{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "stepfun-api", "name": "StepFun API", "vendor": "StepFun", "vendorUrl": "https://platform.stepfun.ai", "kind": "model", "category": "inference", "summary": "The StepFun API is StepFun's paid model API for its Step language, vision and speech models, including the flagship Step 5 Preview, through OpenAI-style Chat Completions and Responses endpoints and an Anthropic-style Messages endpoint.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json", "dns": "stepfun-api.grade.anchorterminal.com", "license": "Closed service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law).", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.stepfun.ai/v1", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "A bearer API key created in the StepFun Open Platform console after sign-up. Organisations can create one key per project, billed to the organisation's credit and deletable at once. No key scopes were found. Individual accounts must complete identity verification before tiered rate limits apply.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Step 5 Preview is $1.00 per million input tokens on a cache miss, $0.10 on a cache hit and $2.70 per million output tokens, reasoning included (checked 2026-10-12). Prepaid top-ups. No free API allowance was found. A Step Plan subscription covers coding tools separately.", "priceSummary": "from $0.10 / 1M in", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the international docs index, the pricing page or the Chat Completions reference, checked 12 October 2026. Calls draw on a prepaid balance.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/models/step-5-preview", "llmsTxt": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "inference.llm" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "model", "usage-priced", "closed-source", "llms-txt", "multimodal", "streaming" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 44.3, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1223, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 38, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 50, "payments": 20, "reliability": 28, "schema": 53, "security": 41, "transparency": 57 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data.", "bestFor": "Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.", "strengths": [ "Step 5 Preview takes text, images and video with a 1M-token context and up to 64k output tokens", "Strict JSON Schema output and tool calls on Step 5 Preview, per the structured-output guide", "Per-token prices with cache-hit rates published without a login, and rate-limit tiers published with numbers", "OpenAI-style Chat Completions and Responses endpoints and an Anthropic-style Messages endpoint", "llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page" ], "weaknesses": [ "Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found", "No free API allowance found, and individual accounts need identity verification for tiered limits", "No OpenAPI file, no official SDK and no batch endpoint found", "The privacy policy allows training on user data where law and program terms permit, with no zero-retention option found", "No SLA, security.txt or certification found" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `max_tokens` yourself. It defaults to unlimited on Step 5 Preview, and reasoning tokens are billed as output", "Use `response_format` with `type: json_schema` and `strict: true` when the shape matters. JSON Mode alone isn't schema-checked", "Back off and retry on 429, 500, 503 and 504. The docs give no Retry-After header or backoff schedule", "Expect HTTP 451 or `finish_reason: content_filter` when content fails StepFun's review, and don't retry the same input", "Use api.stepfun.ai for the international platform. api.stepfun.com is the China platform with yuan pricing" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3.3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 44.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 50, "payments": 20, "reliability": 28, "schema": 53, "security": 41, "transparency": 51 }, "provenanceScore": 62, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-10-12", "maintenance": "2026-10-12", "payments": "2026-10-12", "reliability": "2026-10-12", "schema": "2026-10-12", "security": "2026-10-12", "transparency": "2026-10-12" }, "last": "2026-10-12", "lastMoved": "2026-10-28", "oldest": "2026-10-12", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl https://api.stepfun.ai/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $STEPFUN_API_KEY\" \\\n -d '{\"model\":\"step-5-preview\",\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"Hello\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm", "tool": "https://letme.dev/stepfun-api" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Step 5 Preview input, cache miss", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 1, "note": "Includes writing new content to the cache." }, { "item": "Step 5 Preview input, cache hit", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.1 }, { "item": "Step 5 Preview output", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 2.7, "note": "Reasoning and final answer tokens." } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED", "domain": "stepfun.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userservice", "privacy": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userprivacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/model-migration", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The terms and the privacy policy name STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED. Disputes go to HKIAC arbitration under Hong Kong law.", "platform.stepfun.ai/.well-known/security.txt returned 404, and stepfun.ai/.well-known/security.txt redirects to the platform home page.", "status.stepfun.ai refused our reader by robots.txt, and the shell couldn't connect, so whether it is a status page wasn't established.", "The X handle comes from the QR code labelled X account on the platform home page, which decodes to https://x.com/StepFun_ai.", "Domain registration date was not checked." ], "score": 62 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.json", "live": { "slug": "stepfun-api", "probe": { "target": "https://api.stepfun.ai/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:24.375869494Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 369, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 307, "p95ms24h": 433, "samples24h": 244, "samples30d": 6646, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 221, "ok": 221 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-11-01", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-11-02", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-11-03", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-11-04", "probes": 246, "ok": 246 }, { "date": "2026-11-05", "probes": 185, "ok": 185 }, { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 241, "ok": 241 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 233, "ok": 233 } ] }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://stepfun.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:20.384102443Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:34:03.95242188Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "stepfun.ai", "registered": "2023-03-23", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/stepfun.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:23:53.578776563Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/model-migration", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:16:53.997459265Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:38:33.586652298Z", "fingerprint": "05d8b90a13cc" }, { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/guides/image-offline-notice", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:16:52.104408963Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:38:32.195771661Z", "fingerprint": "ce427e012456" }, { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userprivacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:16:47.619696391Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:38:27.237331116Z", "fingerprint": "597fa1278404" }, { "url": "https://platform.stepfun.ai/docs/en/agreement/userservice", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:16:49.979240402Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-06T13:38:30.139946008Z", "fingerprint": "2ff748ab87c5" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:24.375869494Z" } }, "answer": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "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": 152, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 8, "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": "2026-11-07T22:56:31.628610647Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 179, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 180, "p95ms24h": 269, "samples24h": 244, "samples30d": 246, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 233, "ok": 233 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.x.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:49:01.143662157Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "xai-org/xai-sdk-python", "version": "v1.21.0", "released": "2026-10-23", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:18:15.193708838Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "xai-sdk", "version": "1.21.0", "released": "2026-10-23", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:18:15.09038487Z" } ], "githubStars": 598, "pypiWeekly": 912149, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://x.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-06-29T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:43.978620532Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.x.ai/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:34:24.762831371Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/migration/imagine-image-quality-nov-2", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:46.034096807Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "1238569c8142" }, { "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/migration/may-15-retirement", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:48.207542223Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "813d0e188a0e" }, { "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/release-notes", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:52.143682141Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "7b37cfaf2576" }, { "url": "https://docs.x.ai/developers/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:08:50.158330981Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a563de9617fe" }, { "url": "https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 403, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:38:04.991061235Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" }, { "url": "https://x.ai/legal/terms-of-service-enterprise", "kind": "terms", "status": 403, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:38:09.200382604Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T22:56:31.628610647Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 56, "category": "security", "leads": "xai-api", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading. Bearer API keys, revocable by deletion. Organisations can create one key per project, billed to a project's credit with a per-member cap. No scopes or read-only keys found (20 of 30). Training on API data is not off by default in plain words. The privacy policy (effective 7 August 2026) says StepFun may use and retain data to improve its models, including training and fine-tuning where law and program terms permit, and the terms name early-access programmes as one such case. No opt-out found (5 of 20). No retention period for prompts and outputs and no zero-retention option. IP addresses are kept three years (3 of 15). The console's usage details list each billed call by key, model and date, with export (8 of 15). No security.txt, bug bounty or certification found. A DPA with breach notification exists (5 of 20).", "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": 41, "b": 97 } }, { "by": 35, "category": "schema", "leads": "xai-api", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "No OpenAPI or similar machine-readable contract found. The API reference is Markdown pages (0). llms.txt at platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt, and every page has a Markdown copy (10). The Chat Completions reference describes each parameter with its default, and the model page lists what Step 5 Preview supports, but little on when not to use an option (12 of 20). Tool definitions take JSON Schema parameters, structured output takes a JSON Schema with `strict: true`, and `reasoning_effort` is an enum of low, medium and high. No `tool_choice` parameter is documented (11 of 15). Worked requests and responses on each page, and an error table of eight codes with causes and fixes, but no error bodies (12 of 15). No API changelog. A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and announcement pages (8 of 15).", "b": "OpenAPI 3.1 document at docs.x.ai/openapi.json, 39 paths and 205 schemas on 6 November, covering Responses, Chat Completions, files, images, videos and models. The batch endpoints documented in the REST reference still aren't in it (20 of 25, applied as for gemini-api's missing Interactions API). llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every page, plus a docs MCP server (10). The models page says which model to use for code, chat, images, video and voice, and reference pages list each parameter. Reference not read in full (18 of 20). Structured outputs are guaranteed to match the schema for supported keywords, and tool arguments always conform with `strict` implicitly true (15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every guide. The debugging page lists status codes with fixes, but the cause cells for 400, 403, 404 and 415 are still empty (13 of 15). Release notes are grouped by month without day dates, and model slugs come as aliases and dated versions (12 of 15)." }, "scores": { "a": 53, "b": 88 } }, { "by": 27, "category": "reliability", "leads": "xai-api", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "No status page read. status.stepfun.ai refused our reader by robots.txt and the shell couldn't connect, so we couldn't establish whether it is a status page or read any history. Scored absent for both lines, with 5 for unreadable history, and named in the open questions (0 + 5). Rate limits published with numbers per tier, from 5 concurrent, 100 RPM and 500,000 TPM to 130, 2,600 and 13,000,000 (15). The error and exception guides say to retry 429, 500, 503 and 504 after a short delay, with no Retry-After header, backoff schedule or idempotency guidance (8 of 15). No SLA found in the terms or pricing (0). Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview (0).", "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": 28, "b": 55 } }, { "by": 27, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "xai-api", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading. The image models `step-2x-large` and `step-image-edit-2` were retired on 10 October 2026, and a Step 5 Preview price change is announced for 14 October (30). No stated notice period. The 10 October image retirement had a dated notice page and the July retirements a migration table, but we couldn't date when either notice went up (4 of 12). One retirement date in the last 90 days, 10 October, with nine models retired on 8 July just outside that window (6 of 8). Dated announcements, a Discord server and platform@stepfun.com for support. We didn't test whether either answers (10 of 15). No official SDK (0 of 15, 0 of 10).", "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": 50, "b": 77 } }, { "by": 22, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "xai-api", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calls through Chat Completions, Responses and Messages, with no documented way to force or forbid a call (15 of 20). Strict JSON Schema output on Step 5 Preview (13 of 15). Prompt caching with a published cache-hit price at a tenth of the miss price (15). 1M-token context and 64k output (15). No batch endpoint found (0). No official SDK. The docs use the OpenAI and Anthropic clients against compatible endpoints (0). Eight error codes with a fix each, plus `finish_reason` handling for length, content filter and tool calls (10 of 15).", "b": "Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Function calling with parallel calls on by default and `tool_choice` of auto, required, none or a named function (20). Guaranteed structured outputs (15). Automatic prompt caching, cached input at 0.25x on grok-4.7 ($0.50 per million) and 0.16x on grok-4.3 (15). 500,000-token context on grok-4.7 and 1,000,000 on grok-4.3, 13 of 15 for the default model's 500K. The Batch API is now 20% off on grok-4.7, 4.6 and 4.5 as well as the older models, with batch requests outside the rate limits (10 of 10, up from 5 on 6 October). One first-party SDK, `xai-sdk` for Python, with the OpenAI SDKs and Vercel's AI SDK documented as alternatives (5 of 10). Status codes documented with fixes, no Retry-After header found (12 of 15)." }, "scores": { "a": 68, "b": 90 } }, { "by": 6, "category": "transparency", "leads": "xai-api", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Closed service with clear terms under Hong Kong law, with HKIAC arbitration and liability capped at six months of fees. Some earlier Step models have open weights, which doesn't change the hosted service (15). The privacy policy, terms and DPA agree that data may be used for training under program terms, but the terms' licence to Content is broad and perpetual, no retention period is given for prompts and outputs, and no subprocessor list was found (12 of 30). A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and replacements (14 of 20). Servers are disclosed as in the United States. The DPA gives general authorisation for subprocessors without a published list (10 of 20).", "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": 57, "b": 63 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model API", "b": "Model API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "StepFun", "b": "SpaceXSI (xAI)", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.stepfun.ai/v1", "b": "https://api.x.ai/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "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 service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law).", "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": "none", "b": "2026-11-02", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "2026-10-27", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "2026-10-27", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "597 stars, 912k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3.3/5 (4)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, StepFun API or xAI API (Grok)?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do StepFun API and xAI API (Grok) need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. StepFun API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.stepfun.ai/v1 and xAI API (Grok) at https://api.x.ai/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call StepFun API and xAI API (Grok) without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.", "slug": "stepfun-api", "watchFor": "Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 55 against 28", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 88 against 53", "Agent ergonomics, 90 against 68", "Security \u0026 auth, 97 against 41", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 77 against 50", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 63 against 57" ], "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": { "stepfun-api": [ { "causes": [ "correction" ], "date": "2026-10-28", "delta": -0.1, "from": 44.4, "fromGrade": "E", "to": 44.3, "toGrade": "E" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-27", "delta": 0.3, "from": 44.1, "fromGrade": "E", "to": 44.4, "toGrade": "E" } ], "xai-api": null }, "job": { "capability": "inference.llm", "name": "LLM inference" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": 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vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Muse Spark Open vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-spark-open-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Novita AI vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Novita AI vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "OpenAI API vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "OpenAI API vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "OpenRouter vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Prism Inference vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Prism Inference vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Router.com (Ramp Router) vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Router.com (Ramp Router) vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Beam 1.0 vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "RouterPlus vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "RouterPlus vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "SambaCloud vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "SambaCloud vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "SiliconFlow vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "SiliconFlow vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-stepfun-api.json", "title": "Simplismart vs StepFun API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-stepfun-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Simplismart vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-swe-2-flash.json", "title": "StepFun API vs SWE-2 Flash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-swe-2-flash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-together-inference.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Together AI Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-together-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/swe-2-flash-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "SWE-2 Flash vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/swe-2-flash-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tencent-tokenhub-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Tencent Cloud TokenHub vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tencent-tokenhub-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/together-inference-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Together AI Inference vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/together-inference-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vercel-ai-gateway-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Vercel AI Gateway vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vercel-ai-gateway-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-ai-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-ai-vs-xai-api" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 27, "edge": "xai-api", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "stepfun-api": 28, "weight": 16, "xai-api": 55 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 35, "edge": "xai-api", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "stepfun-api": 53, "weight": 13, "xai-api": 88 }, { "by": 22, "edge": "xai-api", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "stepfun-api": 68, "weight": 13, "xai-api": 90 }, { "by": 56, "edge": "xai-api", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "stepfun-api": 41, "weight": 14, "xai-api": 97 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "stepfun-api": 20, "weight": 10, "xai-api": 20 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 27, "edge": "xai-api", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "stepfun-api": 50, "weight": 7, "xai-api": 77 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "xai-api", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "stepfun-api": 57, "weight": 7, "xai-api": 63 } ], "summary": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.", "tasks": [ { "a": "$1.38", "b": "$21.76", "cheaper": "stepfun-api", "task": "Research a product and write a sourced report", "what": "step-5-preview on StepFun API, grok-4.7 on xAI API (Grok)" }, { "a": "$0.44", "b": "$4.85", "cheaper": "stepfun-api", "task": "Build a small four-page website", "what": "step-5-preview on StepFun API, grok-4.7 on xAI API (Grok)" }, { "a": "$0.11", "b": "$1.07", "cheaper": "stepfun-api", "task": "Find and fix a bug in a large codebase", "what": "step-5-preview on StepFun API, grok-4.7 on xAI API (Grok)" } ], "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "stepfun-api": "StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.min.md" }, "markdown": "xAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.\n\n- StepFun API: grade E, 44.3/100, rank #1223 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stepfun-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json\n- xAI API (Grok): grade BB, 71.7/100, rank #152 of 1510. 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 830 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### StepFun API (E)\n\nGood for: Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.\n\nWatch for: Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found\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 28\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 88 against 53\n- Agent ergonomics, 90 against 68\n- Security \u0026 auth, 97 against 41\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 77 against 50\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 63 against 57\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) +56\n\n- StepFun API (41): Model reading. Bearer API keys, revocable by deletion. Organisations can create one key per project, billed to a project's credit with a per-member cap. No scopes or read-only keys found (20 of 30). Training on API data is not off by default in plain words. The privacy policy (effective 7 August 2026) says StepFun may use and retain data to improve its models, including training and fine-tuning where law and program terms permit, and the terms name early-access programmes as one such case. No opt-out found (5 of 20). No retention period for prompts and outputs and no zero-retention option. IP addresses are kept three years (3 of 15). The console's usage details list each billed call by key, model and date, with export (8 of 15). No security.txt, bug bounty or certification found. A DPA with breach notification exists (5 of 20).\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### Schema \u0026 documentation: xAI API (Grok) +35\n\n- StepFun API (53): No OpenAPI or similar machine-readable contract found. The API reference is Markdown pages (0). llms.txt at platform.stepfun.ai/docs/llms.txt, and every page has a Markdown copy (10). The Chat Completions reference describes each parameter with its default, and the model page lists what Step 5 Preview supports, but little on when not to use an option (12 of 20). Tool definitions take JSON Schema parameters, structured output takes a JSON Schema with `strict: true`, and `reasoning_effort` is an enum of low, medium and high. No `tool_choice` parameter is documented (11 of 15). Worked requests and responses on each page, and an error table of eight codes with causes and fixes, but no error bodies (12 of 15). No API changelog. A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and announcement pages (8 of 15).\n- xAI API (Grok) (88): OpenAPI 3.1 document at docs.x.ai/openapi.json, 39 paths and 205 schemas on 6 November, covering Responses, Chat Completions, files, images, videos and models. The batch endpoints documented in the REST reference still aren't in it (20 of 25, applied as for gemini-api's missing Interactions API). llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every page, plus a docs MCP server (10). The models page says which model to use for code, chat, images, video and voice, and reference pages list each parameter. Reference not read in full (18 of 20). Structured outputs are guaranteed to match the schema for supported keywords, and tool arguments always conform with `strict` implicitly true (15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every guide. The debugging page lists status codes with fixes, but the cause cells for 400, 403, 404 and 415 are still empty (13 of 15). Release notes are grouped by month without day dates, and model slugs come as aliases and dated versions (12 of 15).\n\n### Reliability: xAI API (Grok) +27\n\n- StepFun API (28): No status page read. status.stepfun.ai refused our reader by robots.txt and the shell couldn't connect, so we couldn't establish whether it is a status page or read any history. Scored absent for both lines, with 5 for unreadable history, and named in the open questions (0 + 5). Rate limits published with numbers per tier, from 5 concurrent, 100 RPM and 500,000 TPM to 130, 2,600 and 13,000,000 (15). The error and exception guides say to retry 429, 500, 503 and 504 after a short delay, with no Retry-After header, backoff schedule or idempotency guidance (8 of 15). No SLA found in the terms or pricing (0). Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview (0).\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### Maintenance \u0026 community: xAI API (Grok) +27\n\n- StepFun API (50): Model reading. The image models `step-2x-large` and `step-image-edit-2` were retired on 10 October 2026, and a Step 5 Preview price change is announced for 14 October (30). No stated notice period. The 10 October image retirement had a dated notice page and the July retirements a migration table, but we couldn't date when either notice went up (4 of 12). One retirement date in the last 90 days, 10 October, with nine models retired on 8 July just outside that window (6 of 8). Dated announcements, a Discord server and platform@stepfun.com for support. We didn't test whether either answers (10 of 15). No official SDK (0 of 15, 0 of 10).\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### Agent ergonomics: xAI API (Grok) +22\n\n- StepFun API (68): Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool calls through Chat Completions, Responses and Messages, with no documented way to force or forbid a call (15 of 20). Strict JSON Schema output on Step 5 Preview (13 of 15). Prompt caching with a published cache-hit price at a tenth of the miss price (15). 1M-token context and 64k output (15). No batch endpoint found (0). No official SDK. The docs use the OpenAI and Anthropic clients against compatible endpoints (0). Eight error codes with a fix each, plus `finish_reason` handling for length, content filter and tool calls (10 of 15).\n- xAI API (Grok) (90): Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Function calling with parallel calls on by default and `tool_choice` of auto, required, none or a named function (20). Guaranteed structured outputs (15). Automatic prompt caching, cached input at 0.25x on grok-4.7 ($0.50 per million) and 0.16x on grok-4.3 (15). 500,000-token context on grok-4.7 and 1,000,000 on grok-4.3, 13 of 15 for the default model's 500K. The Batch API is now 20% off on grok-4.7, 4.6 and 4.5 as well as the older models, with batch requests outside the rate limits (10 of 10, up from 5 on 6 October). One first-party SDK, `xai-sdk` for Python, with the OpenAI SDKs and Vercel's AI SDK documented as alternatives (5 of 10). Status codes documented with fixes, no Retry-After header found (12 of 15).\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: xAI API (Grok) +6\n\n- StepFun API (57): Closed service with clear terms under Hong Kong law, with HKIAC arbitration and liability capped at six months of fees. Some earlier Step models have open weights, which doesn't change the hosted service (15). The privacy policy, terms and DPA agree that data may be used for training under program terms, but the terms' licence to Content is broad and perpetual, no retention period is given for prompts and outputs, and no subprocessor list was found (12 of 30). A model lifecycle page with dated retirements and replacements (14 of 20). Servers are disclosed as in the United States. The DPA gives general authorisation for subprocessors without a published list (10 of 20).\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## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | StepFun API | xAI API (Grok) | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 28 | 55 | xAI API (Grok) +27 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 88 | xAI API (Grok) +35 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 90 | xAI API (Grok) +22 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 41 | 97 | xAI API (Grok) +56 |\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) | 50 | 77 | xAI API (Grok) +27 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 63 | xAI API (Grok) +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **44.3 · E** | **71.7 · BB** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | StepFun API | xAI API (Grok) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model API |\n| Vendor | StepFun | SpaceXSI (xAI) |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.stepfun.ai/v1` | `https://api.x.ai/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Closed service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law). | 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 | none | 2026-11-02 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-10-27 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-10-27 |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Popularity | none | 597 stars, 912k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (4) | none |\n\n## What the same task costs\n\n| Task | StepFun API | xAI API (Grok) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Research a product and write a sourced report | $1.38 | $21.76 |\n| Build a small four-page website | $0.44 | $4.85 |\n| Find and fix a bug in a large codebase | $0.11 | $1.07 |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### StepFun API\n\n- -0.1 on 28 October 2026: correction\n- +0.3 on 27 October 2026: checklist\n\n### xAI API (Grok)\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**StepFun API.** StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data.\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### StepFun API\n\n1. Set `max_tokens` yourself. It defaults to unlimited on Step 5 Preview, and reasoning tokens are billed as output\n2. Use `response_format` with `type: json_schema` and `strict: true` when the shape matters. JSON Mode alone isn't schema-checked\n3. Back off and retry on 429, 500, 503 and 504. The docs give no Retry-After header or backoff schedule\n4. Expect HTTP 451 or `finish_reason: content_filter` when content fails StepFun's review, and don't retry the same input\n5. Use api.stepfun.ai for the international platform. api.stepfun.com is the China platform with yuan pricing\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, StepFun API or xAI API (Grok)?\n\nxAI API (Grok) scores 71.7 (BB) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Do StepFun API and xAI API (Grok) need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call StepFun API and xAI API (Grok) without installing anything?\n\nYes. StepFun API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.stepfun.ai/v1 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/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-xai-api.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"stepfun-api\", \"b\": \"xai-api\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare stepfun-api xai-api`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xai-api.json\n\n## Other comparisons with StepFun API or xAI API (Grok)\n\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Claude API vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Claude API vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Antseed vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Antseed vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-stepfun-api.md)\n- [Azure 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[StepFun API vs Together AI Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-together-inference.md)\n- [StepFun API vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)\n- [StepFun API vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [SWE-2 Flash vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/swe-2-flash-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Tencent Cloud TokenHub vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tencent-tokenhub-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Together AI Inference vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/together-inference-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Vercel AI Gateway vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vercel-ai-gateway-vs-xai-api.md)\n- [Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) vs xAI API (Grok)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-ai-vs-xai-api.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "StepFun API vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "" } ], "description": "xAI scores 71.7 (BB) to StepFun's 44.3 (E) for llm inference. 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