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xAI expanded the company’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) model, Grok 4, to all users on Sunday. The model, released last month, was previously only available to paid subscribers. With this expansion, those on the free tier will be able to use Grok 4’s Auto and Expert mode, while Heavy continues to be exclusive to the SuperGrok Heavy users. Interestingly, xAI’s expansion comes just days after OpenAI released its GPT-5 AI model to all registered users.
Grok 4 Is Now Available to All Users
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official handle of xAI announced that Grok 4 is now available to all users globally. The AI firm also highlighted that for a limited period, those on the free tier will get “generous usage limits” to explore the company’s latest large language model (LLM). Notably, the announcement came just three days after xAI owner Elon Musk made the Grok Imagine video generation feature available to all US users for free.
Users on the free tier can access Grok 4’s Auto and Expert modes
What will be available to those who have not subscribed to either SuperGrok or X Premium plans? xAI is offering Grok 4’s Auto and Expert modes. Auto mode is a smart mode that automatically determines whether the requested prompt requires an additional reasoning budget to generate a more accurate and elaborate response, or if the fast mode is sufficient. The Expert mode gives users manual control to switch to reasoning mode when they feel Grok’s default response is inadequate.
However, free users will not have access to Grok 4 Heavy, the most performant model in the AI model’s family. Additionally, unless users reside in the US, they will also not have access to Grok Imagine’s image and video generation capabilities. Paid subscribers will also continue to get higher rate limits across all the models and features.
Last week, Musk shared plans in a Spaces discussion to show ads within Grok’s interface, across the website and mobile apps. Currently, apart from subscriptions and application programming interfaces (APIs), there is no revenue stream for the chatbot, and ad integration creates a new avenue for the company. The billionaire entrepreneur said funds were needed to pay for the “expensive” GPUs that power Grok.
Based on what Musk said, ads will be integrated within Grok’s answers and suggestions. He did not explain whether these ads will be displayed with visible labels to inform users or not.
