $30/seat/month. On the xAI API, flagship Grok 4.7 is aggressively priced at $2.00 per million input tokens ($0.50 cached) and $6.00 per million output tokens for prompts under 200K tokens.

**Pricing & Plans:** Free tier ($0) with limited access; unified October 2026 X Subscription tiers at $8/mo (Plus), $30/mo (Premium / legacy SuperGrok), $100/mo (Super / legacy SuperGrok Plus), and $200/mo (Ultra) bundling Grok, Cursor editor access, and X perks; Business at $30/seat/mo; xAI API at $2/1M input and $6/1M output for flagship Grok 4.7.

- **Grok 4.7 Flagship Reasoning & Coding Model:** Features configurable reasoning, low hallucination rates, native agentic tool calling, and a 500K-token context window (with up to 2M tokens on Grok 4.1 Fast).
- **Real-Time X Firehose & DeepSearch:** Combines live web browsing with direct access to real-time posts, threads, and breaking events on X to deliver up-to-the-minute synthesis.
- **Grok Build & Cursor Subscription Bundle:** Provides a dedicated agentic coding environment with Grok Build 0.1 and Grok 4.7 Fast, while October 2026 subscription tiers bundle access to the Cursor code editor.
- **Imagine Multimodal Image & Video Generation:** Generates high-resolution images and video clips alongside real-time speech-to-speech Voice mode from a single shared weekly usage pool.
- **High-Value xAI Developer API:** Offers Grok 4.7 at $2/1M input and $6/1M output tokens ($0.50/1M cached input), plus a realtime Voice API ($0.08/min STS) and 20% batch discounts on Grok 4.3.

**Strengths:** Unrivaled real-time awareness via exclusive access to the live X social graph paired with DeepSearch web browsing; Flagship Grok 4.7 API ($2 input / $6 output per 1M tokens, $0.50 cached) significantly undercuts OpenAI and Anthropic flagship token pricing; Unified October 2026 subscription ($30/mo Premium, $100/mo Super, $200/mo Ultra) bundles Grok, X perks, and the Cursor code editor; Massive context windows ranging from 500K tokens on Grok 4.7 to 1M on Grok 4.3 and 2M on Grok 4.1 Fast

**Limitations:** Consumer paid plans draw Chat, Imagine media generation, Voice, and Grok Build from a single shared weekly quota that heavy multi-tool users can exhaust; API prompts exceeding 200K tokens double the rate for the entire request ($4/1M input and $12/1M output on Grok 4.7); Frequent 2025-2026 plan restructurings (X Premium+ to SuperGrok tiers to October 2026's unified X Subscription) create confusion around legacy vs. current tiers

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/grok.md)

## Side Reader

Side Reader exists to remove the friction of working with documents and AI chatbots at the same time. Normally you either paste chunks of a PDF into a chat window or juggle two tabs and lose your place. Side Reader is a Chrome extension that renders the PDF in the sidebar of ChatGPT, Claude or DeepSeek, so the document and the conversation sit side by side.

Once a PDF is open you use built-in action buttons to summarize, translate or explain content, and you can customize those button prompts so the AI answers in your preferred format. For content that cannot be selected — charts, infographics, scanned images — a screenshot question lets you ask about a region of the page directly. The reader itself supports zoom, page navigation and width adjustment, so it behaves like a normal PDF viewer rather than a stripped-down preview.

Privacy is handled simply: PDFs are stored locally in your browser and Side Reader does not keep your files. Because the AI work happens inside the ChatGPT, Claude or DeepSeek session you are already using, Side Reader adds document handling rather than a separate subscription to yet another model.

**Pricing & Plans:** Freemium. The core Chrome extension is available to install, with a paid upgrade for extended usage; check the extension listing for current limits.

- **Read PDFs beside the chat:** PDFs render directly in the sidebar next to the chat, so your document and the AI conversation are visible at the same time.
- **Summarize, translate and explain:** Summarize a whole document, translate it, or have passages explained in simpler terms using the AI you are already signed into.
- **Custom action button prompts:** Built-in buttons cover the common actions, and you can edit their prompts to make the AI respond in the format and tone you need.
- **Screenshot questions for non-selectable content:** Ask about charts, scans or regions that cannot be selected by taking a screenshot question instead.
- **Local storage and a proper reader:** Files stay local in your browser and are not stored by Side Reader, and PDFs keep zoom, page navigation and width controls.

**Strengths:** Keeps the PDF and the AI conversation visible in the same window; Works with ChatGPT, Claude and DeepSeek rather than locking you into one model; Local-only file storage — documents are not kept on Side Reader servers; Customizable action prompts for repeatable workflows

**Limitations:** Requires an active ChatGPT, Claude or DeepSeek session to do the AI work; Chrome only — no Firefox, Safari or Edge-specific edition; Very new/small product, so the feature set is still evolving

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/side-reader.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do Grok and Side Reader compare in monthly traffic?

Grok has 203,846,050 monthly visits, while Side Reader has 355. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality.

### How do their growth rates compare?

Grok has a month-over-month growth rate of -0.8%; Side Reader has -36.5%.

### How does pricing compare?

Grok: Freemium. Free tier ($0) with limited access; unified October 2026 X Subscription tiers at $8/mo (Plus), $30/mo (Premium / legacy SuperGrok), $100/mo (Super / legacy SuperGrok Plus), and $200/mo (Ultra) bundling Grok, Cursor editor access, and X perks; Business at $30/seat/mo; xAI API at $2/1M input and $6/1M output for flagship Grok 4.7. Side Reader: Freemium. Freemium. The core Chrome extension is available to install, with a paid upgrade for extended usage; check the extension listing for current limits.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [ChatGPT](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatgpt-4) | 6,048,022,723 | +2.2% | Freemium | OpenAI's flagship multimodal assistant powered by GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 for reasoning, coding, and deep research. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatgpt-4.md) |
| 2 | [Google Gemini](https://openaitools.app/tool/gemini-gemini-advanced) | 2,637,398,242 | -0.1% | Freemium | Google's multimodal AI assistant powered by Gemini 4 Carbon (Gemini Carbon 4), Gemini 4 Argon, and Gemini 3.8 Flash with a 1M-token context window and Workspace integration. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/gemini-gemini-advanced.md) |
| 3 | [Claude](https://openaitools.app/tool/claude-2) | 1,253,439,413 | +23.8% | Freemium | Anthropic's frontier AI workspace powered by Claude 5.5 for agentic coding, analysis, and nuanced writing. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/claude-2.md) |
| 4 | [Adobe Firefly](https://openaitools.app/tool/adobe) | 396,998,213 | -8.6% | Freemium | Commercially safe generative AI workspace for images, video, audio, vectors, and multi-model creative production. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/adobe.md) |
| 5 | [DeepSeek](https://openaitools.app/tool/deepseek) | 372,761,591 | +4.3% | Freemium | High-efficiency open-weight and hosted reasoning AI powered by DeepSeek-V4 and R1 at ultra-low token costs. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/deepseek.md) |
| 6 | [Hostinger AI Website Builder & Hosting](https://openaitools.app/tool/hostinger-1-click-openclaw) | 54,534,226 | +3.9% | Paid | AI-powered web hosting platform combining prompt-based website building with one-click managed OpenClaw agent deployments. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/hostinger-1-click-openclaw.md) |
| 7 | [Muse](https://openaitools.app/tool/muse-ai-1) | 45,751,822 | +228.3% | Contact for Pricing | Your personal AI agent from Meta that actually gets things done | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/muse-ai-1.md) |
| 8 | [Meta AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/meta-ai) | 43,935,687 | +27.7% | — | Meta's free AI assistant for answers, images and everyday tasks | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/meta-ai.md) |
| 9 | [Jotform AI Agents](https://openaitools.app/tool/jotform-ai-agents) | 43,090,495 | -1.4% | Freemium | No-code multichannel AI agents that turn static forms into interactive voice, chat, and support workflows. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/jotform-ai-agents.md) |
| 10 | [Studocu](https://openaitools.app/tool/studocu-global) | 39,297,122 | +1.1% | Freemium | Share and access study materials worldwide — with AI study tools built in | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/studocu-global.md) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/grok-vs-side-reader

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