← High-volume cheap LLM inference
Fireworks AI vs Groq for High-volume cheap LLM inference (Oct 2026)
Depot Pick for this job: Fireworks AI. Groq is a ranked runner-up. Both have a sourced price in usd_per_million_input_tokens, so this comparison is like for like on price. Prices are each provider's lowest sourced SKU in that unit only (no blending across units, input/output or context tiers), not quality-adjusted.
| Fireworks AI (Depot Pick) | Groq | |
|---|---|---|
| Job-weighted overall | 8.35 | 7.95 |
| Capability fit | 8.6 | 7.8 |
| Price / performance | 8.8 | 9 |
| Latency / reliability | 8.4 | 8.2 |
| Developer & agent DX | 9 | 8.8 |
| Privacy / data retention | 7.5 | 7 |
| Lock-in risk (higher = worse) | 3.5 | 5 |
| Maturity / track record | 8 | 7.8 |
| Lowest sourced SKU (usd_per_million_input_tokens) | $0.15 (Fireworks Serverless: GLM 5.3 Flash Input ($0.15 / 1M input tokens) · usd_per_million_input_tokens) source · as of 2026-10-28 | $0.075 (openai/gpt-oss-20b · usd_per_million_input_tokens) source · as of 2026-10-28 · re-checked 2026-10-28 |
| Free option for this job | none listed | Groq Free Plan chat models (free) — source |
| Score kind / confidence | curated_estimate / high | curated_estimate / high |
When not to use Fireworks AI
Need absolute lowest latency on a supported model (Groq/Cerebras) or compliance requires Bedrock/Azure.
Lock-in
Stored lock-in risk (0–10, higher = more lock-in): Fireworks AI 3.5, Groq 5.
Agents: GET /api/compare?providers=fireworks,groq&jtbd=cheap-volume-llm · full job page · methodology