Cerebras Inference API vs Groq Pricing (2026)

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 $0.05–$3/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.

LLM API Providers

Cerebras Inference API

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

Groq

$0.05–$3
/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 $0.05 per 1M input 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