What it is
Grok is the AI assistant made by SpaceXSI, the company formerly called xAI. SpaceX acquired xAI in February 2026, renamed it SpaceXAI in July and SpaceXSI in October, and through subsidiaries it also runs X and the Cursor code editor. Grok runs on grok.com, in iOS and Android apps and inside X, where it can pull in live posts and trends.
The current model is Grok 4.7, which the developer docs recommend for both chat and code; according to Wikipedia, models from Grok 4.5 onwards are co-developed with Cursor. Besides chat, Grok includes Imagine for images and video, voice mode, file analysis, connectors for Gmail, Google Drive, Outlook, SharePoint and Salesforce, and Grok Bot, an agent that works on a persistent cloud computer.
New customers now buy The X Subscription, one plan covering Grok, Cursor and X Premium benefits with a shared weekly usage pool: Plus $8, Premium $30, Super $100 and Ultra $200 a month. Existing SuperGrok and X Premium plans continue unless the customer switches, and switching cannot be undone.
Our review
Grok's clearest advantage is still live access to X. For breaking news, trending topics and what people are saying in the last hour, it reaches data other assistants cannot, and the API exposes the same X Search tool to developers. That is a narrow strength, and the rest of the case depends on how much you value it.
The pricing changed shape in October. The X Subscription replaces the old SuperGrok ladder for new customers with Plus at $8, Premium at $30, Super at $100 and Ultra at $200, each drawing on one weekly pool shared between Grok, Grok Bot and Cursor's own models. Premium and above also carry X Premium+ benefits. For someone already paying for Cursor and X, that consolidation is real value; for someone who only wants a chat assistant, $30 buys features they will not use. Third-party models inside Cursor, such as Claude or GPT, are billed separately at API list prices from the first request.
The data terms split sharply by product. On the API, SpaceXSI says it never trains on inputs or outputs without permission, keeps requests for 30 days for abuse review, and offers team-wide zero data retention that disables stateful features. Grok Business and Enterprise workspaces run under enterprise terms with custom retention on Enterprise. The consumer privacy policy blocked automated fetching for this review, so we could not confirm training defaults for personal accounts; the help pages point users to Data Controls in settings.
The safety record is the main reason businesses hesitate. Grok has produced antisemitic content, conspiracy theories and nonconsensual sexualised images, drawing a Polish request for an EU Digital Services Act investigation. In July 2026 a researcher reported that the Grok Build coding tool had uploaded users' whole repositories to a SpaceXSI cloud storage bucket. Musk has also said Grok was partly distilled from OpenAI models, which led OpenAI to cut off Cursor in August. None of this affects a quick question about the news, but each item is the kind a procurement review will raise.
Where it earns its place
A newsroom social editor tracking a breaking story
Find what eyewitnesses and officials are posting on X in the last hour
Ask Grok to summarise and link the most relevant recent posts. Plus at $8 a month covers occasional use; every summary still needs checking against the source posts, given Grok's record on accuracy.
A developer building a social-listening feature
Classify brand mentions on X and the web for a dashboard
Call grok-4.7 through the Responses API with the X Search tool. Input costs $2 and output $6 per million tokens under 200K-token prompts, doubling above that; set a prompt_cache_key to get cached input at $0.50.
A five-person startup already paying for Cursor and X Premium
Consolidate coding, chat and X subscriptions into one bill
Team seats on Premium cost $30 each, $150 a month for five, with one weekly usage pool per seat shared across Grok, Grok Bot and Cursor's own models. Claude or GPT inside Cursor is extra, and the switch cannot be reversed.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Sign in at grok.com or in the apps with an X, Google, Apple or email account; Business licences are assigned from console.x.ai.
- Integrations
- Connectors for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce and custom MCP; REST API with OpenAI-compatible SDKs.
- Data and privacy
- API: no training without permission, 30-day retention for abuse review, team-wide ZDR available; Business and Enterprise under enterprise terms; consumer training defaults not verified for this review.
- Cost at scale
- Twenty Premium team seats cost $600 a month, each with its own weekly pool; usage beyond the pool and all third-party models in Cursor are paid from prepaid top-up credits at standard rates.
- Limits
- Paid features pause when the weekly pool runs out; 720p video falls back to 480p after a per-tier cap; Plus excludes Grok Bot and is not sold to teams.
What's good
- Live access to X posts and trends, also available as an API tool
- X Subscription bundles Grok, Cursor and X Premium+ benefits from $30
- Grok 4.7 API at $2 input and $6 output per million tokens, 500K context
- API: no training without permission, optional zero data retention
- Imagine image and video generation included in paid usage
What's not
- History of offensive, false and sexualised output
- Grok Build reported uploading whole repositories in July 2026
- Consumer training terms not readily verifiable
- Weekly shared pool makes heavy video or Bot use hard to forecast
- Switching to The X Subscription is permanent
Best for
Heavy X users who want live social context and image or video tools in one assistant.
Alternatives
Grok: common questions
- Is Grok worth it?
- Grok's live X feed and new Cursor bundle make it good value for heavy X users, but its safety record and opaque consumer data terms keep it out of most workplaces. We rate it 3.8 out of 5.
- How much does Grok cost?
- Free; The X Subscription: Plus $8/month, Premium $30, Super $100, Ultra $200 (annual $80, $300, $1,000, $2,000); team seats on Premium, Super and Ultra; existing SuperGrok plans continue.
- What are the downsides of Grok?
- History of offensive, false and sexualised output; grok Build reported uploading whole repositories in July 2026; consumer training terms not readily verifiable; weekly shared pool makes heavy video or Bot use hard to forecast; switching to The X Subscription is permanent.
- Who is Grok best for?
- Heavy X users who want live social context and image or video tools in one assistant.
- How much does Grok cost for a team or in production?
- Twenty Premium team seats cost $600 a month, each with its own weekly pool; usage beyond the pool and all third-party models in Cursor are paid from prepaid top-up credits at standard rates.
- Is Grok safe for company data?
- API: no training without permission, 30-day retention for abuse review, team-wide ZDR available; Business and Enterprise under enterprise terms; consumer training defaults not verified for this review.
- What are the best Grok alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Meta AI.
Answers checked Oct 23, 2026.