Ask
Packaging

xAI adds a long-context rate column to Grok API pricing

xAI pricing

xAI restructured Grok API token pricing into short-context and long-context columns. Crossing a model's long-context threshold reprices every token in that request at roughly 2x.

Before

One rate per model per token type, split across separate Code API and Chat API tables — grok-4.5 $2.00 in / $6.00 out, grok-4.3 $1.25 / $2.50, grok-build-0.1 $1.00 / $2.00 per 1M tokens.

After

A single Text API table with short-context and long-context rates. Short context is unchanged; long context is grok-4.5 $4.00 in / $0.60 cached / $12.00 out, grok-4.3 and the grok-4.20 variants $2.50 / $0.40 / $5.00, grok-build-0.1 $2.00 / $0.40 / $4.00.

Proof of change

xAI's pricing pages, as we captured them on two dates.

Second source confirmed
Captured Jul 14, 2026 Captured Jul 21, 2026 · 7 days apart
api-pricing
$0.50 $0.30 $4.00 $0.60 $12.00 $0.40 $5.00
Captured Jul 14, 2026
Captured Jul 21, 2026

Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.

Show 1 other page we compared
api-models
Captured Jul 14, 2026
Captured Jul 21, 2026

Showing the whole page as captured — scroll either panel, or open it at full size.

What these images do and don't show
  • 2 pages had no counterpart in the earlier capture and are not shown.

Both images are our own captures, taken on the dates shown. The pixels are unmodified — nothing is retouched, and where a region is highlighted the marker is drawn over the image, not into it. Open either capture to see it at full resolution.

xAI’s docs pricing page now publishes two rate columns per model instead of one. The mechanic is stated plainly on the page: “Models with long context pricing bill the long context rates for all tokens in a request once its prompt reaches the model’s long context threshold.” That is a cliff, not a tier — a request that crosses the threshold does not pay a blended rate, it pays the higher rate on every input, cached, and output token in the call.

The same release folded the previously separate “Code API” (grok-build-0.1) and “Chat API” tables into a single “Text API” table, so the coding model and the chat models now sit on one rate card.

For buyers, prompt size becomes a first-class cost control on Grok: a RAG or long-transcript workload that habitually pushes past the threshold effectively pays double the headline rate, while the same token volume split across smaller requests stays on the short-context column.

From xAI's pricing timeline
Long-context rate column added; grok-4.5 cached input cut to $0.30

xAI merges the separate Code API and Chat API rate tables into a single Text API table and adds a second rate column for long context, roughly 2x the short-context rate: grok-4.5 $4.00 in / $0.60 cached / $12.00 out, grok-4.3 and the grok-4.20 variants $2.50 / $0.40 / $5.00, grok-build-0.1 $2.00 / $0.40 / $4.00. Crossing a model's long-context threshold reprices every token in that request, not just the tokens past the line. In the same release grok-4.5 cached input drops from $0.50 to $0.30 per 1M tokens (-40%), while short-context headline rates, agentic tool rates, Batch (−20%), Priority (2x) and consumer plans are unchanged. (Source: docs.x.ai/docs/pricing, live capture 2026-07-21.)

About xAI
x.ai ↗

xAI prices the Grok developer API per million tokens on a two-column short-context / long-context table split at a 200k-token prompt threshold: the grok-4.5 flagship (500k context) runs $2.00 input / $6.00 output short context (cached $0.30) and $4.00 / $12.00 long context, while grok-4.3 stays at $1.25 / $2.50 short (cached $0.20) and $2.50 / $5.00 long on a 1M-token context.

Free tier
Yes
Commits
None
Transparency
public

xAI pricing history

  1. Aug 2026
    Voice API restructured as "Speech to Speech"; second, pricier model added
  2. Jul 2026
    Long-context rate column added; grok-4.5 cached input cut to $0.30
  3. Jul 2026
    grok-4.5 launches as the new flagship ($2 / $6 per 1M tokens)
  4. Jun 2026
    Live snapshot: grok-4.3 at $1.25 / $2.50, tools at $5 / 1k
  5. May 2026
    Lineup consolidates; legacy models retired
Full xAI timeline

More xAI activity

All pricing activity