# xAI vs Dolphin

> xAI sells closed Grok models through a first-party API. Dolphin serves one cheap open model on a decentralized GPU network.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/xai-vs-dolphin · By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 11, 2026

## How they compare

xAI's Grok 4.7 costs $2 in and $6 out with 500K context, and its web and X search tools bring in live data. Dolphin's API launched in October 2026 with one model, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, at $0.01 in and $0.07 out per million tokens, served on idle consumer GPUs across a decentralized network. It publishes no speed, context or SLA, and signup runs through a crypto wallet and Telegram.

xAI is the choice for capable closed models with live data and a standard signup. Dolphin is the choice for the lowest price per token or for uncensored models, where its new API and variable latency are acceptable.

## 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.

### Dolphin

Dolphin began in 2023 as Eric Hartford's series of open-source, uncensored fine-tunes, trained to drop the refusals and baked-in guidelines of their base models so that the developer sets the rules through the system prompt. Current releases include Dolphin Llama 3.1 8B and Dolphin Mistral 24B Venice Edition, built with Venice, and the project publishes nearly 100 models on Hugging Face. It also runs a chat app, a Telegram bot and a synthetic data service that generates answers to commonly refused prompts.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose xAI for

- Live X data in answers
- Capable closed reasoning models
- Up to 1M context on older models

### Choose Dolphin for

- Very low prices on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Cheap background or batch calls
- Models without vendor-imposed refusals

## At a glance

| Attribute | xAI | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Closed | Open weights, uncensored fine-tunes |
| Flagship models | Grok 4.7, Grok 4.20, grok-build | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Dolphin Mistral 24B |
| Speed | ~54 tok/s on Grok 4.6 | - |
| Price | $2 in, $6 out (Grok 4.7); 2x past 200K | $0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash) |
| Customization | - | Own uncensored fine-tunes |
| Deployment | First-party API | Decentralized serverless API |
| Long context | 500K (4.7), 1M (4.20, 4.3) | - |

## FAQ

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

xAI sells closed Grok models through a first-party API. Dolphin serves one cheap open model on a decentralized GPU network.

### When should I choose xAI over Dolphin?

Live X data in answers; Capable closed reasoning models; Up to 1M context on older models.

### When should I choose Dolphin over xAI?

Very low prices on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash; Cheap background or batch calls; Models without vendor-imposed refusals.

### Is xAI or Dolphin cheaper?

xAI: $2 in, $6 out (Grok 4.7); 2x past 200K. Dolphin: $0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

## 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 Dolphin](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-dolphin.md).

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