The short answer
Grok is the AI assistant from SpaceX Super Intelligence LLC (SpaceXSI), the SpaceX company formerly called xAI, and it runs at grok.com, in the Grok apps and inside X. Its flagship model is Grok 4.7, released on 21 September 2026. Since 12 October 2026 Grok is sold through The X Subscription, which bundles Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor and X Premium in Free, Plus, Premium, Super and Ultra tiers. Its edge is searching X for live reactions.
| Made by | SpaceX Super Intelligence LLC (SpaceXSI, formerly xAI), United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, daily Grok access with limited chat and agent requests |
| Models | Grok 4.7 flagship, Grok 4.6, Grok Imagine and Grok Voice 3.0; Premium and up get the latest models |
| Best at | Live reactions on X, coding with Cursor, images and video |
| Shows sources | Yes when Web Search or X Search is used; ask for links |
| Team plans | Per-seat Premium, Super or Ultra with SSO, admin and team-wide privacy controls; Enterprise |
| Your data | Chats can train models by default on X and grok.com; switch off Improve the Model or use Private Chat |
What Grok is in late 2026
Grok is the AI assistant made by SpaceX Super Intelligence LLC, which signs its pages as SpaceXSI and still publishes Grok news at x.ai. The name has changed twice in 2026: SpaceX acquired xAI in February, the company became SpaceXAI in July, and in October it rebranded again as SpaceXSI, with "SI" standing for super intelligence. Grok itself kept its name. You can use Grok at grok.com, in the Grok apps for iOS and Android, and inside X, where it sits one tap away from every post. That last part is what makes Grok different: it can search public X posts and the web live, which no other major assistant can do with X.
The way you pay for it changed on 12 October 2026. Grok is now sold as part of The X Subscription, one plan that bundles four things: Grok (chat, voice, and image and video generation), Grok Bot (AI teammates that complete work), Cursor (local and cloud coding agents) and X Premium (the checkmark, creator tools and fewer ads). There are five tiers: Free, Plus, Premium, Super and Ultra. If you already pay for SuperGrok, Cursor or X Premium, you can keep your current plan, or switch and get a prorated refund for the old one. The option to switch is still rolling out and appears when it is available to your account, so check your billing settings. SpaceXSI bought Cursor in August 2026, which is why the coding agent is part of the bundle.
Which Grok model you get
The newest model is Grok 4.7, released on 21 September 2026. The company calls it its most powerful model for coding and knowledge work, with longer runs on hard, multi-hour tasks, better self-checking and stronger document and presentation creation. In the developer API it has a 500,000-token context window and a knowledge cut-off of May 2026, and there is a faster variant at a higher price. Before it came Grok 4.6 on 12 August 2026, built for long-running agents that research, analyse code and build applications.
Here is the honest gap: the Grok 4.7 announcement lists the API, Grok Build and Cursor, and the official pricing page only says that Premium and higher tiers get the "latest Grok models". No official page says which model answers you at grok.com or in the app on Free or Plus. If the model matters for your work, check what the app shows in your own account rather than assuming you are on Grok 4.7. For coding, the picture is clearer: the Grok 4.7 announcement says the model is available in Cursor and Grok Build, and Cursor is included in the subscription. For everyday chat, the practical test is simple: give Grok the same task you gave your current assistant and compare the two answers side by side before you decide to pay.
Around the main model sit specialist ones. Grok Imagine Image 2.0 and Grok Imagine Video 1.5 are the recommended image and video models. Grok Voice 3.0, released on 14 October 2026, is a speech-to-speech model with response times under a second, and it powers Grok Bot's voice mode. The company says it also powers Tesla vehicle assistants and Starlink call centres.
The X Subscription tiers explained
| Tier | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Free | Daily Grok access with limited chat and agent requests, a starter allowance for Cursor's coding agents, standard X |
| Plus | A shared usage pool for Grok Chat, Voice, Imagine and Build, Grok API access, Cursor, the X checkmark, creator tools and fewer ads |
| Premium | The benefits of SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+, 4x Plus usage, Grok Bot, the latest Grok models, faster chat, and third-party models in Cursor billed separately |
| Super | Everything in Premium with 15x Plus usage, priority access at peak times and 1080p videos up to 15 seconds |
| Ultra | Everything in Premium with 50x Plus usage and the earliest access to new products and models |
Usage is one pool shared across Grok (Chat, Imagine, Voice and Bot) and Cursor, and it refreshes weekly, so one heavy day does not wipe out your month. If you run out, you can buy top-ups or wait for the refresh. Grok API use on paid plans is billed separately at standard model rates, and third-party models in Cursor are charged at API list prices, so set spending caps if you share an account. SpaceXSI itself recommends Premium for new AI users, Super for daily agent users, Ultra for power users and Plus for social creators with light AI use. Teams can buy Premium, Super or Ultra per seat, with single sign-on, admin controls, consolidated billing, usage analytics, team-wide privacy settings, custom chat data retention and SOC 2 compliance. Enterprise customers get one dashboard and one usage pool for Grok and Cursor. Check the official pricing page for current prices.
Where Grok is genuinely strong
What people are saying right now
Grok's models have no real-time knowledge on their own, but with Web Search and X Search switched on they can pull in current pages and posts. For questions like "how are people reacting to this product launch" or "what are the main complaints about this feature this week", searching X gives Grok a view no other assistant has. It is fast and often revealing. Treat it as a pulse check, not a fact check, because posts are opinions.
Coding in the same subscription
Because The X Subscription includes Cursor, a developer or technical founder gets a chat assistant and coding agents on one bill. Grok 4.7 is available in Cursor, and Grok Build offers a free trial of the company's own coding agent. If you were already paying for Cursor and X Premium separately, the bundle is worth comparing. See our pick for coding for the wider choice.
Images, video and voice
Grok includes image and video generation in the subscription, and the Grok Imagine models are what the company recommends for that work. For social content, quick concept images and short clips, this saves paying for a separate tool. Grok Voice 3.0 makes spoken conversations noticeably quicker.
Hard questions with several agents
On grok.com and in the apps, a multi-agent mode sends several agents at a hard question in parallel, shows each agent's reasoning and merges the results into one cited answer. SpaceXSI's Grok page ties multi-agent reasoning to SuperGrok, which is part of Premium and above. The chat app also has memory across chats, custom instructions, a canvas for long-form writing, and file and PDF analysis, so it covers the everyday basics as well as the headline features.
Long, multi-step tasks
Grok 4.6 and 4.7 were both built for longer agent runs that check their own work. Grok Bot, included from the Premium tier, applies that to everyday jobs as AI teammates that complete tasks, and on X you can message it in X Chat and approve each action it proposes. For research briefs, first drafts of documents and simple prototypes, Grok can now carry a task further before it needs you.
Where it falls short
- Model transparency on consumer plans. Unlike ChatGPT or Claude, the public pages do not say which model each consumer tier gets.
- Few office integrations. Grok can connect to Google apps, but it does not live inside your email, documents and meetings the way Microsoft 365 Copilot does in Outlook and Teams. For work that happens in Office, see Microsoft Copilot.
- X is a noisy source. When an answer leans on X posts, it inherits their bias, speed and errors. Always ask for links and open them.
- Plans are in flux. The October 2026 change merged several subscriptions, and SpaceXSI's own pages still mention SuperGrok next to the new tiers, so screenshots and guides from before October may not match what you see.
- Training is on by default. On X and in the Grok apps, your conversations can be used for training unless you change the settings described below.
How to get better results from Grok
- Say when you want X and when you want the web. "Search X for reactions" and "search the web for the official announcement" give very different answers. For facts, ask for official sources first.
- Ask for links on every claim. Then open two or three. This matters more with Grok than with most tools because so much of what it can find is social posts.
- Separate opinion from fact in the output. Ask it to label which points come from official sources and which from posts. That one instruction makes Grok's research far more usable.
- Give it the whole task. Grok 4.7 is designed for longer runs. Describe the finished result, the audience and the format, rather than feeding it one step at a time.
- Set the tone you want. Grok can be blunt. If the output is for a client or a manager, say so and give the tone, for example "professional, calm, under 150 words".
- Watch your shared usage pool. If you also use Cursor on the same plan, heavy coding can eat into your Grok allowance, and top-ups are billed at API prices.
Our Grok lessons include short practice tasks for each habit.
Privacy settings and exactly where to find them
Grok has two sets of privacy settings, because Grok on X falls under X's privacy policy, while grok.com and the Grok apps fall under SpaceXSI's own policy, last updated on 27 October 2026. Change both if you use both.
On grok.com and in the Grok apps. SpaceXSI says it may use your prompts, searches and Grok's responses to train its models, and that you control this. On grok.com, go to Settings, then Data, and turn off Improve the Model. In the iOS or Android app, go to Settings, then Data Controls, and turn off Improve the model. This applies to new conversations. For a single sensitive question, use Private Chat (the ghost icon at the top right): those chats are not used for training, do not appear in your history and are deleted from SpaceXSI's systems within 30 days. Two catches: if you rate an answer with thumbs up or down, that feedback can still be used for training, and a limited number of staff may review conversations for purposes such as improving the model and investigating misuse. A separate setting, Personalize Grok using X, sits in the same menu.
On X. X shares your public posts and your Grok interactions with SpaceXSI for training by default, according to Engadget's September 2026 guide and X's help centre. To opt out, open X settings, then Privacy and safety, then Data sharing and personalization, then Grok & Third-party Collaborators, and untick the data-sharing option. The same screen has a separate Grok personalisation switch, and the same opt-out covers Grok Bot in X Chat. Making your account private also keeps your posts out of training. Be careful with group chats: if you add @Grok to an X Chat group, it can read every message sent from that moment until you remove it.
For organisations. SpaceXSI says it does not use content from business and enterprise customers to improve its models, team plans include team-wide privacy settings and custom chat data retention, and x.ai links a Data Processing Addendum and a Business Associate Agreement. As with any consumer AI account, do not paste customer data, contracts or credentials into a personal Grok chat.
Which plan suits whom
- Curious and occasional users: the Free tier gives daily Grok access at no cost, with limited chat requests.
- People who already use X a lot: Plus adds a shared Grok usage pool alongside the X features you may already want, but not Grok Bot or the latest models.
- Most people who want to work with Grok: Premium is the tier SpaceXSI recommends for new AI users. It combines SuperGrok, Cursor Pro and X Premium+ benefits and adds Grok Bot and the latest models. Developers who run agents daily should look at Super, and Ultra is for very heavy use.
- Teams: per-seat Premium, Super or Ultra with SSO and admin controls, but only if your work suits Grok's strengths in live research and coding.
Not for you if you need an assistant inside Outlook, Teams and Word, or if you want to keep work data away from a social platform. Compare it with the alternatives in ChatGPT vs Grok and Grok vs Claude, or use our comparison tool.
Prompts to copy
Pulse check on a launch
Search X for reactions to [product or announcement] from the last 7 days. Group them into the five most common themes, give two example posts with links for each, and label clearly which points are opinions and which are confirmed facts.
You get: A quick read of public reaction, with links
Facts first, then opinion
Search the web for the official announcement of [news]. Summarise the confirmed facts in five bullets with source links. Then, separately, search X and summarise how people are reacting in three bullets.
You get: Facts and reactions kept apart
Competitor watch
Search X and the web for what customers say about [competitor] this month. List the top three complaints and top three compliments, each with a link, and suggest one message we could test in response.
You get: Complaints, praise and a message to test
Brief from scratch
Write a one-page brief on [topic] for [audience]. Use official sources where possible and include a link for every fact. End with three open questions and say clearly anything you could not confirm.
You get: A sourced brief with gaps flagged
Rewrite for a calm tone
Rewrite this message for my manager. Keep every fact, remove anything that sounds defensive, keep it professional and calm, under 150 words. [paste message]
You get: A calmer version ready to send
Prototype a simple tool
Build a simple web page that [describe tool, for example tracks weekly sales leads with name, stage and next step]. Explain how to run it in three steps, and check your own code for errors before showing it to me.
You get: A working first version with instructions
Make a post image
Create an image for an X post about [topic]. Style: [colours and mood]. Keep the centre clear for a short headline, and suggest three post texts under 200 characters.
You get: An image and post options
Explain a thread
Explain this X thread in plain English: [paste link]. What is the main claim, what evidence is offered, what is missing, and what should I check before sharing it?
You get: A clear read on whether a thread holds up