xAI Launches Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini API
San Francisco, CA. xAI, the innovative AI company founded by Elon Musk, has introduced its latest lineup of AI models, Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini, designed to cater to a wide range of applications from enterprise solutions to logic-based tasks. Available through the xAI API, these models offer advanced capabilities, including text and image processing, paired with a token-based pricing model that ensures flexibility for developers and businesses.
Grok 3: Powerhouse for Enterprise Applications
The flagship Grok 3 model is engineered for enterprise use cases such as data extraction, coding, and text summarization. It boasts deep domain knowledge in critical fields like finance, healthcare, law, and science, making it a go-to solution for complex, knowledge-intensive tasks.
Pricing:
– Standard version (grok-3-beta): $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens.
– Fast version (grok-3-fast-beta): $5.00 per million input tokens and $25.00 per million output tokens.
The fast variant, grok-3-fast, uses the same underlying model as the standard grok-3 but is served on accelerated infrastructure, delivering significantly quicker response times—ideal for latency-sensitive applications—though at a higher cost.
Grok 3 Mini: Lightweight and Thoughtful
For less demanding tasks, xAI offers Grok 3 Mini, a lightweight model that “thinks” before responding, ensuring smart and efficient answers. It’s optimized for logic-based applications that don’t require extensive domain expertise, and users can even access its raw thinking traces for added transparency.
Pricing:
– Standard version (grok-3-mini-beta): $0.30 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens.
– Fast version (grok-3-mini-fast-beta): $0.60 per million input tokens and $4.00 per million output tokens.
Similar to Grok 3, the grok-3-mini-fast variant offers faster responses with the same underlying quality, making it a versatile option for cost-conscious users needing speed.
Multimodal Capabilities and Flexibility
xAI’s models stand out with their ability to process diverse inputs and outputs:
– Text and Image Inputs: Models like grok-2-vision-1212 accept both text and images (up to 10MiB, in JPEG or PNG format), with pricing at $2.00 per million input tokens (text or image) and $10.00 per million output tokens.
– Image Outputs: The grok-2-image-1212 model generates images from text prompts, costing $0.07 per image.
These multimodal features enable innovative applications, such as analyzing uploaded images or creating visuals from descriptions. Additionally, the models support flexible conversation structures, allowing developers to mix system, user, and assistant roles in any order within prompts.
Context Window and Knowledge Base
Most Grok models, including Grok 3 and Grok 3 Mini, feature a generous context window of 131,072 tokens, accommodating large prompts or extensive conversation histories. However, the grok-2-vision-1212 model has a smaller window of 8,192 tokens due to its specialized image-processing focus.
All Grok 3 models have a knowledge cutoff date of November 17, 2024, and lack real-time internet access. Users needing current data must supply it within the system prompt.
Model Aliases for Seamless Updates
xAI simplifies version management with aliases:
– <modelname>: Points to the latest stable version.
– <modelname>-latest: Accesses the newest features, even experimental ones.
– <modelname>-<date>: Locks to a specific release for consistency.
This system ensures users can stay current or maintain stable workflows as needed.
Pricing Overview
Here’s a quick breakdown of the models and their costs:
Model | Context Window | Input Cost | Output Cost
————————|—————-|————————|———————-
grok-3-beta | 131,072 tokens | $3.00/M tokens | $15.00/M tokens
grok-3-fast-beta | 131,072 tokens | $5.00/M tokens | $25.00/M tokens
grok-3-mini-beta | 131,072 tokens | $0.30/M tokens | $0.50/M tokens
grok-3-mini-fast-beta | 131,072 tokens | $0.60/M tokens | $4.00/M tokens
grok-2-vision-1212 | 8,192 tokens | $2.00/M (text/image) | $10.00/M tokens
grok-2-image-1212 | 131,072 tokens | N/A | $0.07 per image
A Competitive Edge in AI
With the Grok 3 family, xAI delivers a compelling mix of power, versatility, and affordability. The combination of enterprise-grade capabilities, multimodal support, and scalable pricing positions these models as a strong contender in the AI market. Developers can explore the full range of options via the xAI Console, where model availability and billing details are tailored to user needs.
For more details, visit the xAI Models Page and start building with the future of AI today.
This article is based on information from the xAI documentation on models and pricing.
