Google Gemini API vs Groq API
Free API comparison
| Google Gemini API | Groq API | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI models and chat | AI models and chat |
| API key | Needed, free | Needed, free |
| Pricing | Free tier for most text, speech and embedding models with a free API key and rate limits; content sent on the free tier may be used by Google to improve its products, so use the paid tier for private data. | Free plan with a free API key and rate limits per model; paid plans for higher limits. |
| From the browser | Yes (CORS) | Yes (CORS) |
| Formats | JSON | JSON |
| Interface | REST | REST, MCP |
| Provider | ai.google.dev | console.groq.com |
| Last checked | Working on November 1st, 2026 | Working on November 1st, 2026 |
| MCP server | No | Yes, official |
Which one to choose
The Gemini API gives Google's own models, which also understand images and documents, with a free tier for most text, speech and embedding models; Google may use what you send on the free tier to improve its products. Groq runs open models such as Llama, Qwen and GPT-OSS on its own chips, answers very fast and speaks the OpenAI request format. Choose Groq for fast answers from open models with existing OpenAI code, Gemini for Google's models and image or document input, and keep private data off any free tier.
Each service's own page has its full description, a code example and what visitors report: Google Gemini API, Groq API.