{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "gemini-4-carbon",
      "name": "Gemini 4 Carbon",
      "vendor": "Google",
      "vendorUrl": "https://ai.google.dev",
      "kind": "model",
      "category": "inference",
      "summary": "Gemini 4 Carbon is Google's strongest Gemini model, for long agentic coding, cybersecurity and research work, on the paid tier of the Gemini API with a 1,048,576-token limit shared between input and output.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-carbon",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-carbon.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-carbon.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-4-carbon.json",
      "dns": "gemini-4-carbon.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "license": "Closed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's terms",
      "transports": [],
      "remoteUrl": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
      "packages": [],
      "auth": "api-key",
      "authNotes": "An `x-goog-api-key` from AI Studio on a project with billing, since Carbon is on the paid tier only, per the Gemini API listing and Google's developer post. Google AI Ultra subscribers can also use it in AI Studio and Antigravity. The `gemini-4-carbon-cyber-permissive` variant needs a project approved through Google's Fairwind Program.",
      "pricing": "usage",
      "pricingNotes": "Google's announcement gives an introductory $2 per million input tokens and $10 output, cached input 95% off, then $4 and $20, with no end date for the introduction. Paid tier only, no free tier. Every processed token is billed, thinking included (checked 2026-11-10).",
      "priceSummary": "Pay per use",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No machine payment. Paid use needs billing on a Cloud project, per the Gemini API listing (checked 2026-11-10).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": null,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-11-10"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/models/guides/gemini-4-carbon",
      "llmsTxt": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/llms.txt",
      "capabilities": [
        "inference.llm"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "official",
        "hosted",
        "model",
        "multimodal",
        "reasoning",
        "long-context",
        "tool-calling",
        "usage-priced",
        "card-required",
        "closed-source",
        "llms-txt",
        "new"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-11-10",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 62.6,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 555,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 1518,
        "categoryRank": 22,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 93,
          "maintenance": 83,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 40,
          "schema": 85,
          "security": 55,
          "transparency": 72
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-11-10"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Google's strongest model on the same Gemini API as Argon, with a 1M-token budget, function calling and structured output, at an introductory $2 and $10 per million tokens. Paid tier only, sampling parameters are ignored or refused, its launch stage isn't stated, and the price rises to $4 and $20 at a date Google hasn't given.",
        "bestFor": "Agents on the hardest long tasks (multi-step debugging, large codebases, open-ended research, security work) that can pay frontier prices and already use the Gemini API.",
        "strengths": [
          "Introductory price of $2 input and $10 output per million tokens, with cached input 95% off",
          "1,048,576 tokens shared between input and output, with long decodes for big outputs",
          "Function calling, structured output, Google Search grounding and background execution",
          "Thinking levels LOW, MEDIUM (default) and HIGH, and implicit caching on by default",
          "The same API, keys and SDKs as Gemini 4 Argon, so switching is a model ID"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "Paid tier only, with no free tier to try it on",
          "temperature, top_p and top_k are ignored, and thinking_budget, MINIMAL, penalties and extra candidates return a 400",
          "No explicit context caching, and prefilled model turns aren't accepted",
          "The price goes to $4 and $20 after an introduction with no end date given",
          "Benchmark figures are Google's own, and the launch stage isn't stated"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Call generateContent at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta with model gemini-4-carbon and an x-goog-api-key on a billed project",
          "Set thinking_level (LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH) instead of thinking_budget, and don't send temperature, top_p or top_k",
          "Count output against the same 1,048,576-token limit as the input, and set max_output_tokens for long answers",
          "Put static prompt content first so implicit caching applies; explicit caches aren't supported",
          "Use gemini-4-argon for most coding and knowledge work, and Carbon for the hardest long tasks, as Google suggests"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 0,
        "avgRating": 0,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "B",
            "methodology": "0.7",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 62.6
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 93,
          "maintenance": 83,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 40,
          "schema": 85,
          "security": 55,
          "transparency": 55
        },
        "provenanceScore": 89,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-11-10",
            "maintenance": "2026-11-10",
            "payments": "2026-11-10",
            "reliability": "2026-11-10",
            "schema": "2026-11-10",
            "security": "2026-11-10",
            "transparency": "2026-11-10"
          },
          "last": "2026-11-10",
          "oldest": "2026-11-10",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl \"https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/gemini-4-carbon:generateContent\" \\\n  -H \"x-goog-api-key: $GEMINI_API_KEY\" -H \"content-type: application/json\" \\\n  -d '{\"contents\":[{\"parts\":[{\"text\":\"hello\"}]}]}'"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/gemini-4-carbon"
      },
      "sameCompany": [
        "vertex-ai",
        "gemini-embedding",
        "vertex-ai-tuning",
        "cloud-run-gpus",
        "google-model-armor",
        "google-imagen",
        "google-veo",
        "google-lyria",
        "google-speech-to-text",
        "google-cloud-tts",
        "gemini-live",
        "google-adk",
        "google-memory-bank",
        "google-secret-manager",
        "google-cloud-document-ai",
        "google-weather-api",
        "chrome-devtools-mcp",
        "google-maps-platform",
        "google-cloud-translation",
        "google-calendar-api",
        "firebase-cloud-messaging",
        "google-cloud-storage",
        "google-drive-api",
        "gemini-enterprise",
        "gemini-cli",
        "google-search-console",
        "google-ads-api",
        "google-forms",
        "google-sheets-api",
        "gmail-api",
        "google-people-api"
      ],
      "sameModel": [
        "gemini-api"
      ],
      "area": "models",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Gemini 4 Carbon input",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 2,
          "note": "Introductory; $4 after, date not given"
        },
        {
          "item": "Gemini 4 Carbon cached input",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 0.1,
          "note": "95% off input"
        },
        {
          "item": "Gemini 4 Carbon output",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 10,
          "note": "Introductory; $20 after"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Google LLC",
        "domain": "google.com",
        "domainRegistered": "1997-09-15",
        "domainNote": "The endpoint is on googleapis.com, Google's API domain. google.com was registered in 1997.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms",
        "privacy": "https://policies.google.com/privacy",
        "statusPage": "https://aistudio.google.com/status",
        "changelog": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-11-10",
        "score": 89
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-carbon.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-11-10T23:47:03.904361517Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 404,
          "lastMs": 35,
          "authRequired": false,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 41,
          "p95ms24h": 130,
          "samples24h": 63,
          "samples30d": 63,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-11-10",
              "probes": 63,
              "ok": 63
            }
          ],
          "since": "2026-11-10T17:42:25.910455739Z"
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://aistudio.google.com/status",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T23:00:42.593790699Z"
        },
        "updatedAt": "2026-11-10T23:47:03.904361517Z"
      },
      "streak": {
        "days": 0,
        "from": "2026-11-10",
        "sinceWatching": true,
        "best": 0
      }
    },
    "answer": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Gemini 4 Carbon's 62.6 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Gemini 4 Carbon leads on maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.",
    "b": {
      "slug": "xai-api",
      "name": "xAI API (Grok)",
      "vendor": "SpaceXSI (xAI)",
      "vendorUrl": "https://x.ai",
      "kind": "model",
      "category": "inference",
      "summary": "xAI's API for its Grok models (the docs now name the company SpaceXSI), with text, image, video and voice endpoints, server-side search and remote MCP tools, through an OpenAI-compatible REST API or gRPC.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xai-api",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xai-api.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xai-api.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xai-api.json",
      "dns": "xai-api.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "repo": "https://github.com/xai-org/xai-sdk-python",
      "license": "Proprietary service under xAI's enterprise terms of service. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0",
      "transports": [
        "http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.x.ai/v1",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "xai-sdk"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "api-key",
      "authNotes": "`Authorization: Bearer` with a team API key from console.x.ai. Keys can be limited to endpoints and models by ACL, capped by QPM and TPM, given an expiry, and rotated or disabled through the Management API. mTLS is documented as an option, and GitHub secret scanning disables leaked keys.",
      "pricing": "usage",
      "pricingNotes": "Prepaid credits, then the default payment method at month end. Grok 4.7 costs $2 input, $0.50 cached input and $6 output per 1M tokens below 200K prompt tokens, and $4/$1/$12 above, applied to the whole request. Batch is 20% off on grok-4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.3 and the grok-4.20 models. Priority processing 2x, the US regional endpoint 1.1x. Web search, code execution and attachment search $5 per 1,000 calls, collections search $2.50, X search $5 per 1,000 posts. $0.05 fee for a request blocked before generation for a usage-policy violation (https://docs.x.ai/developers/pricing, checked 2026-11-06).",
      "priceSummary": "from $1.25 / 1M in",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, llms.txt or the OpenAPI spec. Access needs a console account loaded with prepaid credits (checked 2026-11-06).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 597,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": 912149,
        "asOf": "2026-11-06"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.x.ai",
      "rateLimitsUrl": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/rate-limits",
      "llmsTxt": "https://docs.x.ai/llms.txt",
      "openapi": "https://docs.x.ai/openapi.json",
      "capabilities": [
        "inference.llm"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "official",
        "hosted",
        "model",
        "prepaid",
        "openapi",
        "llms-txt",
        "openai-compatible",
        "closed-source",
        "python",
        "batch",
        "status-page",
        "bug-bounty",
        "soc2"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-11-02",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 71.7,
        "grade": "BB",
        "agentReady": true,
        "rank": 154,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 1518,
        "categoryRank": 10,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 90,
          "maintenance": 77,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 55,
          "schema": 88,
          "security": 97,
          "transparency": 63
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-11-06"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Grok 4.7 at $2/$6 per million tokens, now 20% off in batch, with a public OpenAPI spec, llms.txt, API keys limited by endpoint and model, and self-serve zero data retention. The API endpoints had a 3 hour 40 minute models outage on 3 September 2026, no SLA was found, and there's no free tier or first-party SDK beyond Python.",
        "bestFor": "Agents that want a capable model at a low per-token price with built-in web and X search, remote MCP and voice, and teams that need self-serve ZDR or US-only processing.",
        "strengths": [
          "Grok 4.7 at $2/$6 per million tokens below 200K prompt tokens, with a 500K context and 20% off through the Batch API",
          "API keys restricted by endpoint and model ACLs, with QPM and TPM caps, expiry and a rotate endpoint",
          "Self-serve team-wide zero data retention, confirmed on every response by an `x-zero-data-retention` header",
          "OpenAPI 3.1 spec, llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page",
          "security.txt valid to 2027-06-29 and a HackerOne bug bounty"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "API models outage of about 3 hours 40 minutes on 3 September 2026, and high error rates on grok-4.6 and grok-4.5 on 17 August",
          "No SLA, no free tier for the text API, and no Retry-After header documented for 429s",
          "No stated minimum notice for retirements, and retired slugs are served by a different model at its price",
          "Remote MCP doesn't support `require_approval`, so server-side tool calls run without an approval step",
          "The terms, privacy policy and DPA at x.ai/legal answered a Cloudflare block on 6 October and 6 November 2026, so they weren't read"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Build on the Responses API at https://api.x.ai/v1. Chat Completions is labelled deprecated and the Anthropic-compatible endpoint fully deprecated",
          "Pin a dated model slug. A retired slug keeps answering from a replacement model, billed at the replacement's price",
          "Back off exponentially on 429. The per-second cap is the per-minute budget divided by 48, with a minimum of 2",
          "Set `allowed_tools` on remote MCP servers. There's no approval step, and every exposed tool enters the context",
          "Use https://us.api.x.ai/v1 when processing must stay in the US. It costs 1.1x and serves only grok-4.7 and grok-4.6"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 0,
        "avgRating": 0,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "BB",
            "methodology": "0.7",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 71.7
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 90,
          "maintenance": 77,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 55,
          "schema": 88,
          "security": 97,
          "transparency": 52
        },
        "provenanceScore": 73,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-11-06",
            "maintenance": "2026-11-06",
            "payments": "2026-11-06",
            "reliability": "2026-11-06",
            "schema": "2026-11-06",
            "security": "2026-11-06",
            "transparency": "2026-11-06"
          },
          "last": "2026-11-06",
          "oldest": "2026-11-06",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "pip install xai-sdk   # or: pip install openai, with base_url https://api.x.ai/v1",
        "http": "curl https://api.x.ai/v1/responses \\\n  -H \"Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n  -d '{\"model\":\"grok-4.7\",\"input\":\"What is the meaning of life?\"}'"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/xai-api"
      },
      "area": "models",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Web search tool",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 5
        },
        {
          "item": "Code execution tool",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 5
        },
        {
          "item": "Collections search tool",
          "unit": "1k-requests",
          "usd": 2.5
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "",
        "domain": "x.ai",
        "domainRegistered": "2017-12-16",
        "domainNote": "x.ai was registered in 2017, before the company, and transferred on 2026-06-02 per RDAP. Every x.ai page except robots.txt and security.txt answered a Cloudflare block page (403) on 2026-11-06, as the legal pages did on 2026-10-06, so the contracting entity wasn't confirmed. The docs now use the name SpaceXSI and the status page SpaceXAI.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://x.ai/legal/terms-of-service-enterprise",
        "privacy": "https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy",
        "statusPage": "https://status.x.ai",
        "changelog": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/release-notes",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-11-06",
        "notes": [
          "x.ai/robots.txt allows all but /tools/, with Content-Signal ai-train=yes, search=yes, ai-input=yes. docs.x.ai allows all with ai-input=yes. The x.ai pages that robots.txt allows answered a Cloudflare 'Attention Required' page, which we did not try to get past.",
          "security.txt at x.ai/.well-known/security.txt is valid to 2027-06-29, with vulnerabilities@x.ai and abuse@x.ai."
        ],
        "score": 73
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xai-api.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "xai-api",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://api.x.ai/v1",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-11-10T23:47:34.788490326Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 404,
          "lastMs": 170,
          "authRequired": false,
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          "uptime30d": 100,
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          "p95ms24h": 282,
          "samples24h": 244,
          "samples30d": 984,
          "days": [
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              "date": "2026-11-06",
              "probes": 13,
              "ok": 13
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-11-07",
              "probes": 243,
              "ok": 243
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-11-08",
              "probes": 243,
              "ok": 243
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-11-09",
              "probes": 243,
              "ok": 243
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-11-10",
              "probes": 242,
              "ok": 242
            }
          ],
          "since": "2026-11-06T00:00:00Z"
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.x.ai",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T23:01:59.348271433Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "github",
            "name": "xai-org/xai-sdk-python",
            "version": "v1.21.0",
            "released": "2026-10-23",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-10T04:31:31.130974035Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "xai-sdk",
            "version": "1.21.0",
            "released": "2026-10-23",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-10T04:31:30.945596333Z"
          }
        ],
        "githubStars": 604,
        "pypiWeekly": 820672,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://x.ai/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "expires": "2027-06-29T00:00:00.000Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T16:09:19.20841125Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://docs.x.ai/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T15:45:10.235022978Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "x.ai",
          "registered": "2017-12-16",
          "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/x.ai",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-08T15:07:07.853444644Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/migration/imagine-image-quality-nov-2",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T16:19:28.784576919Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "1238569c8142"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/migration/may-15-retirement",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T16:19:30.939393575Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "813d0e188a0e"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/release-notes",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T16:19:35.013556265Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "7b37cfaf2576"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/pricing",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T16:19:32.939348783Z",
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            "url": "https://x.ai/legal/terms-of-service-enterprise",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 403,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-10T16:49:10.772663447Z",
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          "stars": 603,
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          "issuesEnabled": true,
          "pushedAt": "2026-10-30T16:14:10Z",
          "openIssues": 18,
          "openPRs": 46,
          "issuesOpened90d": 11,
          "issuesClosed90d": 2,
          "prsMerged90d": 21,
          "ci": {
            "branch": "main",
            "runs": 25,
            "success": 25,
            "failure": 0,
            "other": 0,
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      "streak": {
        "days": 4,
        "from": "2026-11-06",
        "sinceWatching": true,
        "last": {
          "kind": "shutdown",
          "date": "2026-11-02",
          "what": "`grok-imagine-image-quality` and `grok-imagine-image-pro` retired, served by `grok-imagine-image-2.0` at `low` quality and a lower price",
          "source": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/migration/imagine-image-quality-nov-2"
        },
        "best": 4
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    },
    "edges": [
      {
        "by": 42,
        "category": "security",
        "leads": "xai-api",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Keys bound to a service account and restricted to the Gemini API, with no scopes and a token accepted in the URL (15 of 30, the platform's deduction). Carbon is on the paid tier only, and Google's terms say paid-tier content isn't used to improve products; AI Studio use under a Google AI Ultra subscription falls under terms we didn't read, so 15 of 20 (a judgement call; the platform's 10 is for its free tier). Abuse retention with no number, and new paid projects store requests by default since 26 October (5 of 15). Request logs for billed projects (15). security.txt and a reward programme, no certification naming the API (5 of 20). 15 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 5 = 55.",
          "b": "Model reading. Team API keys with ACLs per endpoint and per model, QPM and TPM caps, expiry, and create, rotate, disable and delete through the Management API, plus documented mTLS. GitHub secret scanning disables leaked keys and emails the owner (30). The security FAQ says SpaceXSI never trains on API inputs or outputs without explicit permission (20). Requests and responses are kept 30 days for abuse auditing, then deleted, and team admins can switch on zero data retention themselves, confirmed by an `x-zero-data-retention` header on every response (15). Console audit log and a Management API audit-events endpoint, plus optional per-key request logging (15). security.txt valid to 2027-06-29 with a HackerOne bug bounty and a separate safety contact for prompt-injection issues. SOC 2 Type 2 is claimed in the security FAQ with the reports behind an NDA in the trust centre, so 17 of 20. Remote MCP doesn't support `require_approval`, which the model checklist doesn't score but reviewers should see. New in October, a `guidelines` array lets the caller make the model decline nsfw, violence or profanity content, which the checklist doesn't score."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 55,
          "b": 97
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 15,
        "category": "reliability",
        "leads": "xai-api",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Status page at aistudio.google.com/status with no readable components or history (10 of 20) and no readable incident record (5 of 30). Rate-limit tiers and spend limits published, per-model limits in AI Studio (5 of 15). Backoff guidance for 429 and 503 and SDK retries (15). No SLA (0). Carbon's launch stage isn't stated in Google's developer post, the Antigravity post or the Cloud developer guide read on 10 November, and the model ID carries no preview label, so half (5 of 10, a judgement call; Argon's GA earned the platform 10). 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 5 = 40.",
          "b": "Status page at status.x.ai with components for the global and US API endpoints, voice, the consumer apps and, since the Cursor merger, Cursor's services, with an RSS feed (20). The feed, read on 6 November, now holds 267 incidents back to 11 August, so the whole 90-day window is readable. On the API components there were high error rates on grok-4.6 and grok-4.5 from 21:57 to 23:28 UTC on 17 August (about 90 minutes) and a models outage on the global and US endpoints from 13:30 to 17:09 UTC on 3 September (about 3 hours 40 minutes), so several majors. A 26-minute datacenter outage across the API on 22 September, voice disruptions of 12 and 28 minutes on 10 September and 6 October, a 63-minute voice and Imagine degradation on 30 October and a 37-second model degradation on 24 October add to the record (0). Rate limits published per model and tier, grok-4.7 at Tier 0 is 150 requests a second and 50M TPM, with the per-second cap derived as RPM divided by 48 (15). The rate-limits page shows exponential backoff on 429, but no Retry-After header or overload guidance was found (10 of 15). No SLA found in the docs or llms.txt (0). The Responses API has been GA since September 2025 and grok-4.7 carries no preview label (10)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 40,
          "b": 55
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 9,
        "category": "transparency",
        "leads": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Closed service with clear terms, SDKs Apache-2.0 (15). Paid-tier data isn't used, abuse retention has no number, and request storage is on by default for new paid projects (20 of 30). Deprecations table (15 of 20). Data may be cached anywhere Google has facilities; no subprocessor list checked (5 of 20). Every benchmark figure is Google's own. 15 + 20 + 15 + 5 = 55.",
          "b": "Closed service under xAI's enterprise terms, with the Python SDK under Apache-2.0 (15). The docs agree with each other on no training, 30-day abuse retention, 30-day storage of stateful responses and the ZDR route, but the privacy policy, enterprise terms and DPA at x.ai/legal answered a Cloudflare block page on 6 October and again on 6 November, so they couldn't be compared (15 of 30). Dated migration guides and redirect tables for each retirement, but no written deprecation policy, and Chat Completions, Anthropic compatibility and grok-voice-2.0 are labelled deprecated with no date (12 of 20). The US regional endpoint states what stays in the US, the global endpoint guarantees no region, and no subprocessor list was readable (10 of 20)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 72,
          "b": 63
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 6,
        "category": "maintenance",
        "leads": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Released to developers on 10 November 2026, with the platform's changelog (30). Deprecations with earliest dates and no stated minimum notice (4 of 12). Shutdowns in the last 90 days kept to their table (4 of 8). Dated changelog (15). SDK replies not sampled (5 of 10). Current SDKs (15). Runtimes stated (10). 30 + 4 + 4 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 10 = 83.",
          "b": "Model reading. grok-imagine-image-quality and grok-imagine-image-pro retired on 2 November 2026 as announced in September, Grok Voice 3.0 and custom moderation controls in October, Grok 4.7 on 21 September (30). No minimum notice period found. Retirements come as dated migration guides, retired slugs redirect to a replacement rather than failing, billed at the replacement's price, and grok-voice-2.0 was deprecated in October with no end date (4 of 12). Shutdowns in the last 90 days with dates given in advance, `grok-voice-transcribe-1.0` on 2 October and `grok-imagine-image-quality` on 2 November (8 of 8). Release notes several times a month but dated only by month, support by email and a Discord #help channel, not tested. On xai-sdk-python a collaborator commented on 2 of the 16 most recent threads with replies, and most outside pull requests since 23 October are open without a maintainer reply (10 of 15, down from 12). The repository has CI, release and version-bump workflows (5 of 10). One current first-party SDK, `xai-sdk` 1.21.0 tagged on 23 October, Python only (10 of 15). Supported runtimes stated, Python 3.10 or later (10)."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 83,
          "b": 77
        }
      }
    ],
    "facts": [
      {
        "a": "Model API",
        "b": "Model API",
        "name": "Kind"
      },
      {
        "a": "Google",
        "b": "SpaceXSI (xAI)",
        "name": "Vendor"
      },
      {
        "a": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
        "b": "https://api.x.ai/v1",
        "name": "Hosted endpoint"
      },
      {
        "a": "",
        "b": "HTTP",
        "name": "Transports"
      },
      {
        "a": "API key",
        "b": "API key",
        "name": "Auth"
      },
      {
        "a": "Pay per use",
        "b": "Pay per use",
        "name": "Pricing"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "x402"
      },
      {
        "a": "Closed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's terms",
        "b": "Proprietary service under xAI's enterprise terms of service. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0",
        "name": "Licence"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "Read-only variant documented"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "llms.txt"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-11-10",
        "b": "2026-11-02",
        "name": "Last release"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-04-28",
        "b": "2026-10-27",
        "name": "Terms last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-10-01",
        "b": "2026-10-27",
        "name": "Privacy policy last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "Customer content may train models"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms restrict automated access"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking"
      },
      {
        "a": "not found in the text",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms or service can change without notice"
      },
      {
        "a": "not found in the text",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver"
      },
      {
        "a": "none",
        "b": "597 stars, 912k PyPI/wk",
        "name": "Popularity"
      }
    ],
    "faq": [
      {
        "answer": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Gemini 4 Carbon's 62.6 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Gemini 4 Carbon leads on maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.",
        "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Gemini 4 Carbon or xAI API (Grok)?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Both need an API key.",
        "question": "Do Gemini 4 Carbon and xAI API (Grok) need an API key?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Yes. Gemini 4 Carbon has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and xAI API (Grok) at https://api.x.ai/v1.",
        "question": "Can an agent call Gemini 4 Carbon and xAI API (Grok) without installing anything?"
      }
    ],
    "goodFor": [
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 77",
          "Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 63"
        ],
        "also": null,
        "goodFor": "Agents on the hardest long tasks (multi-step debugging, large codebases, open-ended research, security work) that can pay frontier prices and already use the Gemini API.",
        "slug": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "watchFor": "Paid tier only, with no free tier to try it on"
      },
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Reliability, 55 against 40",
          "Security \u0026 auth, 97 against 55"
        ],
        "also": [
          "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better"
        ],
        "goodFor": "Agents that want a capable model at a low per-token price with built-in web and X search, remote MCP and voice, and teams that need self-serve ZDR or US-only processing.",
        "slug": "xai-api",
        "watchFor": "API models outage of about 3 hours 40 minutes on 3 September 2026, and high error rates on grok-4.6 and grok-4.5 on 17 August"
      }
    ],
    "history": null,
    "job": {
      "capability": "inference.llm",
      "name": "LLM inference"
    },
    "others": [
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-xai-api"
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
        "title": "Claude API vs Gemini 4 Carbon",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-xai-api"
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
        "title": "Antseed vs Gemini 4 Carbon",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-xai-api.json",
        "title": "Antseed vs xAI API (Grok)",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-xai-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
        "title": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs Gemini 4 Carbon",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-xai-api"
      },
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebras-inference-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-fable-5-2-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-mythos-5-2-vs-xai-api.json",
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-xai-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
        "title": "Cloudflare Workers AI vs Gemini 4 Carbon",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-xai-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-xai-api.json",
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-gemini-4-carbon"
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      {
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      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-gemini-4-carbon.json",
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      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-minimax-api.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-mistral-api.json",
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      },
      {
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-prism-inference.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-ramp-router.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-swe-2-flash.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-vertex-ai.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-xai-api"
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inkling-2-small-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inkling-2-small-vs-xai-api"
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-xai-api"
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        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-xai-api.json",
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        "key": "reliability",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "weight": 16,
        "xai-api": 55
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        "name": "Performance",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 3,
        "edge": "xai-api",
        "gemini-4-carbon": 85,
        "key": "schema",
        "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation",
        "weight": 13,
        "xai-api": 88
      },
      {
        "by": 3,
        "edge": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "gemini-4-carbon": 93,
        "key": "ergonomics",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "weight": 13,
        "xai-api": 90
      },
      {
        "by": 42,
        "edge": "xai-api",
        "gemini-4-carbon": 55,
        "key": "security",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "weight": 14,
        "xai-api": 97
      },
      {
        "by": 0,
        "edge": "",
        "gemini-4-carbon": 20,
        "key": "payments",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "weight": 10,
        "xai-api": 20
      },
      {
        "key": "tasks",
        "name": "Task success",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
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        "edge": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "gemini-4-carbon": 83,
        "key": "maintenance",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "weight": 7,
        "xai-api": 77
      },
      {
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        "edge": "gemini-4-carbon",
        "gemini-4-carbon": 72,
        "key": "transparency",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "weight": 7,
        "xai-api": 63
      }
    ],
    "summary": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Gemini 4 Carbon's 62.6 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Gemini 4 Carbon leads on maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do llm inference.",
    "tasks": null,
    "tutorials": [],
    "verdicts": {
      "gemini-4-carbon": "Google's strongest model on the same Gemini API as Argon, with a 1M-token budget, function calling and structured output, at an introductory $2 and $10 per million tokens. Paid tier only, sampling parameters are ignored or refused, its launch stage isn't stated, and the price rises to $4 and $20 at a date Google hasn't given.",
      "xai-api": "Grok 4.7 at $2/$6 per million tokens, now 20% off in batch, with a public OpenAPI spec, llms.txt, API keys limited by endpoint and model, and self-serve zero data retention. The API endpoints had a 3 hour 40 minute models outage on 3 September 2026, no SLA was found, and there's no free tier or first-party SDK beyond Python."
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  "markdown": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Gemini 4 Carbon's 62.6 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Gemini 4 Carbon leads on maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do llm inference.\n\n- Gemini 4 Carbon: grade B, 62.6/100, rank #555 of 1518. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-4-carbon.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-4-carbon.json\n- xAI API (Grok): grade BB, 71.7/100, rank #154 of 1518. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xai-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xai-api.json\n- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md\n- All 1000 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Gemini 4 Carbon (B)\n\nGood for: Agents on the hardest long tasks (multi-step debugging, large codebases, open-ended research, security work) that can pay frontier prices and already use the Gemini API.\n\nAhead on:\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 77\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 72 against 63\n\nWatch for: Paid tier only, with no free tier to try it on\n\n### xAI API (Grok) (BB)\n\nGood for: Agents that want a capable model at a low per-token price with built-in web and X search, remote MCP and voice, and teams that need self-serve ZDR or US-only processing.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 55 against 40\n- Security \u0026 auth, 97 against 55\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: API models outage of about 3 hours 40 minutes on 3 September 2026, and high error rates on grok-4.6 and grok-4.5 on 17 August\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: xAI API (Grok) +42\n\n- Gemini 4 Carbon (55): Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Keys bound to a service account and restricted to the Gemini API, with no scopes and a token accepted in the URL (15 of 30, the platform's deduction). Carbon is on the paid tier only, and Google's terms say paid-tier content isn't used to improve products; AI Studio use under a Google AI Ultra subscription falls under terms we didn't read, so 15 of 20 (a judgement call; the platform's 10 is for its free tier). Abuse retention with no number, and new paid projects store requests by default since 26 October (5 of 15). Request logs for billed projects (15). security.txt and a reward programme, no certification naming the API (5 of 20). 15 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 5 = 55.\n- xAI API (Grok) (97): Model reading. Team API keys with ACLs per endpoint and per model, QPM and TPM caps, expiry, and create, rotate, disable and delete through the Management API, plus documented mTLS. GitHub secret scanning disables leaked keys and emails the owner (30). The security FAQ says SpaceXSI never trains on API inputs or outputs without explicit permission (20). Requests and responses are kept 30 days for abuse auditing, then deleted, and team admins can switch on zero data retention themselves, confirmed by an `x-zero-data-retention` header on every response (15). Console audit log and a Management API audit-events endpoint, plus optional per-key request logging (15). security.txt valid to 2027-06-29 with a HackerOne bug bounty and a separate safety contact for prompt-injection issues. SOC 2 Type 2 is claimed in the security FAQ with the reports behind an NDA in the trust centre, so 17 of 20. Remote MCP doesn't support `require_approval`, which the model checklist doesn't score but reviewers should see. New in October, a `guidelines` array lets the caller make the model decline nsfw, violence or profanity content, which the checklist doesn't score.\n\n### Reliability: xAI API (Grok) +15\n\n- Gemini 4 Carbon (40): Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Status page at aistudio.google.com/status with no readable components or history (10 of 20) and no readable incident record (5 of 30). Rate-limit tiers and spend limits published, per-model limits in AI Studio (5 of 15). Backoff guidance for 429 and 503 and SDK retries (15). No SLA (0). Carbon's launch stage isn't stated in Google's developer post, the Antigravity post or the Cloud developer guide read on 10 November, and the model ID carries no preview label, so half (5 of 10, a judgement call; Argon's GA earned the platform 10). 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 5 = 40.\n- xAI API (Grok) (55): Status page at status.x.ai with components for the global and US API endpoints, voice, the consumer apps and, since the Cursor merger, Cursor's services, with an RSS feed (20). The feed, read on 6 November, now holds 267 incidents back to 11 August, so the whole 90-day window is readable. On the API components there were high error rates on grok-4.6 and grok-4.5 from 21:57 to 23:28 UTC on 17 August (about 90 minutes) and a models outage on the global and US endpoints from 13:30 to 17:09 UTC on 3 September (about 3 hours 40 minutes), so several majors. A 26-minute datacenter outage across the API on 22 September, voice disruptions of 12 and 28 minutes on 10 September and 6 October, a 63-minute voice and Imagine degradation on 30 October and a 37-second model degradation on 24 October add to the record (0). Rate limits published per model and tier, grok-4.7 at Tier 0 is 150 requests a second and 50M TPM, with the per-second cap derived as RPM divided by 48 (15). The rate-limits page shows exponential backoff on 429, but no Retry-After header or overload guidance was found (10 of 15). No SLA found in the docs or llms.txt (0). The Responses API has been GA since September 2025 and grok-4.7 carries no preview label (10).\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Gemini 4 Carbon +9\n\n- Gemini 4 Carbon (72): Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Closed service with clear terms, SDKs Apache-2.0 (15). Paid-tier data isn't used, abuse retention has no number, and request storage is on by default for new paid projects (20 of 30). Deprecations table (15 of 20). Data may be cached anywhere Google has facilities; no subprocessor list checked (5 of 20). Every benchmark figure is Google's own. 15 + 20 + 15 + 5 = 55.\n- xAI API (Grok) (63): Closed service under xAI's enterprise terms, with the Python SDK under Apache-2.0 (15). The docs agree with each other on no training, 30-day abuse retention, 30-day storage of stateful responses and the ZDR route, but the privacy policy, enterprise terms and DPA at x.ai/legal answered a Cloudflare block page on 6 October and again on 6 November, so they couldn't be compared (15 of 30). Dated migration guides and redirect tables for each retirement, but no written deprecation policy, and Chat Completions, Anthropic compatibility and grok-voice-2.0 are labelled deprecated with no date (12 of 20). The US regional endpoint states what stays in the US, the global endpoint guarantees no region, and no subprocessor list was readable (10 of 20).\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Gemini 4 Carbon +6\n\n- Gemini 4 Carbon (83): Model reading for gemini-4-carbon on the Gemini API. Platform facts are the Gemini API listing's (gemini-api, re-read 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Released to developers on 10 November 2026, with the platform's changelog (30). Deprecations with earliest dates and no stated minimum notice (4 of 12). Shutdowns in the last 90 days kept to their table (4 of 8). Dated changelog (15). SDK replies not sampled (5 of 10). Current SDKs (15). Runtimes stated (10). 30 + 4 + 4 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 10 = 83.\n- xAI API (Grok) (77): Model reading. grok-imagine-image-quality and grok-imagine-image-pro retired on 2 November 2026 as announced in September, Grok Voice 3.0 and custom moderation controls in October, Grok 4.7 on 21 September (30). No minimum notice period found. Retirements come as dated migration guides, retired slugs redirect to a replacement rather than failing, billed at the replacement's price, and grok-voice-2.0 was deprecated in October with no end date (4 of 12). Shutdowns in the last 90 days with dates given in advance, `grok-voice-transcribe-1.0` on 2 October and `grok-imagine-image-quality` on 2 November (8 of 8). Release notes several times a month but dated only by month, support by email and a Discord #help channel, not tested. On xai-sdk-python a collaborator commented on 2 of the 16 most recent threads with replies, and most outside pull requests since 23 October are open without a maintainer reply (10 of 15, down from 12). The repository has CI, release and version-bump workflows (5 of 10). One current first-party SDK, `xai-sdk` 1.21.0 tagged on 23 October, Python only (10 of 15). Supported runtimes stated, Python 3.10 or later (10).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Gemini 4 Carbon | xAI API (Grok) | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 55 | xAI API (Grok) +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 88 | xAI API (Grok) +3 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 93 | 90 | Gemini 4 Carbon +3 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 97 | xAI API (Grok) +42 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 20 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 77 | Gemini 4 Carbon +6 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 63 | Gemini 4 Carbon +9 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **62.6 · B** | **71.7 · BB** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Gemini 4 Carbon | xAI API (Grok) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | Google | SpaceXSI (xAI) |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta` | `https://api.x.ai/v1` |\n| Transports |  | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Closed model, used through the Gemini API and Google's apps under Google's terms | Proprietary service under xAI's enterprise terms of service. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-11-10 | 2026-11-02 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-04-28 | 2026-10-27 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-27 |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | yes |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |\n| Popularity | none | 597 stars, 912k PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Gemini 4 Carbon.** Google's strongest model on the same Gemini API as Argon, with a 1M-token budget, function calling and structured output, at an introductory $2 and $10 per million tokens. Paid tier only, sampling parameters are ignored or refused, its launch stage isn't stated, and the price rises to $4 and $20 at a date Google hasn't given.\n\n**xAI API (Grok).** Grok 4.7 at $2/$6 per million tokens, now 20% off in batch, with a public OpenAPI spec, llms.txt, API keys limited by endpoint and model, and self-serve zero data retention. The API endpoints had a 3 hour 40 minute models outage on 3 September 2026, no SLA was found, and there's no free tier or first-party SDK beyond Python.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Gemini 4 Carbon\n\n1. Call generateContent at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta with model gemini-4-carbon and an x-goog-api-key on a billed project\n2. Set thinking_level (LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH) instead of thinking_budget, and don't send temperature, top_p or top_k\n3. Count output against the same 1,048,576-token limit as the input, and set max_output_tokens for long answers\n4. Put static prompt content first so implicit caching applies; explicit caches aren't supported\n5. Use gemini-4-argon for most coding and knowledge work, and Carbon for the hardest long tasks, as Google suggests\n\n### xAI API (Grok)\n\n1. Build on the Responses API at https://api.x.ai/v1. Chat Completions is labelled deprecated and the Anthropic-compatible endpoint fully deprecated\n2. Pin a dated model slug. A retired slug keeps answering from a replacement model, billed at the replacement's price\n3. Back off exponentially on 429. The per-second cap is the per-minute budget divided by 48, with a minimum of 2\n4. Set `allowed_tools` on remote MCP servers. There's no approval step, and every exposed tool enters the context\n5. Use https://us.api.x.ai/v1 when processing must stay in the US. It costs 1.1x and serves only grok-4.7 and grok-4.6\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Gemini 4 Carbon or xAI API (Grok)?\n\nxAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Gemini 4 Carbon's 62.6 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Gemini 4 Carbon leads on maintenance \u0026 community and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do Gemini 4 Carbon and xAI API (Grok) need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Gemini 4 Carbon and xAI API (Grok) without installing anything?\n\nYes. Gemini 4 Carbon has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and xAI API (Grok) at https://api.x.ai/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-xai-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-xai-api.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"gemini-4-carbon\", \"b\": \"xai-api\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare gemini-4-carbon xai-api`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-4-carbon.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xai-api.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Gemini 4 Carbon or xAI API (Grok)\n\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs Gemini 4 Carbon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-gemini-4-carbon.md)\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Claude API vs Gemini 4 Carbon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-gemini-4-carbon.md)\n- [Claude API vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Antseed vs Gemini 4 Carbon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-gemini-4-carbon.md)\n- [Antseed vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs Gemini 4 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