How to Get a Free Groq API Key
Groq does not train models, it serves other people's open weight models on hardware built for one job. The result is answers that arrive faster than you can read them, on a free tier that never asks for a card.
| Models you get | Llama 3.3 70B, Mixtral 8x7B, Gemma2 9B |
|---|---|
| Key starts with | gsk_ |
| What it costs | Free tier Free tier, no card. Per minute request limits rather than a balance. |
| Time to a working key | about one minute |
| Console | console.groq.com/keys |
Getting the key
- Open console.groq.com/keys and sign in with Google or GitHub. There is no separate account to create.
- Press Create API Key and name it anything.
- Copy it while it is on screen. It starts with
gsk_and is shown exactly once. - In Calik AI, open API keys, choose Groq, paste and save.
Which model to start on
Llama 3.3 70B is the one to default to: strong general reasoning and still absurdly fast. Mixtral 8x7B when you want longer context for the money. Gemma2 9B for high volume classification and extraction where quality per token matters less than throughput.
When the key does not work
Groq's own wording, and what each one is actually telling you.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
401 Invalid API Key | Mistyped or revoked. Groq keys are shown once and cannot be read back. | Delete it in the console and create another. It costs nothing. |
429 rate_limit_exceeded | Over the free tier's requests or tokens per minute. | Wait for the window, or spread the run across a second provider. Groq publishes the current limits on its limits page. |
model_decommissioned | Groq retires open weight models when better ones land, and the old id stops working. | Pick the current model from the picker rather than pinning an id from an old tutorial. |
If you would rather not pay
Groq is already the free route. Pair it with Google AI Studio: Gemini for reasoning, Llama on Groq for speed, both free, both connected at once. The Get API page has all 27 providers with the steps for each.
Where the key goes
Calik AI never resells tokens, so the key you just created is the whole billing relationship: your prompts go from your device straight to Groq, and the bill is theirs to send. The key is written to your device's encrypted storage and is not copied to our servers, our database or our backups.
Open the workspace, find API keys in settings, choose Groq, paste and save. The model picker then lists only what your connected providers actually serve, so there is nothing in it you cannot run.
One key, then the whole workspace
48 agents, 43 AI Center modules and Agent Mesh, all driven by keys that belong to you. Free tier, no card, no expiry.
Create your account See all 27 providersQuestions people ask first
Is Groq free?
Yes, on the free tier, with no card. What limits you is requests per minute rather than a balance running out. There is a paid tier for higher throughput.
Is Groq the same as Grok?
No, and the names being one letter apart causes real confusion. Groq is an inference company that serves open weight models very fast. Grok is xAI's own model family, reached with a key from console.x.ai, and it is paid.
Why is Groq so much faster?
It runs on custom silicon designed for inference rather than on general purpose GPUs. The practical difference is that a long answer finishes in the time another provider takes to start one, which is what makes it the right model to put in a multi-agent run where several models answer at once.
What is Groq best used for in Calik AI?
Agent Mesh. When several models answer the same question in parallel, the run is only as fast as its slowest member, so putting a fast free model in the group changes the whole experience rather than one answer.
Can I use Groq and a paid model together?
Yes. One key per provider, and Agent Mesh can mix a free fast model with a paid careful one on the same question. That combination costs a fraction of running the paid model alone and gives you a second reading.