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Best xAI Grok API offer right now 20% OFFBatch API takes 20% off Grok 4.x text modelsGet DiscountSee all 4 offers
Checked on the official page
Billing explained in plain English
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xAI Grok API free credits, trials and programs for November 2026
We may earn a commission when you sign up through links here. It never changes what you pay. Details
xAI Grok API does not issue public promo codes. The Billing page in console.x.ai has a promo code field under API spend management, but xAI doesn’t publish public codes. The $25 monthly beta credit from the 2024 launch and the $150 monthly data-sharing credit from 2025 have both dropped out of the docs. Treat any code you see on a coupon site as expired until xAI says otherwise.
Who qualifies: Any team with prepaid credits, batch-enabled Grok 4.x text models only
Send requests through the Batch API and grok-4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.3 and the 4.20 models bill at 80% of standard input and output rates. Most batches finish within 24 hours on a best-effort basis. Image and video generation run in batch at standard prices.
Completion time isn’t guaranteed. Priority processing isn’t available on batch requests. No discount on grok-build, Imagine or voice models.
$0.20 to $0.50 per 1M cached tokensVerified Nov 2Sample
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Who qualifies: Every API team, automatic on repeated prompt prefixes
Grok 4.7 bills cached input at $0.50 per million instead of $2.00, and grok-4.3 at $0.20 instead of $1.25. Keep system prompts, tool schemas and examples identical and at the front of each request to hit the cache. Cached tokens still count toward tokens per minute.
Rates double for all tokens when a prompt reaches 200k tokens.
$1.25 input, $2.50 output per 1M tokensVerified Nov 2Sample
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Who qualifies: Every API team, same price on all three grok-4.20 variants
For extraction, summaries, routing and most chat traffic, grok-4.3 costs less than half of Grok 4.7 on output tokens and offers a 1M context window. Save Grok 4.7 for the coding and agent steps where the quality gap shows up in your evals.
Prices apply to prompts under 200k tokens. The Batch API takes a further 20% off.
Minimum $5 top-up, cap you chooseVerified Nov 2Sample
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Who qualifies: Any team under Billing in console.x.ai
Under Billing, open API spend management, set a trigger balance, a top-up amount of at least $5 and a monthly maximum. The console warns at 80% of that maximum. Without auto top-up, requests fail at a zero balance; with no cap, a runaway loop keeps buying credits.
Monthly invoiced billing is separate and requires a request to [email protected].
Last checked November 2, 2026. 0 codes, 4 credits, programs and tips live.
Official xAI Grok API programs
Every way xAI Grok API itself hands out credits or free usage, checked on its own pages. The offers above are the ones worth acting on today.
Any team with prepaid credits. Applies to grok-4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.3 and the 4.20 models submitted through the Batch API. Completion is best effort, usually within 24 hours.
Every API team. Repeated prompt prefixes are billed at the cached rate automatically, which is 75% to 85% below the standard input price depending on the model.
Teams that ask [email protected] or use the contact link on the Billing page. The invoiced billing limit defaults to $0, so requests stop when prepaid credits run out until you raise it.
Higher limits without extra spend, or beyond Tier 4
Any team can submit a request in the xAI Console. Enterprise capacity goes through [email protected]. Imagine API increases are handled by sales as well, not by the tier system.
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Recent program changes
Grok 4.7 reaches the API at $2 in and $6 out xAI’s news post for Grok 4.7 prices the model from $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens on the Grok API, with a fast variant at twice the price limited to Cursor and Grok Build. The price list adds $0.50 cached input and a 20% batch discount. Source
Grok 4.6 launches on the API and partner routers xAI’s announcement put Grok 4.6 in the API, OpenRouter, Vercel and Cloudflare at $2 per million input and $6 per million output tokens. The post offered doubled included usage for one week in Cursor and Grok Build, but no API credit. Source
Grok 4.5 priced at $2 and $6 per million tokens The Grok 4.5 news post set pricing at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens and listed availability in Grok Build, Cursor and the console. Free Grok 4.5 usage for a limited time applied to Grok Build and Cursor only, not to the API. Source
Rate limit tiers count cumulative spend from January 1, 2026 xAI’s rate limits page states that a team’s tier is based on cumulative API spend since January 1, 2026, with Tier 1 at $50, Tier 2 at $250, Tier 3 at $1,000 and Tier 4 at $5,000. Tiers never downgrade, and increases beyond Tier 4 go through the console or sales. Source
xAI doesn’t hand out API credits right now. No sign-up bonus, no free tier, no data-sharing credit. What you’ll find here instead is the current price for every Grok model, the two provider-issued ways to pay less (the Batch API and cached input), and the exact console steps to fund a team without overcommitting.
Credits on xAI are prepaid dollars you load under Billing in console.x.ai. Every request deducts token charges from that balance, tool calls such as web search add $5 per 1,000 calls on top, and the balance has to stay above zero or requests fail. Monthly invoicing exists, but it’s off by default and only turns on after you ask sales.
The thing that runs out first is usually the rate limit on a new team, not the money. A Tier 0 team gets 37 requests per second on grok-4.3 and 150 on Grok 4.7, and the tier only climbs as cumulative spend passes $50, $250, $1,000 and $5,000. A launch day spike can hit 429s while your balance is still healthy. Plan the ladder before you plan the budget.
How to claim xAI Grok API credits
Create a team at console.x.aiSign up at console.x.ai with an email or an X account. Billing, credits and rate limits are all scoped to a team, so check the team switcher in the top left before you touch anything financial. Buying credits into the wrong team is an easy mistake.
Open Billing and API spend managementIn the left sidebar choose Billing, then the API spend management card. This page shows your prepaid balance, the Buy credits button and the promo code field. Purchases currently run through Guest Checkout for regulatory reasons.
Buy a small first batch of creditsLoad $5 to $25 to start. Card payments post immediately, while bank transfers take two to three business days before the credits appear. The payment method is saved automatically and can’t be removed if it’s the last one on file.
Turn on auto top-up with a capOn the same card set the trigger balance, the top-up amount (minimum $5) and a monthly maximum. The console warns you at 80% of that monthly limit, which is the closest thing xAI has to a budget alert, so don’t skip the cap.
Create a key under API KeysGo to API Keys, create a key and export it as XAI_API_KEY. Keys belong to the team, so a second team for experiments keeps its spend and its rate limit tier separate from production.
Watch spend in the Usage explorerThe Usage explorer breaks spend down by model and day. Every response also carries a cost_in_usd_ticks field, so you can log the exact cost per request from your own code without waiting for the dashboard.
Ways to stretch your xAI Grok API credits
Push bulk jobs through the Batch API
Requests sent through the Batch API get 20% off on grok-4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.3 and the 4.20 models, so Grok 4.7 output drops from $6 to $4.80 per million. Most batches finish within 24 hours and xAI calls completion best effort. Use it for evals, backfills and classification runs, never for anything a user is waiting on.
Keep long system prompts stable for caching
Cached input on Grok 4.7 costs $0.50 per million tokens against $2.00 uncached, and grok-4.3 drops from $1.25 to $0.20. Put your system prompt, tool schemas and few-shot examples first and keep them byte-identical across calls. Cached tokens still count toward your tokens-per-minute limit, so caching saves money but not quota.
Stay under 200k prompt tokens
A request whose prompt reaches 200,000 tokens bills at double rates for every token in that request, not just the overflow. Grok 4.7 jumps from $2 to $4 per million input and from $6 to $12 output. One oversized retrieval step can quietly double the cost of a whole pipeline. Trim retrieved context or split documents before you cross that line.
Route routine work to grok-4.3
grok-4.3 costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $2.50 output with a 1M context window, less than half the price of Grok 4.7 on output. Use it for extraction, summaries and routing, and save Grok 4.7 at $6 output for the coding and agent steps that actually need it. This split is the single biggest lever on an xAI bill.
Skip priority processing unless latency pays
Setting service_tier to priority bills text requests at twice the standard rate, and you only pay the premium when the response confirms the priority tier. Leave it off by default and enable it per request for the handful of interactive paths where a faster first token changes the user experience. Everything else can wait a second.
Budget tool calls separately from tokens
Web search, X search, code execution and file attachments each cost $5 per 1,000 calls on top of token charges, and X search bills per post returned at $5 per 1,000 posts. An agent that searches three times per turn spends more on tools than on grok-4.3 tokens. Cap tool rounds in your loop.
Use the US endpoint only when required
Routing Grok 4.7 or 4.6 through the US regional endpoint bills tokens at 1.1 times global rates, so Grok 4.7 becomes $2.20 in and $6.60 out. Pay that when a compliance reviewer asks for in-region processing, not by default. A 10% surcharge on every token adds up fast.
xAI Grok API billing, explained
There’s no trial to describe. The xAI API bills only against prepaid credits you buy in console.x.ai, and you have to load credits before your first request. Nothing is charged to your card until you click Buy credits, and the balance you load is spent at per-token prices plus any tool call fees. When the balance hits zero and no invoiced limit is set, requests fail with an error until you top up.
Monthly invoiced billing is the second mode. You raise the invoiced billing limit under Billing, prepaid credits are consumed first, and anything beyond that is charged to your default payment method at the end of the month. Once the invoiced total reaches your limit, requests stop. Invoices can’t be regenerated, so enter company details carefully the first time.
Two charges surprise people. Requests that are generated and then flagged for a usage guideline violation are still billed, and a request blocked before generation in the Responses API carries a $0.05 fee. Storage for files and collections is $0.025 and $0.10 per GiB per day, which is small until a team uploads a corpus and forgets it for a quarter.
xAI Grok API credits FAQ
does xai give free api credits
No. There’s no sign-up credit, no free tier and no monthly allowance on the API. The $25 monthly beta credit from the 2024 launch and the 2025 data-sharing credit are both gone from the docs. You load prepaid credits under Billing in console.x.ai and the first request draws from that balance.
how much does grok 4.7 api cost
Grok 4.7 is $2.00 per million input tokens, $0.50 per million cached input tokens and $6.00 per million output tokens for prompts under 200k tokens. At 200k prompt tokens or more every token in the request bills at $4.00, $1.00 and $12.00. The Batch API takes 20% off the standard rates, so batch output is $4.80.
what is the cheapest grok model on the api
grok-build-0.1 at $1.00 input and $2.00 output per million tokens is the lowest list price, but it’s a coding model with a 256k window. For general work grok-4.3 at $1.25 input and $2.50 output with a 1M context is the practical floor, and the three grok-4.20 models share that price.
does xai api require a credit card
Yes, in practice. The API has no free allowance, so you need to buy prepaid credits before any request succeeds. Purchases currently go through Guest Checkout, bank transfers are accepted but take two to three business days, and the payment method is saved on the team afterwards.
xai api rate limits for a new account
A new team starts at Tier 0: 150 requests per second and 50 million tokens per minute on Grok 4.7, 4.6 and 4.5, and 37 requests per second with 10 million tokens per minute on grok-4.3 and the 4.20 models. Tiers rise automatically at $50, $250, $1,000 and $5,000 of cumulative spend and never drop.
is there an xai for startups program
No. xAI publishes no startup credit program, and its docs have no page for startups, education or research credits. Grok Business and Grok Enterprise are seat-based products for the chat app, not API credits. Third-party guides that promise bundled Grok credits through accelerators are describing partner perks that don’t appear on any xAI page.
do xai api prepaid credits ever expire
xAI’s billing docs don’t state an expiry for prepaid credits, and there’s no term saying they lapse. What does change is the rate tier, which is based on cumulative spend since January 1, 2026, so a credit bought today still counts toward your tier. Check the Billing page for any expiry note before loading a large amount.
can i get a monthly invoice instead of prepaying
Yes, but it’s off by default. Contact [email protected] or use the contact link on the Billing page, then raise the invoiced billing limit under Billing. Prepaid credits are consumed first and the rest is charged to your default payment method at month end, stopping when the limit is reached.
20% OFFBatch API takes 20% off Grok 4.x text models
