// Comparison
Groq vs OpenRouter
Both are free AI APIs verified on APIVault. Here's how their free tiers, trust scores, and requirements stack up side by side.
By APIVault trust score, OpenRouter edges ahead (96/100 vs 92/100) — but the right pick depends on what you're building. See the breakdown below.
Groq
OpenRouter
Trust Score
Trust Score
92/100
96/100
Reliability
Reliability
100/100
100/100
Free Tier
Free Tier
100/100
100/100
Documentation
Documentation
100/100
80/100
Popularity
Popularity
46/100
98/100
Category
Category
LLM
LLM
Free tier
Free tier
14,400 req/day · 30 req/min · no card
50 req/min · 20 req/day free models · no card
Credit card
Credit card
Not required
Not required
Phone
Phone
Not required
Not required
Models
Models
Llama 3.3 70B, Mixtral, Gemma
100+ models, several free
Groq
- Insane inference speed (500+ tokens/sec)
- OpenAI-compatible API
- Generous free tier with daily resets
- Smaller model selection vs OpenRouter
- Rate limits can hit during peak hours
OpenRouter
- 100+ models through one API
- Many free model options
- No markup on pricing
- Free model selection rotates
- No embeddings endpoint