Elon Musk’s xAI has made the Grok 4 AI model available for free to all users worldwide. The update expands access roughly a month after its initial release, which was restricted to SuperGrok and X Premium subscribers.
“For a limited time, we are rolling out generous usage limits so you can explore Grok 4’s full potential,” xAI announced on X on August 10. However, Grok 4 Heavy, the company’s most advanced variant, remains exclusive to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers.
The move aims to broaden Grok’s user base while keeping premium capabilities locked behind subscriptions. It also comes just days after OpenAI released GPT-5, which is also freely accessible.
Grok 4 offers two modes: Auto and Expert. In Auto mode, the AI decides whether a prompt requires deeper reasoning for a detailed answer. This mode is faster and conserves computing resources. Expert mode lets users manually switch to reasoning mode if they want a more elaborate response.
Last week, xAI also launched Grok Imagine, an AI video generation tool, for free to US users. Paid subscribers outside the US receive higher usage limits across features. Grok Imagine sparked controversy after reports emerged of users creating explicit videos of celebrities, including Taylor Swift and Sydney Sweeney.
In a recent X Spaces discussion, Musk revealed plans to introduce ads directly in the Grok chatbot. He said the ads will appear between responses on both the web and mobile versions. Musk added that new revenue streams are essential to cover the high cost of GPUs powering Grok’s AI systems.
READ: OpenAI Launches GPT-5 With Major Improvements in Speed, Safety and Accuracy
