---
title: "Grok free tier API: gone, and what to use instead"
canonical: https://relayswitch.io/blog/grok-free-tier-api
generated: 2026-10-27T12:10:10.780Z
source: https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/catalog
base_url: https://api.relayswitch.io/v1
---

October 27, 2026 · 6 min

# Grok free tier API: what replaced it, and the cheapest way to call Grok 4.6 and 4.7 in 2026

xAI's free API tier ended in 2025. What the Grok API costs at xAI's list today, what the same models cost on this key per million tokens, and how to get a key with no monthly minimum, by card or crypto.

The Grok free tier API is gone. xAI opened its API in November 2024 with a monthly credit for every account, ended that allowance in 2025, and now publishes per-million-token prices with a free playground beside them. What people searching for the free tier want is a way to call Grok 4.6 or Grok 4.7 cheaply, without a monthly commitment and without opening another developer account. This post gives the straight answer and the prices, read from the live catalog as the page renders.

Grok 4.7 here today

$0.60 in, $1.80 out per million tokens, against xAI's list of $2.00 and $6.00. A $$10 top-up buys about 4,761 chat turns of 2,000 tokens in and 500 out.

## 01What happened to the Grok free tier API

xAI's [API documentation](https://docs.x.ai/docs/overview) describes a metered API: a key, a per-token price per model, and a playground for trying prompts. The public beta announcement of November 2024 offered $25 of free API credits a month during the beta. That credit was withdrawn in 2025; the forum threads that rank for "grok free tier api" are people noticing the change.

Three things still exist that get called a free tier and are not one: the playground on xAI's site (free, but it is a chat box, not an endpoint), promotional credits some platforms hand new accounts for a few days, and tutorials that route Grok through a user-pays browser SDK. None gives you a Grok API key you can call from a server for nothing.

## 02What the Grok API costs at list, and here

xAI prices each model on its [models page](https://docs.x.ai/docs/models). The same ids are on this key at the prices below, read from the catalog when this page was built; the developer list price sits beside ours where the catalog has it.

| Model | Input | Cached | Output | Developer list in / out |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Grok 4.7](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.7) | $0.60 (70% under) | $0.15 | $1.80 (70% under) | $2.00 / $6.00 |
| [Grok 4.6](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.6) | $0.60 (70% under) | $0.15 | $1.80 (70% under) | $2.00 / $6.00 |
| [Grok 4.5](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.5) | $0.60 (70% under) | $0.09 | $1.80 (70% under) | $2.00 / $6.00 |
| [Grok 4.5 Heavy](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.5-heavy) | $0.40 | $0.06 | $1.20 | — |

USD per million tokens, read at render. Every Grok id on the key is on the RelaySwitch Grok price hub with the same figures.

Grok 4.7 sits 70% under xAI's list on input here. Nothing is added on the top-up, there is no monthly minimum, and the balance does not expire.

## 03What a $10 top-up buys

A chat turn of 2,000 tokens in and 500 out, costed at today's price:

| Model | Per turn | Turns per $10 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Grok 4.7](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.7) | $0.0021 | 4,761 |
| [Grok 4.6](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.6) | $0.0021 | 4,761 |
| [Grok 4.5](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.5) | $0.0021 | 4,761 |
| [Grok 4.5 Heavy](https://relayswitch.io/models/grok-4.5-heavy) | $0.0014 | 7,142 |

Turns are rounded down. A longer prompt or answer costs more in proportion.

## 04Getting a Grok API key without a monthly minimum

1.  **Open an account.** An email address. No identity documents, no phone number, no developer account at xAI.
2.  **Top up.** From $10, by card (Apple Pay and PayPal included) or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL. Nothing is added to the amount.
3.  **Create a key.** Set a monthly spend limit on it if you want a ceiling; requests past it answer 402.

Base URL `https://api.relayswitch.io/v1`, your key (it starts with `sk-relay-`), the model id. Nothing else changes.

python

1`from openai import OpenAI`

2

3`client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.relayswitch.io/v1", api_key="sk-relay-...")`

4`reply = client.chat.completions.create(`

5 `model="grok-4.7",`

6 `messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello in five words."}],`

7`)`

8`print(reply.choices[0].message.content)`

bash

1`curl https://api.relayswitch.io/v1/chat/completions \`

2 `-H "Authorization: Bearer $RELAYSWITCH_KEY" \`

3 `-H "Content-Type: application/json" \`

4 `-d '{"model": "grok-4.7", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'`

The Grok ids answer the OpenAI chat format, so any OpenAI SDK, Cursor, Cline or SillyTavern works with the base URL changed.

## 05If you want Grok for roleplay or an uncensored assistant

The Grok ids here answer as xAI serves them, under xAI's usage policy. For unfiltered chat the [uncensored builds](https://relayswitch.io/uncensored) on the same key are the models built for it, priced per token like everything else, and the [browser roleplay client](https://relayswitch.io/roleplay) runs on the same balance.

## Questions

Is the Grok API free or paid?

Paid, per token, at xAI and everywhere else that serves it. xAI's public beta of November 2024 came with monthly free credits and that allowance ended in 2025; its API page now lists per-million-token prices and a free playground, not a free API tier. Here every Grok request bills per token from a prepaid balance that starts at $10.

Is the Grok 4.5 API free?

No. Grok 4.5 is $0.60 in and $1.80 out per million tokens on this key today, read from the catalog at render. A $10 top-up is the smallest way in.

Is the Grok free tier gone?

Yes. The $25-a-month API credit of the 2024 public beta is no longer offered, and the threads that still rank for the question are answers to people asking why their credits stopped. The playground on xAI's site stays free to try prompts in; API calls are metered.

Is there a limit to the Grok free tier?

There is no free tier to limit. The limits that apply are per-token prices and, on this key, the spend limit you set on each key in the console. A monthly limit on a key stops requests with a 402 when it is reached, so a side project cannot run past what you gave it.

What is the cheapest way to call Grok 4.6 or 4.7 by API?

On this key Grok 4.7 is $0.60 in and $1.80 out per million tokens today, against xAI's list of $2.00 and $6.00, with no monthly minimum, by card or in USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, and no identity check. The Grok price hub compares every Grok id the same way.

Related

-   [Grok API pricing hub](https://relayswitch.io/pricing/grok)
-   [Grok per request, worked](https://relayswitch.io/blog/grok-api-pricing)
-   [OpenRouter alternatives](https://relayswitch.io/alternatives/openrouter)
-   [Pay for the API with crypto](https://relayswitch.io/crypto)
-   [No-KYC AI API](https://relayswitch.io/no-kyc)
-   [How pricing works](https://relayswitch.io/pricing)
-   [Pay by card or crypto](https://relayswitch.io/pay-with-crypto)
-   [Docs](https://relayswitch.io/docs)

## Grok on one key, no minimum

Prepaid from $10 by card or crypto. No KYC, no subscription.

[Every Grok price](https://relayswitch.io/pricing/grok)[Get a key](https://app.relayswitch.io/console/login)