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Groq

Fast AI inference API with free tier, supports Llama, Mixtral, Gemma models

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API keyHTTPSNo CORSAI

Verified today: 100% uptime

Is Groq free, and does it need an API key?

Free plan with rate limits set per model. The paid Developer plan raises them and adds batch processing.

Price
Free tier, paid above it
API key
Required, free signup
Free limits
Varies by model. For example, GPT-OSS and Qwen models allow 30 requests a minute, 1,000 a day and 8,000 tokens a minute on the free plan.

How to get a Groq API key

  1. Sign in to the Groq console.
  2. Create a key under API Keys.
  3. Send it as a Bearer token. The API is OpenAI-compatible.
Get a key ↗

Send it as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY

Checked by hand on 2026-10-24 against Groq rate limits. Providers change their terms, so confirm on their own pages before you commit.

API key

Required, free signup

HTTPS

Supported

Browser calls

No, needs a proxy

Status

Live · 100/100

Overview & Architectural Role

Groq provides programmatic access to fast ai inference api with free tier, supports llama, mixtral, gemma models. Delivered over secure HTTPS protocols, it exposes structured endpoints designed to integrate cleanly into modern frontend frameworks, backend microservices, and automated data pipelines without requiring local database provisioning.

Who it is built for

Engineers building web dashboards, mobile applications, CLI utilities, or background cron workers in need of reliable ai data feeds.

Architectural Advantage

Consuming Groq removes the operational overhead of running custom scrapers, orchestrating headless browser fleets, or manually seeding and maintaining a local database. Instead of reverse-engineering volatile DOM layouts or dealing with anti-bot IP blocks, your application connects directly to a standardized JSON interface designed for backend ingestion with consistent schema schemas. Dedicated authentication ensures rate quotas and credential tracking per project environment.

What our checks found

Health score
100/100
Reliability
100%
Average latency
338ms

Last checked 2026-10-24. Measured independently, not self-reported by the provider.

Core Use Cases & Architecture Ideas

Practical real-world patterns for integrating Groq into software systems.

Automated Content Enrichment Pipeline

Augment user submissions or catalog items with metadata, tagging, summaries, or vector analysis.

Architecture: An async job queue pushes inbound text or media to Groq, awaiting the transformed payload before updating the primary relational database.

Interactive Chat & Intelligent Assistant

Power real-time conversational flows, prompt engineering experiments, or automated customer support triage.

Architecture: Next.js API route streams response tokens from Groq directly to a React frontend using Server-Sent Events (SSE).

Sentiment & Anomaly Detection Monitor

Classify incoming customer feedback, support tickets, or error logs to detect customer sentiment trends.

Architecture: Ingestion webhook forwards message payloads to Groq for classification, routing high-priority flags to Slack notification channels.

Code Implementation Examples

Production-ready starting templates with error handling for Groq.

// Requires an API key. Check the docs for whether it goes in a header or a query parameter.
// Modern native fetch with error handling
async function callApi() {
  try {
    const response = await fetch('https://console.groq.com/api/v1/resource', {
      method: 'GET',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
      Accept: 'application/json',
    },
    });

    if (!response.ok) {
      throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}: ${response.statusText}`);
    }

    const data = await response.json();
    console.log('Response payload:', data);
    return data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('API request failed:', error);
    throw error;
  }
}

// callApi();

This API does not send CORS headers, so a browser will block a direct call from your front end. Call it from your server, or put a small proxy in front of it.

Response Payload & Live Testing

Inspect the expected JSON structure returned by Groq.

Expected JSON Response Payload

Authentic sample payload structure to evaluate schema attributes before integration.

{
  "id": "gen-7hxffl4",
  "model": "standard-v1",
  "choices": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "message": {
        "role": "assistant",
        "content": "Processed output generated successfully from input prompt."
      },
      "finish_reason": "stop"
    }
  ],
  "usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": 18,
    "completion_tokens": 12,
    "total_tokens": 30
  }
}
Format: application/json

Integration Considerations & Best Practices

Technical factors to keep in mind when integrating Groq into production environments.

Implement In-Memory or Edge Caching

Avoid triggering rate limits on public feeds by caching response payloads in Redis, Vercel KV, or standard HTTP Cache-Control headers with a 5-to-15 minute TTL.

Shield Credentials in Backend Route Handlers

Never expose private API keys in client-side JavaScript or bundle environments. Proxy requests through a Next.js API route or serverless backend to keep secret keys out of public DevTools inspection.

CORS Proxy Required for Browser Frontend Calls

This API does not send Access-Control-Allow-Origin response headers. Direct fetch() calls from browser JavaScript will fail due to Same-Origin Policy. Route your calls through a server backend or lightweight edge proxy.

Validate HTTP Status Before Parsing JSON

Always inspect response.ok before executing response.json(). Upstream services returning 4xx or 502 Bad Gateway often serve HTML error pages, which cause syntax errors when parsed as JSON.

Where this listing comes from

Aggregated from one public source (public-apis), then normalised and checked by us.

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Groq — common questions

Answered from what our own scheduled checks found, not from the provider's marketing.

Is the Groq API free?

Free plan with rate limits set per model. The paid Developer plan raises them and adds batch processing. Checked on 2026-10-24.

Does Groq need an API key?

Yes, and it is free: you get one by signing up. Send it as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY.

How do I get a Groq API key?

1. Sign in to the Groq console. 2. Create a key under API Keys. 3. Send it as a Bearer token. The API is OpenAI-compatible.

What are the Groq API rate limits?

Varies by model. For example, GPT-OSS and Qwen models allow 30 requests a minute, 1,000 a day and 8,000 tokens a minute on the free plan.

Can I call Groq from browser JavaScript?

Not directly. Groq did not return CORS headers when we checked, so the browser will block your page from reading the response even though the request itself succeeds. Call it from a server, or put a small proxy in front of it.

Is Groq still working?

Yes, as of 2026-10-24. Our automated check reached Groq and recorded a 100% reliability score with a median response time of 338 ms. We re-check on a schedule, and this page updates with the result.