# xAI vs Boundless

> xAI sells its closed Grok models with live data from X. Boundless serves open models from several labs and resells GPT and Claude on one API.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/xai-vs-boundless · By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 29, 2026

## How they compare

xAI's Grok 4.7 costs $2 in and $6 out per million tokens with a 500K window, and Grok 4.20 and 4.3 keep 1M context at $1.25 in and $2.50 out. Once a prompt passes 200K tokens, the whole request bills at double. Server-side Web Search and X Search pull in live posts from X. Boundless serves open models such as DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at $0.20 in and $1.00 out and GLM-5.3 at $1.12 in and $3.52 out, most with 1M context. It resells GPT-6 Sol at $2 in and $10 out and Claude Opus 5.5 at $4 in and $20 out through the same OpenAI and Anthropic compatible API.

xAI is the pick for agents that need fresh news, market or social data, and for cheap output on a closed model. Boundless fits teams that want to mix open and closed models behind one key with zero data retention and US or Europe processing. Its tailored tier adds reserved capacity that its engineers tune and run against contract targets, after a free two-week evaluation on real traffic.

## What each one does

### xAI

xAI sells the Grok models through its own API. SpaceX acquired it in February 2026, and its docs now use the SpaceXAI name. Grok 4.7, released September 21, 2026, is the current flagship, pitched for coding, agentic tasks and knowledge work. It has a 500K context window and costs $2 in and $6 out per million tokens under 200K prompt tokens. Older Grok 4.20 and 4.3 models keep a 1M window at $1.25 in and $2.50 out, which is aggressive for that capability class.

### Boundless

Boundless launched in September 2026 as an inference partner for AI-native startups. It sells two things. The Model API serves pre-tuned models on shared capacity, billed per token from prepaid credits with a budget per API key. Tailored inference reserves capacity for one customer, and Boundless engineers pick the model on the customer’s own evals, tune precision, batching, caching, speculative decoding and parallelism, then run the deployment against uptime, throughput and latency targets written into the contract. A free two-week evaluation tests those targets on real traffic against the customer’s current provider first.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose xAI for

- Live X and web search
- Grok 4.20 with 1M context
- Image, video and audio APIs

### Choose Boundless for

- Open and closed models on one key
- Zero data retention
- Engineer-run reserved capacity

## At a glance

| Attribute | xAI | Boundless |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Closed | Open weights, plus closed GPT and Claude |
| Flagship models | Grok 4.7, Grok 4.20, grok-build | GLM-5.3, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3 |
| Speed | ~54 tok/s on Grok 4.6 | 342 tok/s on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Vercel) |
| Price | $2 in, $6 out (Grok 4.7); 2x past 200K | $0.04–$2.30 in, $0.21–$11.40 out per 1M (open) |
| Customization | - | Serving-stack tuning, no fine-tuning |
| Deployment | First-party API | Serverless API, reserved tailored capacity |
| Long context | 500K (4.7), 1M (4.20, 4.3) | 1M context on most models |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between xAI and Boundless?

xAI sells its closed Grok models with live data from X. Boundless serves open models from several labs and resells GPT and Claude on one API.

### When should I choose xAI over Boundless?

Live X and web search; Grok 4.20 with 1M context; Image, video and audio APIs.

### When should I choose Boundless over xAI?

Open and closed models on one key; Zero data retention; Engineer-run reserved capacity.

### Is xAI or Boundless cheaper?

xAI: $2 in, $6 out (Grok 4.7); 2x past 200K. Boundless: $0.04–$2.30 in, $0.21–$11.40 out per 1M (open). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, xAI or Boundless?

xAI: 500K (4.7), 1M (4.20, 4.3). Boundless: 1M context on most models.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs xAI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-xai.md), [Subconscious vs Boundless](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-boundless.md).

Full profiles: [xAI](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/xai.md), [Boundless](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/boundless.md).