Google Gemini API vs Groq API Pricing (2026) — Per-Token Cost Comparison
Compare / Google Gemini API vs Groq
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Team size
25 seats

Google Gemini API vs Groq

LLM API Providers pricing comparison · 2026

Google Gemini API pricing ranges from $0–$18/per million tokens, while Groq uses custom pricing.

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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 Google pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Visit Groq pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · LLM API Providers
Side-by-side · live
Google Gemini API
Google Gemini API pricing starts at $0 on the Free tier, which provides rate-limited acces
verified 11w ago
View pricing →
Groq
Groq offers ultra-fast LLM inference powered by custom LPU hardware, with a free tier for
verified 11w ago
View pricing →
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Usage-based
$0.1 per 1M input 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 10 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · Vendr median · 1 review platform
Last verified 2mo ago
Confidence Medium confidence
Sources 10 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · 1 contract · Vendr median
Last verified 2mo 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
  • Content Policy Restrictions
    5-15% of license costs
    3 sources
  • Output Reliability and Accuracy Costs
    10-25% of license costs
    3 sources
  • Platform Migration Costs
    5-20% of license costs
    2 sources
  • Free Tier Data Usage Policy
    5-10% of license costs
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 · 05

What users say

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

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
Trustpilot
1.2out of 5 (15)
Best for
Prototyping and evaluation
Watch out
Frequent factual errors and inconsistent outputs requiring manual verification
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 Google 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

Google Gemini API

$0–$18
/per million tokens
4 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
LLM API Providers

Groq

Custom pricing
/per million tokens
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Google Gemini API and Groq are two leading LLM API providers. This page compares their per-token pricing, available models, and tier structure so you can pick the right backend for your workload — whether you're optimizing for cost per 1M tokens, latency, or model quality.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Google Gemini API Groq
Free Free /month Free /month
Flash-Lite (Paid) Custom Custom
Flash (Paid) Custom Custom
Pro (Paid) Custom —

Cost at Scale

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

Google Gemini API

3 scenarios
$0/month
Individual Developer (Free Tier)
~$16.50/month ($0.30 × 10M input + $2.50 × 5M output, per OpenRouter median rates as of July 2026)
Production App — Flash Model
~$62.50/month ($1.25 × 10M input + $10.00 × 5M output)
Production App — Pro Model

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.

Google Gemini API 4 hidden costs

medium
Content Policy Restrictions 5-15% of license costs
high
Output Reliability and Accuracy Costs 10-25% of license costs
high
Platform Migration Costs 5-20% of license costs
medium
Free Tier Data Usage Policy 5-10% of license costs
See all Google Gemini 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 Google Gemini API Groq
Auto-renewal — No
Cancellation — —
Minimum commitment — —
Price escalation — No published price escalation schedule; token prices have generally trended downward as model catalog expands
Can downgrade — Yes

Continue researching

Google Gemini API

Groq

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