# GroqCloud vs Mistral AI API

> GroqCloud has a score of 75.7 (BB) against Mistral AI API's 71.3 (BB). Both do llm inference. The largest gap is reliability, 50 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-mistral-api
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-mistral-api.md (~1,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-mistral-api.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-mistral-api.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

GroqCloud has a score of 75.7 (BB) against Mistral AI API's 71.3 (BB). Both do llm inference. The largest gap is reliability, 50 points.

- GroqCloud: grade BB, 75.7/100, rank #31 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/groq.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/groq.json
- Mistral AI API: grade BB, 71.3/100, rank #86 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mistral-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mistral-api.json

## Which one, for what

Pick GroqCloud for reliability (+50), security & auth (+11).

Pick Mistral AI API for schema & documentation (+29), agent ergonomics (+11), maintenance & community (+16).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | GroqCloud | Mistral AI API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 100 | 50 | GroqCloud +50 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 93 | Mistral AI API +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 91 | Mistral AI API +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 77 | 66 | GroqCloud +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 88 | Mistral AI API +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 82 | GroqCloud +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **75.7 · BB** | **71.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | GroqCloud | Mistral AI API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Groq | Mistral AI |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.groq.com/openai/v1` | `https://api.mistral.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-30 |
| Popularity | 619 stars | 769 stars |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (8) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**GroqCloud.** Free plan with no card, at 30 requests a minute and 1,000 a day on gpt-oss. Four model shutdown dates between 2026-07-17 and 2026-09-21, with no stated minimum notice.

**Mistral AI API.** Public OpenAPI document at docs.mistral.ai/openapi.yaml and an llms.txt with Markdown twins. Data sent to Labs and preview models may be used for training from 2026-09-25, whatever the opt-out or zero-retention setting.

## Before you call either

### GroqCloud

1. Call `/models` at start-up. Four model ids stopped working this quarter
2. Read `retry-after` on a 429 and the `x-ratelimit-remaining-tokens` header before the next call
3. Free plan allows 8,000 tokens a minute on gpt-oss, so keep prompts small or batch them
4. Don't build on Qwen 3.8 27B. It's a preview and previews can go at short notice
5. Treat a 498 as Flex capacity and retry later; 5xx responses aren't billed

### Mistral AI API

1. Stay off `labs-*` and preview models for anything confidential
2. Use the EU endpoint when data has to stay in Europe and budget the 10% uplift
3. Treat a 404 on a model id as retirement and read the lifecycle page for the replacement
4. Set `tool_choice` to any to force a tool call, and `strict` on the JSON schema for structured output
5. Read docs.mistral.ai/openapi.yaml for the request shapes instead of guessing from OpenAI's

## Other comparisons with GroqCloud or Mistral AI API

- [Claude API vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-groq.md)
- [Claude API vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-groq.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-groq.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-groq.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [GroqCloud vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-openai-api.md)
- [GroqCloud vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-openrouter.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-openai-api.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-openrouter.md)