What is Grok Voice 3.0?
Grok Voice 3.0 (grok-voice-3.0) is the speech-to-speech model behind SpaceXSI's Voice Agent API: it listens, reasons, calls tools and talks back in one model. It was released on 14 October 2026 and replaced Grok Voice 2.0, which is now deprecated, at the same price; the grok-voice-latest alias moved to it automatically.
It works over WebSocket or WebRTC and takes phone calls over SIP through Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo or any provider that routes to SpaceXSI over TLS, with call transfers and keypad input. Built-in tools cover web search, X search, file search over Collections and remote MCP servers, alongside your own functions. Reasoning is on by default and can be switched off. The docs list 20 language and locale codes, built-in voices shared with SpaceXSI's text-to-speech, and cloning of a voice from a short reference clip.
SpaceXSI says it handles millions of conversations a day in Tesla cars and about 20,000 Starlink customer calls a day.
How much does Grok Voice 3.0 cost?
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Audio | $0.08 per minute ($4.80 an hour) | |
| Text input | $0.004 per message |
$0.08 per minute of audio ($4.80 an hour) plus $0.004 per text input message, the same as Grok Voice 2.0, with reasoning included in the per-minute rate.
Is Grok Voice 3.0 worth it?
Grok Voice 3.0 is the highest-scoring speech-to-speech model on Artificial Analysis's index as of 13 October 2026, at 86.9 against 83.2 for OpenAI's GPT-Live-1 with Astra, 82.6 for Google's Gemini 3.8 Live and 81.3 for its own predecessor. It also leads on Big Bench Audio, 98.5% against 90.1% for GPT-Live-1, on Full Duplex Bench, which tests pauses and interruptions, at 97.0% against 94.9%, and in blind head-to-head calls with an Elo of 1070 against 1048.
The exception is the test closest to a support desk. On τ-Voice, which scores agents completing customer-service tasks, GPT-Live-1 leads with 74.5% against 71.6%. SpaceXSI says it answers about 40% faster than GPT-Live-1 on that benchmark and in under a second generally, but publishes no millisecond figures. The Tesla and Starlink deployment numbers, including 70% of Starlink calls resolved without a human, are SpaceXSI's own and unaudited.
Pricing is simpler than OpenAI's. Grok Voice charges $0.08 a minute, about $4.80 an hour, plus $0.004 per text message, with reasoning included. GPT-Live-1 costs $0.05 a minute plus the tokens of whichever text model does the thinking, so its real cost depends on the model chosen. On Artificial Analysis's Big Bench Audio run, SpaceXSI reports an average of $0.025 per task against $0.030 for GPT-Live-1 and $0.055 for GPT-Realtime-2.1.
The deployment details are thinner. The model runs in us-east-1 only and is not offered on the US regional endpoint. Sessions last up to 120 minutes, and the published per-team concurrency limit is not legible on the rate-limit page, so large call centres need to agree limits with sales. Voice cloning from a short clip carries obvious misuse risk, and the docs describe no consent check.
Data terms follow the SpaceXSI API: no training on inputs or outputs without explicit permission and 30-day retention for abuse audits by default. Conversation history is kept only if you switch on session resumption, and is dropped after 30 minutes of inactivity; under zero data retention, voice agent conversations are not persisted at all.
Where it earns its place
A contact-centre architect at a 300-seat telecom support operation
Put an AI agent on the first line of inbound calls
Route calls from Twilio or Telnyx over SIP, give the agent account lookups as custom functions and transfer to a person with refer. At $0.08 a minute, 100,000 minutes a month costs $8,000 before telephony charges.
A mobile developer at a travel booking start-up
Let users change bookings by talking to the app
Connect from the app with an ephemeral token over WebSocket, use web search for live flight information and custom functions for the booking system. A 5-minute call costs about $0.40.
A compliance officer at an EU insurer
Decide whether call audio can go to the model
Processing is in us-east-1 only, so EU-only processing is not possible. Zero data retention stops conversations being persisted and must be enabled through SpaceXSI sales.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Create a key at console.x.ai, open a WebSocket session with model grok-voice-3.0 or grok-voice-latest, and send session.update with a voice, instructions and tools; existing Grok Voice 2.0 code needs only the model name changed.
- Integrations
- WebSocket and WebRTC; SIP via Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo or any provider routing to sip.voice.x.ai over TLS; PCM from 8 kHz to 48 kHz, G.711 and Opus audio; web search, X search, file search, MCP and custom function tools.
- Data and privacy
- No training on API inputs or outputs without explicit permission; 30-day retention for abuse audits by default; voice agent conversations are not persisted under zero data retention; session history is kept only with resumption on and dropped after 30 minutes idle.
- Cost at scale
- $4.80 per hour of audio, so 10,000 hours a month costs $48,000 with no published volume discount.
- Limits
- 120-minute maximum session; deployed only in us-east-1; not available on the US regional endpoint; up to 100 keyterms of 50 characters each.
What’s good
- First on Artificial Analysis's speech-to-speech index at 86.9
- Flat $0.08 a minute with reasoning included
- SIP calling with transfers and keypad input through Twilio, Telnyx and Plivo
- Built-in web, X and file search plus MCP and custom functions
- Conversations not persisted under zero data retention
What’s not
- Trails GPT-Live-1 on τ-Voice, the customer-service benchmark
- Served from us-east-1 only, with no US regional endpoint
- Deployment and latency figures are SpaceXSI's own
- Voice cloning with no documented consent check
- Only 20 languages and locales listed in the docs
Best for
Teams building phone and app voice agents who want the strongest benchmark scores at a predictable per-minute price and can work with a US-only deployment.
Grok Voice 3.0 alternatives
Grok Voice 3.0: common questions
- Is Grok Voice 3.0 worth it?
- Grok Voice 3.0 leads the independent speech-to-speech index at a simple flat rate, but OpenAI still wins on support-style tasks and every call is processed in a single US region. We rate it 4.3 out of 5.
- How much does Grok Voice 3.0 cost?
- $0.08 per minute of audio ($4.80 an hour) plus $0.004 per text input message, the same as Grok Voice 2.0, with reasoning included in the per-minute rate.
- What are the downsides of Grok Voice 3.0?
- Trails GPT-Live-1 on τ-Voice, the customer-service benchmark; served from us-east-1 only, with no US regional endpoint; deployment and latency figures are SpaceXSI's own; voice cloning with no documented consent check; only 20 languages and locales listed in the docs.
- Who is Grok Voice 3.0 best for?
- Teams building phone and app voice agents who want the strongest benchmark scores at a predictable per-minute price and can work with a US-only deployment.
- How much does Grok Voice 3.0 cost for a team or in production?
- $4.80 per hour of audio, so 10,000 hours a month costs $48,000 with no published volume discount.
- Is Grok Voice 3.0 safe for company data?
- No training on API inputs or outputs without explicit permission; 30-day retention for abuse audits by default; voice agent conversations are not persisted under zero data retention; session history is kept only with resumption on and dropped after 30 minutes idle.
- What are the best Grok Voice 3.0 alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are GPT-Live-1 (and GPT-Realtime-2.1), Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 and Cartesia Sonic 3.6.
Answers checked Nov 6, 2026.
Make Grok Voice 3.0? Show this rating on your site
