Cerebras Inference API vs Groq Pricing (2026)
Compare / Cerebras Inference API vs Groq
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Team size
25 seats

Cerebras Inference API vs Groq

LLM API Providers pricing comparison · 2026

Cerebras Inference API pricing ranges from $0.1–$6/per million tokens, while Groq ranges from $0–$0/per million tokens. These products use different pricing models (Per-seat subscription vs Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute)), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.

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See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Cerebras pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Groq pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · LLM API Providers
Side-by-side · live
Cerebras Inference API
Cerebras Inference API offers a Free tier (Developer) plan at $0 for testing and developme
verified 2d ago
View pricing →
Groq
Groq offers ultra-fast LLM inference powered by custom LPU hardware, with a free tier for
verified 15d ago
View pricing →
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$0.85 per 1M tokens
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
Usage-based
$0.05 per 1M tokens
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 9 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · 1 contract
Last verified 2d ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 10 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median
Last verified 2w ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
4 documented
  • Opaque Pay-as-you-go Pricing and Rate Limits
    5-15% of license costs
    3 sources
  • Access Waitlist Delays
    5-10% of license costs
    1 source
  • Large Model Support Limitations and Cost Premium
    10-25% of license costs
    2 sources
  • Large Model Memory Constraints
    10-30% of license costs
    2 sources
4 documented
  • Free Tier Rate Limits Block Production Use
    5-15% of license costs
    2 sources
  • Limited Model Selection Requires Multi-Provider Strategy
    5-10% of license costs
    3 sources
  • No Privacy SLA on Free Tier
    10-25% of license costs
    1 source
  • Speed Advantage Narrows for Large Models and Long Contexts
    5-15% of license costs
    2 sources
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

Cerebras
Groq
Auto-renewal
—
✓ No
Cancellation
—
—
Commitment
—
—
Price escalation
No published schedule; pricing model is still evolving as the service transitions from free to commercial tiers
No published price escalation schedule; token prices have generally trended downward as model catalog expands
Can downgrade
—
✓ Yes
Based on 2 verified sources (Vendr · TrustRadius · BBB)
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
No public ratings yet
Best for
Testing Cerebras's unique speed advantage
Watch out
Pricing transparency is poor — hard to estimate costs before scaling to production
No public ratings yet
Best for
Prototyping and evaluation
Watch out
Free tier rate limits (30 RPM / 1,000 RPD) make production workloads impractical without upgrading
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit Cerebras pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Groq pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
LLM API Providers

Cerebras Inference API

$0.1–$6
/per million tokens
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
LLM API Providers

Groq

$0–$0
/per million tokens
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
⚖

Different Pricing Models

Direct price comparison isn't meaningful here — Cerebras Inference API uses Per-seat subscription pricing while Groq uses Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute) pricing. Your actual cost will depend on usage volume, team size, or both. Here's each product in its native unit.

Per-seat subscription

Cerebras Inference API

$0.1–$6 / per million tokens
See full Cerebras Inference API pricing →
vs
Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute)

Groq

From $0.0375 per 1M tokens
See full Groq pricing →

Cerebras Inference API and Groq both operate in the llm api providers category. This page compares their list pricing.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Cerebras Inference API Groq
Free tier (Developer) Free /month Free /month
Pay-as-you-go Custom Custom
Enterprise Custom Custom

Cost at Scale

Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.

Cerebras Inference API

4 scenarios
$0/month
Developer Prototyping (Free Tier)
on the Free tier (Developer) plan
$0.60/M
Pay-as-you-go Usage — Llama 3.1 70B (as of Oct 2024)
tokens for Llama 3.1 70B (third-party data, October 2024)
$0/month
Individual Developer — Free Tier Prototyping
See all 4 scenarios →

Groq

3 scenarios
$16.00
Audio Transcription: 400 Hours via Whisper
total ($0.04 × 400 hours)
$0.90/month ($0.50 input + $0.40 output)
Light Developer Usage: Llama 3.1 8B
$45.30/month ($29.50 input + $15.80 output)
Production App: Moderate Usage with Llama 3.3 70B

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Cerebras Inference API 4 hidden costs

medium
Opaque Pay-as-you-go Pricing and Rate Limits 5-15% of license costs
low
Access Waitlist Delays 5-10% of license costs
medium
Large Model Support Limitations and Cost Premium 10-25% of license costs
medium
Large Model Memory Constraints 10-30% of license costs
See all Cerebras Inference API hidden costs →

Groq 4 hidden costs

medium
Free Tier Rate Limits Block Production Use 5-15% of license costs
low
Limited Model Selection Requires Multi-Provider Strategy 5-10% of license costs
high
No Privacy SLA on Free Tier 10-25% of license costs
medium
Speed Advantage Narrows for Large Models and Long Contexts 5-15% of license costs
See all Groq hidden costs →

Contract Terms

Term Cerebras Inference API Groq
Auto-renewal — No
Cancellation — —
Minimum commitment — —
Price escalation No published schedule; pricing model is still evolving as the service transitions from free to commercial tiers No published price escalation schedule; token prices have generally trended downward as model catalog expands
Can downgrade — Yes

Continue researching

Cerebras Inference API

Groq

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