Grok 4.5 launched on July 16, 2026. The model ships with a 500K-token context window and improved reasoning behavior, which makes it suitable for agent workloads, long-document analysis, and code generation — three areas where token consumption scales quickly. At official xAI pricing of 3 per million input tokens and 15 per million output tokens, a single agent loop can consume credits at a noticeable rate.
Third-party Grok API providers repackage Grok 4.5 with different pricing models, caching strategies, SDK layers, and dashboards. Discount levels range from 40% to 90% off official rates. Some providers add free web search, extended context, or team-level billing. This article ranks ten platforms currently serving Grok 4.5, based on published pricing, feature depth, and developer-facing capabilities.
Evaluation Criteria
We looked at six dimensions:
- Base pricing — input and output rates per million tokens
- Context window — 128K vs 500K
- Latency — time to first token, where published
- Cache pricing — how aggressively cached prompts are discounted
- SDK compatibility — OpenAI, Anthropic, native
- Extras — free web search, reasoning parameters, team key sharing, budget caps
No platform tops every category. The rankings below reflect balance across all six.
Quick Comparison Table
| Platform | Input $/M | Output $/M | Context | Cache Discount | Notable Extra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ApiPass | 1.00/1.00/2.00 | 3.00/3.00/6.00 | 200K+ tiered | Cache at 0.25/0.25/0.50 | Grok CLI native, team keys |
| WaveSpeed | $2.10 | $10.50 | 500K | Cache at $0.15 | 92ms TTFT, free web search |
| GPTProto | $1.80 | $9.00 | 500K | Cache at $0.30 | Reasoning parameter, top-up rebate |
| Kie.ai | $1.20 | $6.00 | 128K | Tiered cache | Credits system |
| Evolink.AI | $1.20 | $6.00 | 128K | -85% on cache | Budget caps |
| Apertis | $2.40 | $12.00 | 500K | Standard | OpenAI + Anthropic SDK, free web search |
| AIML API | $2.55 | $12.75 | 500K | -75% on cache | 1,000+ models aggregated |
| Atlas Cloud | $2.40 | $12.00 | 500K | Standard | OpenAI SDK, multi-model |
| OpenRouter | $3.00 | $15.00 | 128K | Provider-dependent | Weighted routing, benchmark data |
| Flaq.ai | $0.30 | $1.50 | 128K | -90% | Text-only optimization |
The 10 Platforms
1. ApiPass
ApiPass runs Grok 4.5 at exactly half of xAI’s official rates across every request, with pricing tiered by context length rather than gated behind a plan. The platform is Grok-focused rather than multi-model, and its main integration surface is the existing Grok CLI: developers configure the ApiPass Base URL and API key once in ~/.grok/config.toml, and every existing Grok CLI command continues to work unchanged — no new SDK, no wrapper library, and no need to purchase, rent, or manage an xAI account. An OpenAI-compatible endpoint covers non-CLI use cases. Setup takes under 60 seconds, and every request is itemized in the dashboard by input, output, and cache-read tokens.
Key Capabilities
- Grok CLI native compatibility (one-line config edit in ~/.grok/config.toml)
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint for non-CLI paths
- No xAI account required
- Team-friendly key sharing with centralized billing
- Encrypted API-key storage at rest
- Itemized per-request billing (input / output / cache-read broken out)
- Free credits for new users
- 60-second setup
Pricing Breakdown
- Short context (≤200K tokens): Input1.00/Output1.00/Output3.00 / Cache read 0.25 per M
- Longcontext(>200Ktokens): Input2.00 / Output 6.00/Cacheread0.50 per M
- Flat 50% off xAI official rates on every request
- Pure pay-as-you-go — no subscription, no monthly minimum
Strengths
- Permanent 50%-off pricing applies to every request, not just the trial
- Grok CLI workflows migrate in under 60 seconds without code changes
- Itemized token billing exposes exactly what each request cost
- No xAI account to buy or manage
Trade-offs
- Only serves Grok models; not useful for teams that also route to Claude or GPT
- Long-context (>200K) requests are billed at the higher tier
Ideal User
Small-to-mid teams standardizing on Grok 4.5 who want predictable half-off pricing, shared key management, and existing Grok CLI workflows preserved without a full enterprise contract.
2. WaveSpeed
WaveSpeed publishes a 92ms time-to-first-token figure for Grok 4.5 and pairs it with the full 500K context window, making it one of the few providers optimized simultaneously for latency and long context. Cached input tokens are billed at $0.15 per million, which the article notes as one of the lowest rates among reviewed providers. Web search is included at no extra cost, removing the need to layer in a separate Serper or SerpAPI dependency. The endpoint is OpenAI-compatible, and the dashboard focuses on request-level latency observability rather than team-management tooling.
Key Capabilities
- 500K context window
- 92ms TTFT (published)
- Free web search tool
- Cached input at $0.15 / M
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $2.10 / M tokens
- Output: $10.50 / M tokens
- Cache: $0.15 / M tokens
- No signup fee
Strengths
- Publishes a 92ms TTFT figure for Grok 4.5
- Full 500K context at mid-range pricing
- Free web search removes external Serper/SerpAPI costs
Trade-offs
- Base input/output not the cheapest in absolute terms
- Dashboard lighter on team features than enterprise-focused providers
Ideal User
Latency-sensitive workloads — voice agents, real-time chat products, code completion — where the 92ms TTFT translates directly into user-perceptible responsiveness.
3. GPTProto
GPTProto lists Grok 4.5 at 40% below official rates and adds a top-up rebate program that stacks on top of the discount. Cached input is billed at $0.30 / M. The platform exposes the reasoning_effort parameter, letting developers explicitly tune Grok 4.5’s thinking depth.
Key Capabilities
- 500K context window
- reasoning_effort parameter exposed
- Cache pricing at $0.30 / M
- Top-up bonus credits on deposits
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $1.80 / M tokens
- Output: $9.00 / M tokens
- Cache: $0.30 / M tokens
- Rebate tiers on top-up amounts
Strengths
- One of the few platforms exposing reasoning depth controls
- Deposit bonuses lower effective rate further
- 500K context at sub-$2 input
Trade-offs
- Rebate structure requires prepaid balance rather than pay-as-you-go
- Dashboard less mature than enterprise-tier competitors
Ideal User
Developers building reasoning-heavy agents who want fine control over Grok 4.5’s thinking budget, and who don’t mind prepaying to unlock rebates.
4. Kie.ai
Kie.ai uses a credits-based billing system with a headline 60% discount on Grok 4.5 relative to official rates, which lands input pricing at $1.20 per million. Cached prompts are billed on a tiered schedule that gets progressively cheaper with monthly volume, rewarding sustained usage patterns. Free signup credits let developers validate the endpoint before topping up, and the endpoint itself is OpenAI-compatible. Context is capped at 128K rather than 500K, which is the main trade-off against the aggressive base pricing.
Key Capabilities
- Credits system with volume tiers
- 60% discount vs official pricing
- Tiered cache pricing
- Free credits on signup
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $1.20 / M tokens
- Output: $6.00 / M tokens
- Cache: tiered, decreasing with monthly volume
- Free trial credits included
Strengths
- Aggressive base pricing
- Volume discount visible on the pricing page
- Low barrier to first test
Trade-offs
- Credits expire on some plans
- 128K context only
Ideal User
Indie developers and small startups that want the cheapest usable Grok 4.5 without dropping to Flaq’s stripped-down text-only tier.
5. Evolink.AI
Evolink.AI matches Kie.ai’s 60% discount on base tokens but pushes further on caching: cached input tokens are billed 85% below the standard input rate, which is the deepest cache discount in the mid-tier reviewed here. The platform also offers hard budget caps configurable per key and enforced at the API layer, which prevents runaway agent loops from producing surprise bills. The endpoint is OpenAI-compatible and a free trial credit is included on signup. Context is 128K, and no 500K variant is currently available.
Key Capabilities
- 60% base discount
- 85% cache discount
- Per-key budget caps
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Free trial credit
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $1.20 / M tokens
- Output: $6.00 / M tokens
- Cache: 85% off standard input rate
- Budget cap enforced at API layer
Strengths
- Deepest cache discount in the mid-tier
- Budget caps prevent runaway agent spend
- Free trial included
Trade-offs
- 128K context
- No 500K variant available
Ideal User
Teams running cache-heavy workloads — retrieval pipelines, repeated system prompts, agent loops with static context — plus anyone who needs hard spending guardrails.
6. Apertis
Apertis is one of the few reviewed platforms that supports both OpenAI and Anthropic SDK formats natively for Grok 4.5, alongside its own SDK, meaning existing Claude codebases can route to Grok 4.5 without SDK rewrites. It publishes 100% uptime for its Grok 4.5 endpoint over the trailing 90 days and includes free web search at no additional cost. The full 500K context window is available, along with streaming and function calling. Base pricing sits at 2.40 input and 2.40 input and 12.00 output per million, higher than discount-first providers but paired with published reliability data.
Key Capabilities
- 500K context window
- OpenAI, Anthropic, and native SDK compatibility
- Free web search tool
- Published 100% uptime (trailing 90 days)
- Streaming and function calling
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $2.40 / M tokens
- Output: $12.00 / M tokens
- Free web search included
- Standard cache pricing
Strengths
- Documents native Anthropic-format compatibility for Grok 4.5 alongside OpenAI and native SDKs
- Uptime published transparently
- Free web search
Trade-offs
- Base pricing higher than discount-first competitors
- No aggressive cache discount
Ideal User
Teams migrating from Claude who want to keep their existing Anthropic SDK code paths, and reliability-sensitive production workloads.
7. AIML API
AIML API aggregates over 1,000 models under a single endpoint, including Grok 4.5 at the full 500K context window. Cached input is discounted 75% below the standard input rate, which meaningfully lowers effective cost on system-prompt-heavy workloads. The dashboard is designed around multi-model routing rather than Grok-specific tooling, so features like reasoning-parameter exposure are less prominent than on specialty providers. Access is OpenAI-compatible and free signup credits usable across the catalog let teams test Grok 4.5 alongside other models under the same billing account.
Key Capabilities
- 500K context on Grok 4.5
- 1,000+ models under one API key
- 75% cache discount
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Free signup credits
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $2.55 / M tokens
- Output: $12.75 / M tokens
- Cache: 75% below input rate
- Free trial credits
Strengths
- Broadest model catalog in this list
- Serious cache discount
- 500K context
Trade-offs
- Base pricing near official xAI rates
- Grok-specific features (like reasoning parameters) not exposed as prominently
Ideal User
Teams running A/B tests across many models, or agents that route different subtasks to different providers under one billing account.
8. Atlas Cloud
Atlas Cloud offers Grok 4.5 with the full 500K context window through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, alongside other frontier models including Claude and GPT families. The platform’s focus is developer simplicity — a small number of clearly documented endpoints rather than a sprawling catalog, which reduces integration surprises. Streaming and tool use are supported, and billing is pay-as-you-go at 2.40 input and 2.40 input and 12.00 output per million with standard cache pricing. No aggressive discounts are offered, but the trade-off is a stable, well-documented integration path.
Key Capabilities
- 500K context
- OpenAI SDK compatibility
- Multi-model access (Grok, Claude, GPT families)
- Streaming and tool use
- Clean documentation
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $2.40 / M tokens
- Output: $12.00 / M tokens
- Standard cache pricing
- Pay-as-you-go
Strengths
- Straightforward onboarding
- Full 500K context
- Reliable multi-model access
Trade-offs
- No aggressive discounts on base rates
- Fewer differentiators than specialty platforms
Ideal User
Developers who want a clean, low-surprise integration and don’t need bleeding-edge pricing or reasoning-parameter exposure.
9. OpenRouter
OpenRouter aggregates multiple upstream providers for Grok 4.5 and publishes benchmark metrics — median latency, throughput, and provider-specific uptime — on every model page, making it the most transparent observability layer in this list. Pricing reflects weighted averages across upstream providers rather than a single fixed rate, and cache behavior similarly depends on which upstream serves a given request. Multi-provider fallback keeps requests flowing during individual provider outages, which is difficult to reproduce with a single-provider integration. The endpoint is OpenAI-compatible, and pricing lands close to official xAI rates.
Key Capabilities
- Provider-weighted routing for Grok 4.5
- Public latency and throughput benchmarks
- Multi-provider fallback on outages
- OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Broad model catalog
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: ~$3.00 / M tokens (weighted)
- Output: ~$15.00 / M tokens (weighted)
- Cache discount depends on upstream provider
- Pay-as-you-go
Strengths
- Most transparent benchmark data in the category
- Automatic failover across providers
- No lock-in to a single upstream
Trade-offs
- Pricing tracks close to official xAI rates
- Cache behavior varies by upstream
Ideal User
Teams that value observability and provider redundancy over headline discount rates, particularly those building production systems where a single provider outage is unacceptable.
10. Flaq.ai
Flaq.ai runs Grok 4.5 at roughly 90% below official pricing, an economy achieved by stripping the offering down to text-only workloads. Image inputs, tool use, and some advanced parameters are not supported, which excludes the platform from multimodal or agent-heavy use cases. Base pricing lands at 0.30 input and 0.30 input and 1.50 output per million, with a 128K context window and no separately published cache tier. The endpoint is OpenAI-compatible and the dashboard is minimal by design, keeping integration overhead low for straightforward batch text pipelines.
Key Capabilities
- ~90% discount vs official rates
- Text-only Grok 4.5 endpoint
- OpenAI-compatible
- Minimal dashboard
Pricing Breakdown
- Input: $0.30 / M tokens
- Output: $1.50 / M tokens
- 128K context
- No cache tier published
Strengths
- Lowest listed input/output pricing among reviewed providers, achieved by limiting scope to text-only workloads
- Simple integration
Trade-offs
- Text-only — no multimodal
- Fewer safety guarantees than premium tiers
- Minimal support surface
Ideal User
High-volume batch text processing — summarization, classification, translation — where cost dominates all other factors.
Key Takeaways
- 500K context is now standard among premium providers (WaveSpeed, GPTProto, Apertis, AIML, Atlas), ApiPass takes a tiered approach at 200K+, while discount-first providers stay at 128K.
- Cache pricing has become a second axis of competition — Evolink’s 85%, WaveSpeed’s
- 0.15,ApiPass′s0.25 / 0.50tiered,andGPTProto′s0.50tiered,andGPTProto′s0.30 rates matter more than headline input prices for cache-heavy workloads.
- Free web search remains rare, appearing only on WaveSpeed and Apertis.
- Anthropic-format SDK support for Grok 4.5 is currently unique to Apertis; native Grok CLI compatibility is currently unique to ApiPass.
- Team-level billing visibility — per-user tracking, shared keys — is offered by a minority of platforms.
Final Verdict
- For teams that need collaboration and billing visibility, ApiPass and Apertis surface the clearest per-user data.
- For latency-sensitive products, WaveSpeed’s 92ms TTFT and OpenRouter’s benchmark transparency are the two data-backed choices.
- For reasoning-heavy agents, GPTProto’s exposed reasoning_effort parameter and Apertis’s Anthropic SDK compatibility both fit.
- For budget-first workloads, Flaq.ai wins on absolute cost, with Kie.ai and Evolink close behind at higher feature quality.
- For multi-model routing, AIML API and OpenRouter are the two aggregators worth evaluating.
- For cache-heavy pipelines, Evolink.AI and WaveSpeed cut cached-token costs the hardest.
- For teams already using Grok CLI, ApiPass preserves existing workflows unchanged while cutting cost in half.
