G 
Groq
Absurdly fast inference on custom LPU hardware.
NOT REALLY
why this verdict
Keep it — OpenAI has not replaced it
OpenAI's version overlaps, but does not finish the AI assistants job, so this one is still worth keeping open.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Frontier labs cut prices and added fast tiers of their own. OpenAI, January 1, 2025 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers not the job editorial call
- Parts of it. The job still needs the tool to get finished.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 2 of 2 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Cerebras and Together AI.
- What the call is worth nothing to cancel
- No paid entry tier tracked, so there is no subscription to cancel.
Reason composed from the fields above missing: announcement linked recorded: free replacement listed recorded: two or more escape hatches
- Threatened by
- OpenAI
- Since
- January 1, 2025
- List price
- free
- Per year
- —
The backstory
Groq competes on one axis nobody else can copy with software: tokens per second, because it built its own chips. That matters for voice agents and interactive tools where latency is the product, even when a slower model would be smarter.
Escape hatches
C 
Cerebras Comparable speed claims.
cerebras.ai open_in_new T 
Together AI Broader model catalogue.
together.ai open_in_new2 of 2 replacements have a usable free tier.