---
title: "AI Token Router vs Groq"
canonical: "https://router.xark.io/compare/groq"
description: "AI Token Router vs Groq: Custom LPU silicon built for very fast inference."
section: "provider-comparisons"
updated: "2026-09-02"
source: "https://router.xark.io/compare/groq.md"
---

# AI Token Router vs Groq

Custom LPU silicon built for very fast inference.

**Availability:** 7 of the 24 catalogued models are callable today. The rest are listed at their intended rate but no configured upstream serves them, so a request naming one returns `no available channel`. Every table below marks which is which.

## Side by side

| Dimension | AI Token Router | Groq | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Raw throughput | Standard GPU-class serving speeds | 500–1000 tokens/sec on their published models — an architectural outlier, not a tuning claim | Groq |
| Hardware | None owned | Own silicon (LPU/LPX) and a cost curve nobody renting GPUs can copy | Groq |
| Built-in agentic tooling | Not offered — you bring your own tools | Compound and Compound Mini ship with web search and code execution built in | Groq |
| Speech-to-text | Not offered — we do /v1/audio/speech (TTS) only | Whisper Large V3 and V3 Turbo, billed per hour of audio | Groq |
| Pricing transparency | Every model's rate published, with the official rate beside it — 36–43% below official | No rate card on groq.com. Rates live in console docs for some models, and flagship Llama models are marked "Enterprise pricing" with no public number at all | AI Token Router |
| Model catalog | 24 open-weight models catalogued across text, image, speech and video | A narrow production list — GPT-OSS and Llama text models plus Whisper. No image models, no video models | AI Token Router |
| Video generation | Yes — /v1/video/generations, billed at a fixed 5-second duration during rollout | None | AI Token Router |
| Platform fee | None. No minimum spend, no subscription | None published | Tie |
| Billing model | Prepaid credits, self-serve; balance is a hard ceiling, exhaustion returns 429 insufficient_credits | Console billing, with a sales conversation standing between you and a price on their flagship models | AI Token Router |

## Choose Groq when

If latency is the product — a voice agent, a live coding assistant, anything where a human is waiting on the first token — Groq wins and it is not close. Their speed comes from custom silicon rather than a scheduling trick, which means it holds up under load in a way GPU-based competitors cannot match by trying harder. They are also well capitalised and building serious capacity, and Compound gives you web search and code execution without wiring up tools yourself. If your workload is one or two big text models and you need them fast, go there.

## Choose AI Token Router when

The gap worth knowing about is pricing: groq.com publishes no rate card, and their flagship Llama models are listed as "Enterprise pricing" rather than a number, so you cannot price your workload before you talk to someone. We publish every rate, with the model's official rate beside it. We also carry image and video models, which they do not carry at all.