> xAI API
xAI (founded by Elon Musk) offers the official API for the Grok series of LLMs. Known for leading benchmarks in coding and reasoning, the Grok-4.6 flagship model is available via an OpenAI-compatible API, featuring low-latency inference and high agentic tool-calling capabilities.
// pros
- A top-tier legitimate vendor (xAI); api.x.ai is the official endpoint, OpenAI-compatible and easy to integrate, with no stolen-upstream-key risk
- Grok models are strong overall and in the frontier tier
- New users get a one-time trial credit for low-cost evaluation, with no long-term commitment during the free phase
- Official billing and docs are transparent, with good enterprise controllability
// cons
- No long-term free tier; the trial credit is small, expires in ~30 days and does not carry over
- The '$150/month data-sharing credit' is reported to have been changed/ended, and required first spending $5 plus consenting to use your requests for model training, non-revocable once enabled at team level
- The many '$150/$175 free' guides online are mostly outdated and may be defunct — do not trust them blindly
- Production use is pay-as-you-go and can be costly
Suitable for developers who want a short-term evaluation of Grok using the new-user trial credit; do not treat it as a long-term free source. Always rely on the credits and terms shown in your xAI Console now, and do not trust third-party '$150/$175 permanently free' guides. If you consider the data-sharing program for credits, note it uses your requests to train models and is non-revocable; never enable it for sensitive/regulated data.
community_reputation
xAI is a top-tier vendor with a clear corporate entity, and api.x.ai is its official Grok API endpoint, free of relay-style key theft or exit-scam risk, with solid technical reputation. But the 'free' part is highly unstable: the early $25/month and later $150/month data-sharing credits have changed repeatedly, and the community and multiple guide sites note these free programs were adjusted or ended around mid-2025, with data sharing costing you model-training use of your requests and being non-revocable at team level. The high free-credit figures circulating online are mostly stale — rely on what your Console actually shows.
imported analysis — independent third party, not Uprouter editorial · verify before relying on it
How we estimated this: the free allowance is converted to a dollar value using the provider’s own pay-as-you-go rates for the models a typical developer would reach for. When the allowance is metered in requests, tokens or minutes rather than dollars, we assume median usage of the cheapest capable model. Because assumptions are involved, the figure carries the est. flag — treat it as an order of magnitude, not a quote.
note: No permanent free tier; ~$25 promo credit on signup (30-day expiry, varies by region/promotion). $150/mo data-sharing credits still listed by 2026 guides despite mid-2025 end reports — rely on what the console shows.
| Plan | Type | Monthly | Input /1M | Output /1M | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier (source-reported) | free | — | — | — | No permanent free tier. New accounts typically get ~$25 in promotional trial credit (varies by promotion/region/verification, expires in ~30 days and does not carry over). A historical 'data sharing program' once gave $150/month but required first spending $5, opting in to use your API requests for model training, and was non-revocable once enabled at team level; that $150 program is reported to have been changed/ended around May 2025 — rely on what your xAI Console actually shows now. |
| Monthly Free Credits | free | — | — | — | $25/month in free API credits for testing and development. |
| Grok-4.6 (PAYG) | payg | — | $2.00 | $6.00 | Flagship model rate. |
| Grok-4.3 (PAYG) | payg | — | $1.25 | $2.50 | Mid-tier model rate. |
Pricing normalized from public sources — always verify with the provider.
// model prices
| Model | Input /1M | Output /1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 4.20 | $1.25 | $2.50 | 2M |
$ Does xAI API have a free tier?
Yes — xAI API offers a free tier that we value at roughly $25.00 in free credits (estimate — derived from rate-limited usage at pay-as-you-go prices). Always confirm current limits on xAI API's official pricing page — free tiers change without notice.
$ How much does xAI API cost per 1M tokens?
The cheapest model we track at xAI API is $1.25 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens. This is normalized from xAI API's published pricing — verify with the provider before purchasing, since prices change frequently.
$ Is xAI API safe to use?
Uprouter rates xAI API as medium risk. Rated medium risk. an official provider with a free tier with only partial transparency: some model coverage or pricing is confirmed, while other figures rest on third-party reports or a login-gated console. Risk ratings are editorial, evidence-based, and never influenced by affiliate relationships.
Raw community sentiment, shown unblended. Votes never feed into objective data fields like price, risk, or status — and never into sort order.
No published reviews yet — be the first.
// more_informationprice history · live status · risk & confidence · code snippets
price_history
No recorded changes yet.
live_status
full history →best-effort probes · not a guarantee · last 15h ago
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Uprouter runs its own probes; best-effort, not a guarantee. Probe results depend on our network location and cadence — for production, always use the provider’s own status page.
risk_&_confidence
Rated medium risk. an official provider with a free tier with only partial transparency: some model coverage or pricing is confirmed, while other figures rest on third-party reports or a login-gated console.
Confidence reflects how much verifiable evidence (official docs, probe history, community reports) backs this entry. Risk is our editorial assessment of operator reliability and terms — not financial advice.
code_snippets
# xAI API's own API — get a key from their dashboard
curl https://YOUR-PROVIDER-ENDPOINT/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer THEIR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "x-ai/grok-4.20",
"messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Hello" }]
}'Direct to the provider — Uprouter receives nothing; verify their current pricing before purchasing.
Ranked by neutral similarity signals only — live status, free-tier shape and free-credit proximity. Commercial relationships never influence this list.