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Alternatives · Inference APIs

xAI API alternatives, graded

thecontinuitylayer.com/alternatives/xai-api

6 of the 13 inference APIs on the record score higher than xAI API's 4 of 5 (grade B+): Groq (5, A+), OpenAI API (5, A+), Anthropic API (5, A+) lead the ranking. Every grade is read from the maker's own page, checked 5 November 2026, never from a review.

B+
xAI API · 4 of 5
13
inference APIs to compare
6
score higher
5 November 2026
Makers' pages checked

Every inference API on the record, ranked

xAI API’s own row is shaded. The five columns are the tests a person switching asks about first; each product page has every test, with the maker’s line and the source. Where the test is about training, no is the good answer and is colored as such.

inference APIGradePriceRate limitsTrainingRetentionStatus page
Groq#1 · GroqA+5/5
OpenAI API#2 · OpenAIA+5/5
Anthropic API#3 · AnthropicA+5/5
Fireworks AI#4 · Fireworks AIA4½/5
OpenRouter#5 · OpenRouterA4½/5
DeepInfra#6 · DeepInfraA4½/5
Gemini API#7 · GoogleB+4/5
xAI API#8 · xAI · this oneB+4/5
Together AI#9 · Together AIB3½/5
Mistral API#10 · Mistral AIB3½/5
Cohere API#11 · CohereB3½/5
Baseten#12 · BasetenB3½/5
DeepSeek API#13 · DeepSeekC−2½/5
HiAPI#14 · HiAPID2/5
  • Price · Does it publish a per-token price?
  • Rate limits · Does it publish its rate limits?
  • Training · Does it train on your API prompts by default?
  • Retention · Does it say how long it keeps your prompts and outputs?
  • Status page · Does it run a public status page?

xAI API alternatives, by what matters

5 inference APIs that don't train on your prompts by default

  1. A+ Groq
  2. A+ OpenAI API
  3. A+ Anthropic API
  4. A Fireworks AI
  5. B Together AI

xAI API passes this test too.

7 inference APIs that publish their rate limits

  1. A+ Groq
  2. A+ OpenAI API
  3. A+ Anthropic API
  4. A OpenRouter
  5. A DeepInfra
  6. B Cohere API
  7. B Baseten

xAI API passes this test too.

9 inference APIs that say how long they keep your prompts

  1. A+ Groq
  2. A+ OpenAI API
  3. A+ Anthropic API
  4. A Fireworks AI
  5. A OpenRouter
  6. A DeepInfra
  7. B+ Gemini API
  8. B Mistral API
  9. B Baseten

xAI API passes this test too.

What xAI changed lately

  1. The Grok product page no longer mentions memory across chats; it lists reasoning, coding, image generation and document analysis. xAI's consumer FAQ, the Grok help FAQ and the user guide do not mention memory either, so the Scorecard's docs grade for Grok on remembering across a new chat moved from yes to no.

    source

  2. xAI retired the grok-imagine-image-quality API model on 2 November 2026, after a 60-day notice that began on 2 September. Requests to it, and to grok-imagine-image-pro (redirected to it in May), are now served by grok-imagine-image-2.0 at the low quality setting, which costs $0.01 per image less at every resolution: $0.04 per 1K image and $0.06 per 2K image, plus $0.01 per input image on edits. The old names keep resolving, so no code change is needed; grok-imagine-image (1.0) is not affected.

    source

  3. Weekly usage limits on Grok Bot on X were cut. Over the weekend of 31 October and 1 November 2026 users reported allowances showing as fully used without overnight use, some going from 50% to 100%, and on 1 November Elon Musk replied that it was not a glitch: "The cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue." No new limit figures or affected plans have been published.

    source

Every change from xAI, dated →

Alternatives to the others

The whole shelf: Inference APIs. How the grades are made: How we grade. No maker pays for a place or a grade.