Free xAI API Key, Base URL & Rate Limits
Model ProviderxAI (Elon Musk's AI company) offers newer Grok models — Grok-4.
How to get a free xAI API key
- 1 Sign up at console.x.ai Same xAI account as Grok (xAI). If you already have an xAI key, it works here too.
- 2 Go to API Keys in settings
- 3 Generate or reuse an API key
- 4 Choose a model Grok-4.3 for reasoning. Grok-4.1 Fast for 2M context. Grok-3 Mini for speed.
- 5 Configure OpenAI client Base URL: https://api.x.ai/v1. Same endpoint as the Grok (xAI) provider.
Provider Snapshot
Supported Models 3 models
View in directory →| Model ID | Developer | Context | Availability | Free Tier | Use cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| grok-4-3 grok-4.3 | xAI | 1.0M | Check provider | Yes | chat |
| grok-4-1-fast grok-4.1-fast | xAI | 2.0M | Check provider | Yes | chat |
| grok-3-mini grok-3-mini | xAI | 131K | Check provider | Yes | chat |
Developer Tools
Related Providers
View all →xAI FreeLLM Score free API access score
How we score →What is xAI?
xAI's Grok-4.3, Grok-4.1 Fast, Grok-3 Mini — 1M-2M context, OpenAI-compatible.
xAI (Elon Musk's AI company) offers newer Grok models — Grok-4.3, Grok-4.1 Fast, and Grok-3 Mini — through their API platform. Grok-4.1 Fast features an industry-leading 2M token context window. The API is OpenAI-compatible. Note: this is the same company as the Grok (xAI) provider on this site — xAI models appear under two provider slugs due to source data naming, but share the same API key and account.
- Grok-4.3: latest Grok reasoning model
- Grok-4.1 Fast: 2M context window
- Grok-3 Mini: fast, lightweight
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
API Compatibility: OpenAI SDK-compatible (Chat Completions)
xAI Free Tier Limits & Pricing
xAI API Setup Tutorials
xAI is fully compatible with popular AI coding assistants like Cursor, Claude Code, and more. To see step-by-step API configuration instructions for your favorite tool, please visit our Global Configuration Guide →
xAI Model Use Cases
What xAI's free models are best for, based on aggregated model capabilities:
xAI Limitations & Caveats
- Credit card required — same xAI account as Grok (xAI)
- Rate limits are credit-based — harder to predict than RPM
- Newer models may have less stable free tier availability
xAI FAQ
What's the difference between the Grok (xAI) and xAI providers on this site?
They're the same company — xAI. The two entries exist because data sources name them differently. Both use the same xAI API key and console. The grok-(xAI) entry has Grok-2 and Grok-2 Mini. The xai entry has newer models: Grok-4.3, Grok-4.1 Fast, and Grok-3 Mini.
Does Grok-4.1 Fast really support 2 million tokens of context?
Yes — 2M tokens is one of the largest context windows available anywhere, including paid tiers. This allows processing entire codebases or book-length documents in a single request. Rate limits apply based on your credit balance.
Should I use Grok-4.3 or Grok-4.1 Fast?
Grok-4.3 is the reasoning-focused model — better for complex analysis, math, and multi-step tasks. Grok-4.1 Fast trades some reasoning depth for speed and a massive 2M context window. For most developers, Grok-4.1 Fast is the better default.