Groq Free Ultra-Fast Inference API: 13 Free Models Tested

Introduction

Groq is famous for its custom LPU chip — a single card outputs hundreds of tokens per second, making it one of the lowest-latency inference clouds in 2026. This guide is based on APIShare's channel-pool verification (https://api.groq.com/openai/v1) on 2026-08-22: 13 free models were catalogued from the live endpoint, 11 of them verified working — 6 conversational models on the main ranking and 5 specialized-capability models listed separately, plus 2 Orpheus TTS models pending Groq's model-terms acceptance. Everything runs through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

Main Ranking: Chat Models (6 · verified via chat-completions)

⚠️ Reasoning note: gpt-oss models and qwen3.6 generate a chain of thought first, which consumes output tokens. Set max_tokens ≥ 256 or you'll get thinking-only empty answers.

Specialized Models (7 · excluded from main chat ranking)

* Coming soon: requires a Groq org admin to accept the model terms in the console — calls currently return model_terms_required. The other 11 models are verified working.

Quick Start

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1", api_key="gsk_...")
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain why LPU is fast in one sentence"}],
    max_tokens=512)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

Rate Limits & Best Practices

• Typical free-tier limits: ~30 RPM / 14,400 RPD. Add token-bucket backoff on 429s.
• Free-tier data may be used for service improvement — avoid sensitive workloads.
• Migration note: legacy llama-3.x models (llama-3.1-8b-instant, llama-3.3-70b-versatile, etc.) are no longer in the current channel pool. Migrate to openai/gpt-oss-20b or groq/compound-mini.
• Fetch the live catalog anytime via GET /openai/v1/models; the APIShare unified endpoint already mirrors this catalog — 11 models ready out of the box, with the 2 Orpheus TTS models opening once activated.

🚀 Get Started: One-Click Free API Access

Want to call all the free models above with a single API key, no need to sign up for each provider? Apishare.cc provides a unified API Key — one key, 100+ models, free models at zero cost.

👉 Register on Apishare.cc → Get your unified API Key

📊 Want to see more free model rankings? Check out the Sep 2026 Free LLM API Rankings →

Start on APIShare in three steps

Ready to try the options above? Three steps get you running:

1. Create an account - open the APIShare free API registration page. An email address is all you need; no credit card required.
2. Browse the free API catalog - head to the complete free API list and filter by text, image, audio, embedding, or multimodal. Each entry shows its free quota, rate limit, and availability status.
3. Grab a key and integrate - generate an API key in your dashboard and paste it into your application. Every plan includes actively-updated APIs gateways covering every provider mentioned in this guide.

Already have an account? Use the APIShare login page, or visit the APIShare homepage for a full platform overview. Registration is free, and you can stop at any time.

Every outbound link in this guide carries a UTM parameter (utm_source=apishare_devto&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=free_api_article) for clean campaign attribution.

About the Free API Aggregator

The models covered in this guide are all served through the APIShare free API aggregator, which gives you one key for the whole catalog.

• Full model catalog: APIShare free API directory
• Sign up for a free trial key: Register and claim your API key