# Alternatives to Grok

Grok is xAI's standalone AI chat assistant (grok.com and mobile apps), built around real-time access to web and X/Twitter data for current-events answers. It offers a free tier plus paid SuperGrok plans (from $30/month) with higher limits, image/video generation, and deeper reasoning modes.

Grok ranks #5 of 12 in AI chat assistants, with an Alt Score of 89. It is freemium and available on Web, iOS and Android. 11 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/grok/
Category: AI chat assistants

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Grok is xAI's general-purpose AI assistant for people who want a single chat app across web, iOS, and Android for conversation, research, coding, and media generation, as well as developers who want programmatic access to the same underlying models through an API.
- **What you get**: Users get text chat with reasoning models (e.g. Grok 4.5), real-time web search, file and image upload and analysis, image and video generation via Grok Imagine, voice conversation, and connectors to services like Gmail, Google Drive, and Salesforce. A free tier with its own usage limits is available, and paid SuperGrok plans raise limits and add features; Grok Business/Enterprise adds team workspaces with license-based access and enhanced privacy controls.
- **How it works**: Grok.com and the mobile apps route conversations to xAI's models, which can call server-side tools such as web search, X search, code execution, and file/image understanding while generating a response. The same models and tools are exposed to developers through the xAI API (api.x.ai), which supports system-prompt-style instructions, function calling, and multi-turn chat, and accounts are shared between the consumer apps and the API console.

## Profile

- **License**: ?
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Starts at**: ?
- **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-30)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [ChatGPT](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/chatgpt.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, Windows |
| 2 | [Gemini](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gemini.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, macOS |
| 3 | [Le Chat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/le-chat.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 4 | [Claude](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/claude.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, Windows |
| 5 | [LibreChat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/librechat.md) | 85 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| 6 | [Poe](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/poe.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, macOS |
| 7 | [Qwen Chat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/qwen.md) | 81 | ? | Web, iOS, macOS, Android |
| 8 | [Microsoft Copilot](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/microsoft-copilot.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 9 | [Meta AI](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/meta-ai.md) | 70 | ? | Web, iOS, Android |
| 10 | [DeepSeek](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/deepseek.md) | 55 | MIT | Web, iOS, Android |
| 11 | [Perplexity](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/perplexity.md) | 55 | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Web |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| AI chat assistants checklist | Grok | ChatGPT | Gemini | Le Chat | Claude | LibreChat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Free |
| Starts at | ? | $20/month | $19.99/month | $14.99/month | $17/month | Free |
| License | ? | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | MIT |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS | Web, iOS, Android, macOS | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| Underlying models available | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web browsing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| File & image upload | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image generation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Voice conversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Memory across chats | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier message limits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Team / enterprise plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data used for training (opt-out) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Custom instructions / system prompts | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Grok. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Platforms**: Web, iOS, Android — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/overview> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Grok is xAI's assistant, available on the web at grok.com and in the iOS and Android apps. Sign in once and your conversations, settings, and subscription stay in sync across every platform.”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/overview> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Grok is free to start. Paid SuperGrok plans raise your limits and unlock more across every product, drawing from a single weekly usage allowance you can spend however you like.”
- **Status**: active — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/release-notes> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Release notes show active shipping through July 2026 (Grok 4.5, Grok Voice Think Fast 2.0).
  - Quote: “Grok 4.5, SpaceXAI's model for coding, agentic tasks, and knowledge work, is now available on the xAI API.”
- **Underlying models available**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/grok-4-5> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Docs also list grok-4.3, grok-4.20 (reasoning/non-reasoning), grok-build-0.1, and grok-imagine models as selectable underlying models.
  - Quote: “Grok 4.5 is SpaceXAI's frontier model built for coding, agentic tasks, and knowledge work.”
- **Web browsing**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/web-search> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “The Web Search tool enables Grok to search the web in real-time and browse web pages to find information.”
- **File & image upload**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/faq> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Grok supports uploading a wide variety of file types directly in chats on the web, iOS, and Android apps — enabling analysis, summarization, data extraction, code processing, image understanding, audi”
- **Image generation**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/overview> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Create images and video with Grok Imagine.”
- **Code execution**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/tools/code-execution> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “The code execution tool enables Grok to write and execute Python code in real-time, dramatically expanding its capabilities beyond text generation.”
- **Voice conversation**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/overview> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Talk to Grok hands-free with voice.”
- **API access**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/quickstart> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “In this guide, we'll walk you through the basics of using the xAI API, from creating an account to making your first request.”
- **Free tier message limits**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/faq> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Confirms a free tier with its own usage limits exists; xAI does not publish an exact numeric message cap in these docs.
  - Quote: “You will still have access to Grok's free tier limits on Chat and Voice (these are separate from your weekly usage limit and resets on its own schedule).”
- **Team / enterprise plan**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/grok/user-guide> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Grok Business provides dedicated workspaces for personal and team use, with enhanced privacy and sharing controls.”
- **Data used for training (opt-out)**: Yes — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/faq/security> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: improve the model" toggle is enabled from grok.com or mobile data controls settings, these chats via Build mode and build sessions, including data from created apps, may be used for product an" — Phrasing implies training use is opt-in via a toggle in grok.com/mobile Data Controls settings, i.e. off by default and user-controllable.
  - Quote: “If the ”
- **Custom instructions / system prompts**: Partial — <https://docs.x.ai/developers/rest-api-reference/inference/chat> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Confirmed for the xAI API (system prompt / instructions parameter). Docs did not surface an explicit grok.com chat-UI 'custom instructions' setting, so marking partial rather than yes.
  - Quote: “`instructions` (string | null) — An alternate way to specify the system prompt.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/