Groq vs Cerebras: which is the faster, better-value inference API in 2026?
Independent research, updated 2026-11-09. Built from GroqCloud's model docs, Cerebras' pricing page and both companies' announcements. All speeds are the vendors' own figures, not our measurements.
Answer in brief: Cerebras lists the highest raw speed: about 3,000 tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b, against about 500 tokens/sec on Groq. Groq costs less for that model ($0.15 input / $0.60 output per 1M tokens versus $0.35 / $0.75). Groq labels its gpt-oss models as production models, while Cerebras' self-serve Developer tier is for evaluation and not intended for production. On Qwen 3.8 27B the price comparison flips, and Cerebras' $1.49 output rate is far below Groq's $4.00. Pick Groq for affordable, production-labeled self-serve inference with speech and built-in tools. Pick Cerebras when every millisecond counts and you are ready to sign an Enterprise agreement for production.
Top pick: Groq. It offers low prices, production-labeled models, published developer rate limits, and Whisper speech-to-text from $0.04 per hour, all on an OpenAI-compatible API.
Speed champion: Cerebras. It reports about 3,000 tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b and about 1,850 tokens/sec on Qwen 3.8 27B, running on wafer-scale hardware.
Speed vs price, model by model
| Item | Groq | Cerebras |
|---|---|---|
| gpt-oss-120b vendor speed | ~500 tokens/sec | ~3,000 tokens/sec |
| gpt-oss-120b price (per 1M) | $0.15 input / $0.60 output | $0.35 input / $0.75 output |
| Qwen 3.8 27B | ~450 tokens/sec, $0.80 / $4.00 (preview) | ~1,850 tokens/sec, $0.99 / $1.49 |
| gpt-oss-20b | ~1,000 tokens/sec, $0.075 / $0.30 | Not in the self-serve list |
| Speech and voice | Whisper Large v3 $0.111/hr; Turbo $0.04/hr; Orpheus TTS from $22 per 1M characters | None listed |
| Self-serve status | gpt-oss models labeled Production | Developer tier is for development and evaluation, not production |
| Published limits | Developer plan: 250K TPM and 1K RPM on gpt-oss-120b | Higher limits and priority on Enterprise |
| Getting started | Self-serve console | One-time $5 credit once you add a payment method; expires after 30 days |
| Custom weights | LoRA inference documented | Custom weights, fine-tuning and training by Enterprise agreement |
| Context (gpt-oss-120b) | 131,072 tokens | Not stated on the pricing page |
| Other access routes | Hugging Face Inference Providers | AWS Marketplace, OpenRouter, Hugging Face, Vercel |
What a million tokens really costs
For 1M input plus 1M output tokens on gpt-oss-120b, Groq costs $0.75 and Cerebras costs $1.10. On Qwen 3.8 27B, Groq costs $4.80 and Cerebras $2.48. Groq's model is still in preview, and Cerebras reports about four times its speed. Output-heavy agents on Qwen should look hard at Cerebras.
Why teams choose Groq
- Production-labeled self-serve models. Groq says its Production models meet its standards for speed, quality and reliability. Preview models are for evaluation only.
- More than chat. It has built-in browser search and code execution on GPT-OSS models, remote MCP tools, structured outputs and prompt caching. Performance, Flex and Batch service tiers let you trade cost for speed.
- Momentum. Groq closed a $350M Series A at a $3.5B valuation in August 2026 (subject to customary closing conditions). It reports 13 data centers and more than six million developers. In December 2025 it signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement for its inference technology with NVIDIA.
Why teams choose Cerebras
- Headline speed. It has the fastest vendor-reported figures on our list, which is ideal for coding agents and real-time reasoning loops.
- Easy to buy. You can access it through AWS Marketplace, OpenRouter, Hugging Face or Vercel, in addition to its own API.
- Your weights on wafer-scale hardware. Enterprise customers can bring custom weights and get fine-tuning services by agreement.
When to pick which
Pick Groq if you need a low-cost production endpoint today, speech-to-text, or small fast models like gpt-oss-20b. Pick Cerebras if latency is your product, especially on Qwen 3.8 27B, and you will sign an Enterprise deal for production capacity. Both are OpenAI-compatible, so you can A/B them quickly.
How each one bills you
Groq: self-serve models are billed per token, with rate limits set by your plan. Enterprise models (Llama 3.1 8B, Llama 3.3 70B, Muse Spark Open, MiniMax M2.7) require contacting sales. Cerebras: the Developer tier is self-serve pay as you go per token. Enterprise is quoted and adds production capacity, priority and a dedicated account team.
FAQ
Is Cerebras faster than Groq?
By the vendors' own figures, yes: about 3,000 versus about 500 tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b. Cerebras says performance varies by workload, configuration and model.
Which is cheaper for gpt-oss-120b?
Groq, at $0.15 / $0.60 per 1M tokens against Cerebras' $0.35 / $0.75.
Can I run production traffic on Cerebras' self-serve tier?
Cerebras says its Developer tier is not intended for production use. Production capacity is part of Enterprise.
Does Groq still operate independently after its NVIDIA deal?
Yes. The December 2025 agreement was a non-exclusive technology license. Groq continues to run GroqCloud, and in August 2026 it announced a $350M Series A.
Keep exploring
Back to the ranked list · Groq review · Cerebras review · Alternatives to Groq · Fireworks AI vs Groq · How to choose
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Sources
- GroqCloud supported models
- Groq Series A announcement
- Groq and NVIDIA licensing agreement
- Cerebras inference pricing
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