Grok 3: xAI's New AI Model Offers Free Access, Sparks Debate on Performance and Pricing

xAI's Grok-3 is free for a short time. I tried it, and I'm impressed

xAI launched its Grok-3 AI chatbot merely a few days ago, but locked it behind a paywall worth $40 per month. Now, the company is offering free access to it, but only for a limited time. xAI chief, Elon Musk, says the free access will only be available for a "short time," so it's anyone's guess how long that window is going to be. For now, the only two features available to play around are Think and DeepSearch. Think is the feature that adds reasoning capabilities to Grok-3 interactions, in the same view as DeepThink on DeepSeek, Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, and OpenAI's o-series models. Recommended Videos Thinking and reasoning models show their train of thoughts on how they break down and eventually process the user queries. The outcome, as per experts, is better performance at tasks such as solving science, coding, and mathematical problems. For a short time, Grok 3 is available for free to all! https://t.co/r5iLXi2pBm — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025 DeepSearch, on the other hand, is xAI's equivalent of Deep Research tool that is now available for Perplexity, Gemini, and ChatGPT users. Grok-3 is only the second mainstream AI product out there offering free access to a compute-intensive process such as DeepSearch or Deep Research. This is one of the most promising agentic use cases of an AI model, as it takes the knowledge gathering process to a whole new level. Once users push their question, it is broken down and a research plan is presented, including details of what sources the answers must be extracted from. The AI goes though all the relevant repositories of knowledge, reasons through the data compiled in real-time, and presents it in the form of a comprehensive report. If you want to access Grok-3 on the mobile platform, head over to the X app and tap on the Grok icon in the bottom bar. On the web, it is accessible directly via the social media platform by visiting the x.com/i/grok page. There is substance to all the hype In my brief time with DeepSearch, I have found it to be quite impressive. Unlike Gemini Deep Research, it doesn't ask for an approval of the research methodology and directly goes to task once you submit your question. Compared to Gemini, it's also faster. Regarding a deep research query about the scientific research situation on the impact of screen time on young minds, Grok-3 provided a report quicker than Gemini. Moreover, it is more transparent, as you can see the detailed thinking process that went behind collecting and finding the answers. Moreover, you can see a stage-wide breakdown of the whole process, progressing in real-time and saved as its own dataset, above the actual answer. On the flip side, you can not edit the research plan before the agentic search begins. Gemini, on the other hand, takes a more opaque approach. You can edit the research plan, but you can't see a process breakdown or the thinking-reasoning flow. As far as quality goes, Gemini referenced material from 37 websites, and provided them all as a footnote for citations. Grok-3's DeepSearch only listed six key citations, even though the answers it provided were no less useful. When I tried the less intensive Think search, Grok-3 proved to be the quicker among the two, once again. I asked about the relevance of Microsoft's new quantum computing chip, and noticed two crucial differences. Grok-3 took a more holistic approach to answering it, focusing not only on the scientific applications and the benefits, but also the risks that come with it, in a dedication section of its own. Another difference is that you can see the chain of reasoning at any given time. Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental is, once again, opaque, though its segment-wise breakdown was more comprehensive. Another crucial difference is that Gemini's answers appear more restrained and academically-inclined, while Grok-3 takes a more libertarian approach at explaining complex terms. It's hard to declare which AI model is superior, but according to benchmarks shared by xAI, Grok-3 has topped Google, OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Anthropic's AI models on multiple evaluation charts.

Grok 3 AI is now free to all X users - here's how it works

But X Premium+ and SuperGrok users get increased access to Grok 3 as well as early access to advanced features like Voice Mode. X's new Grok 3 AI-powered chatbot is now free for anyone to use. Launched earlier this week, the latest flavor of Grok initially required a paid subscription, but that restriction has now been lifted, according to a new post from xAI, the AI company created by Elon Musk. Beyond the usual AI chat features, Grok 3 offers a DeepSearch mode. Similar to the Deep Research option from ChatGPT Pro, Gemini Advanced, and Perplexity AI, this capability uses a virtual agent to search the web on your behalf and present a detailed report about your topic. The latest version of Grok also provides a mode called Think, which uses a reasoning model to tackle challenging problems in math, science, and coding. Also: Yikes: Jailbroken Grok 3 can be made to say and reveal just about anything Though the new AI is free for all X users, paid subscribers will still enjoy some advantages. X Premium+ and SuperGrok subscribers will score increased access to Grok and advanced features like Voice Mode. Due to be officially rolled out soon, Voice Mode will let the AI speak using different voices, transcribe audio, and share the transcriptions if you wish. But these subscriptions won't come cheap. This week, X bumped the cost of X Premium+ to $40 per month, almost double the $22 previously charged. SuperGrok is a new type of subscription that will offer users the advanced features of Grok without the other aspects of a premium account. X has yet to reveal the cost of a SuperGrok plan, but expect it to be on the high side. To take Grok 3 for a spin, simply sign into X and select the entry for Grok on the left. Write and submit your request at the prompt. Grok consults a variety of websites and user posts to deliver its response. You can even access and view all the sources used to answer your request. You're also able to upload a variety of file types for analysis, including PDFs, JPG and PNG images, text files, CSV files, XML files, Microsoft Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets. Select the DeepSearch button for more in-depth results. At the prompt, type and submit a more complex request, one that would require extensive online research. Grok then searches a host of online sources for the information and presents its findings in a comprehensive report. Also: How to try DeepSeek R1 - without the censorship or security risk To give Grok 3 even more of a challenge, select the Think button. At the prompt, type and submit a complex math question or science puzzle. The AI breaks down the problem into individual pieces. It then shows you its line of reasoning step by step before coming up with the results. Beyond using Grok 3 in X, you can also use it through its dedicated web page, its iOS app, and its Android app. As my ZDNET colleague Sabrina Ortiz noted, "xAI's Grok 3 is better than expected." I'd have to agree. After using the AI for typical requests as well as those requiring DeepSearch and Think, I was impressed with the results. Based on my preliminary testing, Grok 3 seems able to give ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other AIs a run for their money.

I Tested Grok 3, and It's Not Worth the Price Hike

Earlier this week, xAI released Grok 3, the company's most advanced AI yet, complete with a reasoning model and a DeepSearch feature. The company claims that it's the "world's smartest AI," and Elon himself says it's "outperforming anything that's been released" so far. But is it really the "maximally truth-seeking AI" Musk says it is? Well, to spoil it for you, no. Not yet. Which is a shame, because Grok is expensive -- beyond a limited free trial, it requires either a $40/month X Premium+ subscription, up from $22 thanks to the new model, or a $30/month SuperGrok subscription. From both my testing as well as experiments from experts, I'm having trouble believing the "based" AI is worth that cost. There is no next-generation breakthrough or groundbreaking reasoning model that we haven't already seen before here. Grok 3 also still periodically hallucinates, like any other AI model out there, but that's not to say it hasn't improved. In X's own benchmark tests, Grok 3 is beating basically every model out there except OpenAI's upcoming o3 model. But from a user standpoint, an AI app goes way beyond benchmarks. A good AI chatbot is a mature, well-rounded product. Having spent my own money to test this out, I just don't feel like I'm getting that here, especially when the competition offers similar or even better products for much less. It's best to leave Elon's outlandish claims aside when evaluating Grok 3. Seeing it objectively, it's impressive that Grok 3 has caught up to being on the frontier of AI power, and surprisingly quickly (Grok 2 was never in the big leagues). Grok 3 was trained using 200,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, and uses more than 10 times the compute as Grok 2. All that power means gains. Grok 3 is now quite fast, and plenty usable for regular day-to-day tasks. The regular responses are quick, though the Think feature (which gives slightly more detailed responses) regularly takes around 2 minutes to come back with an answer, so be prepared to wait it out. Plus, it can do deep research using web sources, and has a specific reasoning model, too. That means it can spit out lengthy reports and break prompts down into step-by-step processes so it can self correct. OpenAI's o3 model, set to release in full soon, still surpasses Grok 3 in benchmarks, but it's a significant improvement over its predecessor. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. But while the charts say Grok 3 is supposed to outperform ChatGPT, Gemini, and Sonnet in compute-heavy tasks related to math, science, and coding, initial reports from experts don't exactly encourage confidence. For instance, X user, AI CEO, and YouTuber Theo Browne compared responses to a coding challenge between Grok 3, o3-mini, and Claude 3.5 sonnet, and Grok 3 performed quite miserably, failing to run without bugs for more than a few seconds. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Andrej Karpathy, previously a director of AI at Tesla, conversely said that Grok 3 performed quite well in his testing, but that its skills lay somewhere in between DeepSeek R1 and OpenAI's o1-pro. Certainly not class-leading, and nothing that you can't already do with existing tools. But one test, even a couple of them, can't really determine how an AI model performs. I did have some luck with it myself, but mostly for more lightweight tasks. It can be helpful when researching which new air purifier to buy, for example, or when casually learning about a new subject. But that's not exactly something I'm willing to bust open my wallet for. Before Grok 3 launched, Musk made a big deal about how "based" it is. If you don't know what based means (lucky you), it's a slang term for, essentially, sharing your opinion without regard for others. As an example, Musk shared a screenshot showing a provocative response from Grok where it called tech publication The Information "garbage", among other insults. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. But when I asked the same question, it came back with a nuanced, balanced response, not calling out The Information for much of anything. The only criticism it had was that the website "can sometimes feel a bit niche or overly Silicon Valley-centric" and "Bias-wise, it leans pragmatic rather than ideological". That's a pretty timid take, if you ask me. I got similar results in other tests. Grok wouldn't take a side in the Justin Baldoni vs. Blake Lively lawsuit. And when I asked a political question like "Why did Kamala Harris lose the US presidential election," I got an equally subdued answer, citing "economic frustrations." Reporting from Axios is matching what I've found, too. Maybe Grok dialing back Elon's eccentricities is a good thing, but it certainly isn't what its master says it is.Instead, it again looks a lot like the competition. When it comes to DeepSearch, Grok's report generating tool works quite similarly to Perplexity's newly launched, mostly free Deep Research feature. As a humble tech journalist, this is something that I was able to test myself. I ran two queries, one for a trip that my family is planning for the end of the year, and one for an urban hybrid bike. In both cases, Perplexity AI did slightly better than Grok on most tasks. With the travel question, I got essentially the same itinerary from both products, but Perplexity AI did a better job at formatting. Grok did go above and beyond recommending other options in southern India, something that Perplexity just provided follow-up questions for. So, I have to give it props there. When it came to shopping research, though, Grok screwed up with the top product recommendation. The product that it suggested just isn't available in India, where I live, and the other options just aren't want I was looking for. Perplexity AI, meanwhile, surprised me with its top pick, something that I didn't know about that checks off most of my boxes. Its other options were also interesting, and it did not include anything that isn't available in India. Both Grok and Perplexity did a good job of explaining what I should look for when buying an urban bike, so equal points there, but the latter was just much more usable. Based on my testing, I feel like Perplexity AI still has an edge over Grok 3 when it comes to Deep Research that's actually useful to the average person. Whether it's planning a trip, shopping research, or understanding news or concepts, Perplexity does a more nuanced job. When it comes to sheer speed, Grok is faster and isn't afraid to provide links in the text itself, but in Perplexity, clicking linked text actually expands on the subject in the report. Perplexity also has more export options. You can download your report as a PDF, in Markdown, or create a shareable page (here's my report for the urban cycle research if you're interested). In Grok, all you can do is copy the text. What does all that mean? Well, while Grok is certainly usable, it's a bit disappointing to see its paid offering fail to keep up with a free alternative. That's something I feel I keep bumping into here. Right now, we are in the middle of the Grok 3 hype cycle. Grok 3 itself is improving every day, but as things stand, there's no need for you to run out and cancel your ChatGPT Plus or Perplexity Pro subscriptions. In many ways, Grok is good, just not that good. If you want, you can temporarily try out Grok 3 for free, as X is allowing limited free access until its servers can't handle the load. When that period will end? Who knows. According to Musk's X account, it'll only be free for a "short time." Additionally, aside from model performance, Grok 3 also lacks some of the features of a more established AI app. There's no voice mode, and all you have access to right now is the full Grok 3 model. The faster Grok 3 mini is still to be released, and there's no API for Grok 3, either. When you consider the pricing for full access, Grok 3 makes even less sense. $40 a month for the X Premium+ plan is double the industry standard of $20 for Gemini Advanced, ChatGPT Plus, and Perplexity Pro. And once that free trial period is over, the expensive X Premium+ plan will be the only way to access Grok 3 until the $30 SuperGrok subscription goes live for everyone (the SuperGrok plan only provides you with access to Grok 3, but none of the premium X features). And as it stands, you aren't really getting double the money's worth. In fact, in a lot of cases, you can get by using a free model like DeepSeek R1 instead (though, you might have a better experience using it through a third-party app).

Grok 3 vs ChatGPT : Is Musk's AI Model Ready to Compete?

Grok 3, the latest artificial intelligence model developed by X.ai, is making significant strides in the AI landscape. Created in just 122 days using one of the largest GPU clusters globally, this model is designed to address modern demands with its real-time capabilities and multimodal functions. However, despite its innovative features, Grok 3 faces challenges in areas like reasoning accuracy and customization, especially when compared to competitors such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini. If you've ever felt frustrated by AI tools that are either too slow, too rigid, or just not quite up to the task, you're not alone. Grok 3 aims to address those pain points with its real-time capabilities, social media integration, and creative personality. However, it's not all smooth sailing -- especially when it comes to complex reasoning or advanced customization. So, is Grok 3 the innovative AI you've been waiting for, or just another tool with a flashy promise? Skill Leap AI explores what makes this model stand out -- and where it might leave you wanting more. Grok 3's development is underpinned by an impressive computational infrastructure. Built by X.ai, Elon Musk's AI company, the model uses a GPU cluster of 200,000 units, ranking among the largest in the world. This immense computational power allows Grok 3 to process vast amounts of data at exceptional speeds. The development timeline of just 122 days highlights the efficiency and ambition of the team behind it. However, such rapid development raises questions about whether all aspects of the model, particularly reasoning and customization, were fully refined before its release. The infrastructure supporting Grok 3 is a testament to the advancements in AI technology. By using such a massive GPU cluster, the model is equipped to handle complex tasks and deliver results quickly. Yet, the speed of its development may have left certain areas under-optimized, which could impact its performance in more intricate applications. Grok 3 introduces a range of features that set it apart from traditional AI models, making it a versatile tool for various applications: These features make Grok 3 a valuable tool for content creators, researchers, and professionals. However, its quirky tone may not align with all professional contexts, potentially limiting its appeal in more formal or technical environments. Advance your skills in Grok AI by reading more of our detailed content. Grok 3 demonstrates strong performance in several areas, showcasing its potential as a innovative AI model: Despite these strengths, Grok 3's limitations in handling intricate reasoning tasks and processing larger datasets temper its overall performance. These shortcomings may hinder its adoption among users requiring advanced analytical capabilities. While Grok 3 offers several innovative features, it also has notable limitations that may affect its usability for certain applications: These limitations may deter users who require more sophisticated tools for large-scale projects or specialized applications. As a result, Grok 3 is best suited for tasks that align with its strengths, such as real-time research and creative content generation. When compared to other leading AI models, Grok 3 presents a mixed performance profile. While it excels in areas like real-time capabilities and speed, it falls short in customization and reasoning accuracy: While Grok 3 holds its own in certain areas, its limitations prevent it from fully rivaling these established models. Users seeking a balance of speed, customization, and advanced reasoning may find other options more suitable. Grok 3 is particularly well-suited for specific applications where its strengths can be fully used: However, its limited document analysis and data visualization capabilities make it less practical for users with broader or more advanced requirements. For those seeking a specialized tool for live data retrieval and creative tasks, Grok 3 offers a compelling solution. Access to Grok 3 is available through a premium subscription on X.com, priced at $8 per month. This subscription also includes access via Grok.com, making sure that the model is widely accessible to users. While the pricing is competitive, the model's limited functionality in certain advanced areas may deter users seeking a more versatile AI solution. For those focused on real-time research and creative content generation, however, the subscription offers significant value. Grok 3 represents a notable advancement in AI development, particularly in terms of speed and real-time capabilities. Its integration with social media platforms and multimodal functions makes it a valuable tool for content creators and researchers. However, its shortcomings in reasoning accuracy, customization, and advanced analytical tools limit its broader appeal. While it may not yet match the versatility of competitors like ChatGPT, Claude, or Google Gemini, Grok 3 provides a glimpse into the future of AI-powered tools. For users focused on live data retrieval and creative content generation, it offers a unique and accessible solution that highlights the potential of next-generation AI models.

Musk Shares BIG Grok 3 Price Update, And it Won't Make Users Happy!

Elon Musk's xAI has made a bold move in the AI world, releasing its latest and most powerful creation, Grok 3, to go public for free. The announcement, made via Musk's own X (formerly Twitter) account, sent ripples through the tech community and beyond. This limited-time offer gives everyone a chance to experience what xAI claims is the "world's smartest AI," albeit with a humorous caveat: "(until our servers melt)." Musk's X post was the epicenter of the Grok 3 reveal. He announced the free availability of the AI, while also noting that X Premium and users would receive "increased access" and early access to features like Voice Mode. This suggests a tiered access model in the future, with free access being a temporary promotional period. The tweet itself underscored the ambitious nature of xAI's project and Musk's personal involvement in its development. Grok 3 is touted as a significant leap forward, designed for advanced reasoning, in-depth research, and creative tasks. Musk previously stated that the mission of xAI and Grok is to "understand the universe, the nature of the universe, so we can figure out what is going on, where the aliens are."

Elon Musk Announces Free Access to Grok 3 'Until Servers Melt'

"Grok 3 now available for free until our servers melt," read an official post on X. The blog also mentioned that X Premium+ and SuperGrok users will get increased access to Grok 3, along with early access to advanced features like Voice Mode. "It took us 122 days to get the first 100K GPUs up and running, which was a monumental effort. We believe it's the largest fully connected H100 cluster of its kind. But we didn't stop there. We decided to double the cluster size to 200K," said Igor Babuschkin, co-founder of xAI, on the livestream. Grok is currently the No. 1 app on the app store, surpassing ChatGPT and DeepSeek. During the live-streamed event, the company showcased Grok 3's impressive performance and suggested a future where AI not only understands the universe but also helps understand it. "If all goes well, SpaceX will send Starship rockets to Mars in two years with Optimus robots and Grok," Musk further said. The name Grok, inspired by Robert A Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land, reflects a deep understanding of understanding and empathy. Independent benchmarks showed that Grok 3 outperformed Google Gemini 2 Pro, DeepSeek V3, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and GPT-4 in tests such as AIME, GPQA, and LCB. Musk also confirmed that the company is launching a game studio to reshape the gaming industry. Announcing xAI's latest model, Grok-3, Musk said, "We're launching an AI gaming studio at xAI. If you're interested in joining us and building AI games, please join xAI." Notably, Musk's X is in talks to raise money from investors at a valuation of at least $44 billion. According to Bloomberg, the money will be spent on initiatives such as payments and video products and will help pay down some of the social media company's huge debt load. In December, xAI completed a $6 billion Series C funding round, attracting investments from prominent firms such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16Z), BlackRock, Sequoia Capital, NVIDIA and AMD.