X is testing a free version of AI chatbot Grok

Social network X has so far limited its AI chatbot Grok (built by Elon Musk’s other company xAI) to its premium, paying users. However, the platform is seemingly preparing to open up the chatbot to free users.

Over the weekend, several app researchers and users posted about a free version of Grok being made available to people in certain regions.

TechCrunch was able to confirm that X is at least testing access to Grok for free users in New Zealand.

According to a researcher who goes by Swak on X, there are limits on the usage for now: 10 queries per two hours with the Grok-2 model, 20 queries per two hours with the Grok-2 mini model, and three image analysis questions per day.

To use Grok for free, your account should be at least seven days old and have a phone number linked to it.

xAI launched Grok-2 in August with image generation capacities, backed by Black Forest Labs’ FLUX.1 model. Late last month, the company also gave the model the ability to understand images.

All these features were available only to Premium and Premium+ users until now. By opening up Grok to free users, xAI is possibly looking for a more significant user base and faster feedback cycle for its products so that it can better compete with other models on the market like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that xAI was in talks to raise several billion dollars at a valuation of $40 billion.