Quick answer. Through xAI's API, Grok Imagine costs $0.02 to $0.05 per image and $0.050 to $0.080 per second of video, depending on which model you call. Those figures were read from xAI's own model documentation on 2026-10-01.
The consumer side is a different question, and an honest page has to say so: xAI does not publish Grok Imagine's subscription limits anywhere we could read. That gap is why this page leads with the per-image rate — it is the one number you can hold xAI to.
Grok Imagine pricing: the published rates
| Model | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
grok-imagine-image | $0.02 | per image |
grok-imagine-image-2.0 | $0.04 | per image |
grok-imagine-image-quality | $0.05 | per image |
grok-imagine-video | $0.050 | per second |
grok-imagine-video-1.5 | $0.080 | per second |
Read from docs.x.ai on 2026-10-01. Billing is per output, not per token — unlike xAI's text models.
What that works out to:
| You generate | On the cheapest model | On the dearest |
|---|---|---|
| 100 images | $2.00 | $5.00 |
| 1,000 images | $20.00 | $50.00 |
| A 6-second clip | $0.30 | $0.48 |
| 10 minutes of video | $30.00 | $48.00 |
Video is where the arithmetic turns. At $0.050 per second, one minute of generated video costs the same as 150 images on the cheapest image model. Anyone budgeting for Grok Imagine should count seconds, not clips.
Grok Imagine limits: what is actually published
This is the part other pages state with more confidence than the evidence supports.
On 2026-10-01 we tried to read the consumer limits from three first-party sources:
- x.ai — returned HTTP 403 to our fetch.
- grok.com — served an application shell with no plan names, prices, or limit figures in the page text.
- help.x.com — returned HTTP 403.
So we cannot tell you, from a primary source, how many images a given subscription tier allows per day or per week. Articles that quote a precise figure are either reading something we could not reach, or repeating each other.
What can be said without guessing:
The limits change often enough that any number needs a date on it. The highest-ranking community discussion of Grok Imagine limits is about a change in how usage is counted, not about a stable allowance. A figure without a date is not useful here even when it was once correct.
The API has no published rate limit either. xAI's model documentation lists prices but, as of 2026-10-01, no requests-per-minute or images-per-day ceiling on the Imagine models. Absence of a published limit is not the same as absence of a limit — plan for throttling you have not been told about.
If you are hitting the limit, price the alternative
This is the practical reason to know the API rates: they let you put a number on the thing you are being rate-limited out of.
At $0.02–$0.05 per image, 100 extra images cost between $2 and $5. Whether that beats upgrading a subscription depends on a subscription price we could not verify — but you can now do the comparison yourself as soon as you can see your own plan's cost, which is the part the vendor does show you at checkout.
The honest framing: the API converts a hard limit into a variable cost. If your use is bursty — a week where you need 400 images and three quiet weeks — paying per image is likely cheaper than carrying a tier sized for your peak. If you generate steadily every day, a subscription that bundles the allowance is usually the better shape, assuming the allowance covers you.
The video rates deserve their own look
Two models, 60% apart:
grok-imagine-video— $0.050/secgrok-imagine-video-1.5— $0.080/sec
Over ten minutes that gap is $30 against $48. Over an hour it is $180 against $288.
Because billing is per second of output rather than per request, the cost of a mistake scales with clip length. A 30-second generation you discard costs $1.50–$2.40. Iterating at 3–5 seconds and only extending once the prompt is right is the single largest saving available on this product, and it is a workflow change rather than a plan change.
How Imagine pricing compares with xAI's text models
Worth knowing if you are budgeting for both, because the billing models differ:
| Model | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| grok-4.7 (< 200k prompt tokens) | $2.00 / MTok | $6.00 / MTok |
| grok-4.7 (≥ 200k prompt tokens) | $4.00 / MTok | $12.00 / MTok |
| grok-4.3 (< 200k prompt tokens) | $1.25 / MTok | $2.50 / MTok |
| grok-build-0.1 (< 200k prompt tokens) | $1.00 / MTok | $2.00 / MTok |
Read from docs.x.ai on 2026-10-01. Note the long-context surcharge: crossing 200,000 prompt tokens doubles both input and output rates on grok-4.7, 4.6 and 4.5. That cliff is easy to miss when estimating from the headline figure.
Where this sits against other vendors
Per-output billing makes direct comparison awkward, but two reference points help:
- Text, same vendor. grok-4.7 is $2.00 / $6.00 per million tokens below a 200k prompt. A single $0.05 image costs what roughly 8,000 output tokens would.
- Text, elsewhere. Claude Sonnet 5 is $2.00 / $10.00 per million and Kimi K2.6 is $0.95 / $4.00 — dated breakdowns in our Claude Code pricing and Kimi K2.6 pricing pages.
The comparison that actually matters for Imagine is against other image and video services on a per-output basis, which we will add when we can read their rates from their own pages rather than from each other's blogs.
What we could not verify
Stated plainly, because a comparison page that hides its gaps is not worth reading:
- Subscription tier names and prices for X Premium and SuperGrok — all three first-party sources were unreadable to us on 2026-10-01.
- Per-tier Grok Imagine allowances — same reason.
- API rate limits for the Imagine models — not present in the documentation we read.
We will quote these when we can read them from xAI or X directly. We will not copy them from another article, which is how a wrong number survives for a year.
FAQ
How much does Grok Imagine cost?
Through xAI's API, $0.02 per image on grok-imagine-image, $0.04 on grok-imagine-image-2.0, and $0.05 on grok-imagine-image-quality. Video is $0.050 per second on grok-imagine-video and $0.080 per second on grok-imagine-video-1.5. Read from docs.x.ai on 2026-10-01.
What are the Grok Imagine limits?
xAI does not publish them in any source we could read on 2026-10-01 — x.ai and help.x.com both returned 403, and grok.com serves no limit figures in its page text. Its API documentation lists prices but no rate ceiling for the Imagine models. Any specific allowance you see quoted elsewhere should carry a date, because how usage is counted has changed at least once.
How much does a minute of Grok Imagine video cost?
$3.00 per minute on grok-imagine-video at $0.050 per second, or $4.80 per minute on grok-imagine-video-1.5 at $0.080 per second. Ten minutes costs $30.00 and $48.00 respectively.
Is Grok Imagine cheaper through the API than on a subscription?
It depends on a subscription price we could not verify, so no honest answer exists yet. What the API does change is the shape of the cost: a hard limit becomes a variable charge of $0.02–$0.05 per image. Bursty use usually favours paying per image; steady daily use usually favours a bundled allowance.
Why are there three Grok Imagine image models?
They are priced as a quality ladder — $0.02, $0.04 and $0.05 per image — and xAI's documentation names them grok-imagine-image, grok-imagine-image-2.0 and grok-imagine-image-quality. The documentation we read lists the prices but does not describe the quality difference, so test rather than assume the dearest is best for your use.
Does Grok Imagine bill per request or per output?
Per output. Images bill per image and video bills per second generated, which is unlike xAI's text models — those bill per million input and output tokens. The practical consequence is that a discarded 30-second clip costs $1.50–$2.40 whether or not you keep it.
How much do xAI's text models cost?
grok-4.7, 4.6 and 4.5 are $2.00 input and $6.00 output per million tokens below a 200,000-token prompt, and $4.00 / $12.00 at or above it. grok-4.3 is $1.25 / $2.50, and grok-build-0.1 is $1.00 / $2.00, each with the same doubling above 200,000 tokens. Read from docs.x.ai on 2026-10-01.
How were these prices verified?
Every figure comes from xAI's own model documentation at docs.x.ai/docs/models, read on 2026-10-01 and quoted as published. Consumer subscription prices and Grok Imagine's per-tier limits are not quoted anywhere on this page because the three first-party sources we tried were not readable. Prices in this category change quickly — confirm on xAI's page before committing.