Groq
Verified ProviderTier 3 LPU Inference Datacenter 4.9 / 5.0 (155 reviews)Real-Time AI Inference Powered by LPU Architecture
Groq leverages custom Language Processing Units (LPUs) to deliver staggering throughput (300+ tokens/sec) on Llama 3 and Mistral models. Perfect for real-time voice and agentic loops.
Groq Serverless AI Token Inference Pricing (5 Models)
| AI Model | Category | Cold Start | Context Window | Input ($/1M or Unit) | Output / 1M Tokens | Speed | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama-3.1-8B-Instant | LLM | 0s Instant | 128K tokens | $0.05 | $0.08 | 560 tps | |
| Gemma-2-9B-IT | LLM | 0s Instant | 8K tokens | $0.20 | $0.20 | 420 tps | |
| Mixtral-8x7B-32768 | LLM | 0s Instant | 32K tokens | $0.24 | $0.24 | 380 tps | |
| Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct | LLM | 0s Instant | 128K tokens | $0.59 | $0.79 | 290 tps | |
| DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B | LLM | 0s Instant | 128K tokens | $0.59 | $0.79 | 280 tps |
Groq Monthly API Token Spend Simulator
Simulate monthly inference cost across open foundation models. Zero idle cluster fees, pure pay-per-token API billing.
Unlike renting raw GPU instances where stopped persistent volumes incur $0.10/GB/month and idle compute bills 24/7, Groq charges purely for generated tokens. When your app receives zero traffic, your hourly cost is strictly $0.00.
Total volume: 25.0M tokens / month
Equivalent volume on OpenAI GPT-4o costs approx. $100/mo ($2.50/$10.00 per 1M).
- •Powered by custom Groq LPUs (Language Processing Units), not NVIDIA CUDA GPUs; cannot run arbitrary PyTorch or CUDA binaries.
- •Strictly limited to supported open-weights models (Llama 3.3 70B, DeepSeek R1 Distill, Gemma 2, Whisper-large-v3).
- •Context windows are capped at model limits (e.g., 128k for Llama 3.3, 8k for older models) with strict concurrency tiers.
- ✓Fastest token inference platform in the world: generates 280-560 tokens/second on 8B/70B models, enabling near-instantaneous streaming.
- ✓Whisper-Large-v3 on Groq transcribes audio at over 200x real-time speed with sub-second turnaround on voice memos.
- ✓Drop-in OpenAI compatible: set `baseURL='https://api.groq.com/openai/v1'` and use with Vercel AI SDK, LangChain, or DSPy.
Top Alternatives to Groq
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World's fastest AI inference on Wafer-Scale Engine (1,800+ tokens/sec)
Cerebras achieves 1,800 to 2,100 tokens/sec on Llama 3.3 70B (4x to 5x faster than Groq) with ultra-low sub-100ms TTFT.
Cheapest token rates for large batch inference
Much lower cost per million tokens when ultra-low latency is not the primary requirement.
Broader multimodal model variety & image generation
Broader range of models, including FLUX.1 and vision models not supported on specialized LPUs.
Developer API SDK & Code Recipes for Groq
Tested OpenAI-standard drop-in code snippets for Python, TypeScript, and cURL.
# 1. Install official OpenAI client:
# pip install openai
from openai import OpenAI
import os
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1",
api_key=os.environ.get("GROQ_API_KEY", "your_api_key_here")
)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
messages=[
{"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful AI assistant."},
{"role": "user", "content": "Explain KV cache compression in 3 concise bullet points."}
],
temperature=0.6,
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)Groq Architecture, Gotchas & Engineering Verdict
Groq operates high-throughput managed inference clusters optimized for ultra-low latency token generation. Physical accelerators (LPUs or H100s) are pooled into an elastic API backend with zero user DevOps management.
- ✓Zero idle server cost: strictly pay-per-token with $0.00 disk retention fees.
- ✓OpenAI-compatible drop-in endpoints with streaming SSE and tool calling.
- ✓Instant autoscaling from 1 to 500+ concurrent requests with zero cold starts.
- !Rate Limits (TPM/RPM): Unverified free tiers have tighter request-per-minute limits. Upgrade to production tier for high concurrency.
- !Context Window Limits: Ensure long document RAG pipelines respect model context limits.
- !Fixed Model Catalog: You cannot run arbitrary custom LoRA checkpoints directly without dedicated custom endpoints.
Developer Reviews & Telemetry Audit
Aggregated from 155 verified AI engineers deploying vLLM, ComfyUI, and production API workloads.
“Nothing else comes close to Groq's LPU inference speed. For conversational WebRTC agents, the 110ms TTFT is an absolute game-changer.”