Benchmark report

Grok API thumbnail

Is the Grok API slow?

grok-4.6 time to first token from 6 cities, measured daily

Uneven around the world

First visible token arrived in 2474 ms from San Francisco and 3026 ms from Amsterdam. Some test locations waited noticeably longer, which suggests a more distant server for them.

Fastest
2474 ms
San Francisco
Slowest
3026 ms
Amsterdam
Successful requests
100%
6 locations

Response time around the world

Amsterdam 3026ms typicalSan Francisco 2474ms typicalMontreal 2591ms typicalSingapore 2656ms typicalTokyo 2744ms typicalMumbai 2641ms typical
  • United StatesSan Francisco
    2474 ms
  • CanadaMontreal
    2591 ms
  • IndiaMumbai
    2641 ms
  • SingaporeSingapore
    2656 ms
  • JapanTokyo
    2744 ms
  • NetherlandsAmsterdam
    3026 ms

Three acts inside one open stream

Measured from the stream itself, one grok-4.6 call has three parts: the stream opens in 0.15 to 0.36 seconds (network and edge), reasoning deltas start arriving around 1.4 to 1.6 seconds, and the first visible token lands at 2.4 to 3.1 seconds in the controlled run of 27 September, with the one-word answer complete within about 50 milliseconds. Unlike ChatGPT and Claude, which hold the response until the first token is ready, Grok's wait happens inside an open stream. The first visible word is what a user sees, so that is the headline number. The long "download" phase in the bars is in-stream reasoning, not bytes on the wire.

Compare all locations

Click a city to see its stage-by-stage breakdown.

ConnectTLSServer waitDownload
NetherlandsAmsterdam
3157 ms
Finding the server
1 ms
Reaching the server
9 ms
Setting up security
14 ms
Waiting for the server
400 ms
Receiving the response: most of the time
2734 ms
Total
3157 ms
Response opened
310 ms
First visible word
3108 ms
Answer complete
3157 ms
United StatesSan Francisco
2661 ms
Finding the server
12 ms
Reaching the server
4 ms
Setting up security
7 ms
Waiting for the server
136 ms
Receiving the response: most of the time
2514 ms
Total
2661 ms
Response opened
147 ms
First visible word
2659 ms
Answer complete
2661 ms
CanadaMontreal
3011 ms
Finding the server
4 ms
Reaching the server
3 ms
Setting up security
10 ms
Waiting for the server
180 ms
Receiving the response: most of the time
2818 ms
Total
3011 ms
Response opened
196 ms
First visible word
2995 ms
Answer complete
3011 ms
SingaporeSingapore
2893 ms
Finding the server
7 ms
Reaching the server
3 ms
Setting up security
8 ms
Waiting for the server
379 ms
Receiving the response: most of the time
2503 ms
Total
2893 ms
Response opened
322 ms
First visible word
2840 ms
Answer complete
2893 ms
JapanTokyo
2614 ms
Finding the server
6 ms
Reaching the server
2 ms
Setting up security
9 ms
Waiting for the server
240 ms
Receiving the response: most of the time
2363 ms
Total
2614 ms
Response opened
229 ms
First visible word
2579 ms
Answer complete
2614 ms
IndiaMumbai
2373 ms
Finding the server
2 ms
Reaching the server
3 ms
Setting up security
6 ms
Waiting for the server
341 ms
Receiving the response: most of the time
2023 ms
Total
2373 ms
Response opened
361 ms
First visible word
2371 ms
Answer complete
2373 ms

The phases come from the controlled run of 27 September 2026. Typical and slower times pool the daily requests. 6 of 6 test locations included: Amsterdam, San Francisco, Montreal, Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai.

Finding the server is measured once per location, so it sits outside these bars. Open a city to see it.

Bars show the typical request, so the parts add up to its total. Why

xAI still feels slow?

Check xAI’s status page
Elevated latency and error rates are posted there. A slow first token during an incident is not your region.
A fast stream open is not a fast first word
xAI opens the stream in 0.15 to 0.36 seconds and reasons inside it. Show that as progress if your client can, but the visible answer still takes two and a half to three seconds at low effort, and longer at higher effort.

Response time over the last 29 days

Daily median of 5 requests per location, 11 September 2026 to 10 October 2026.
025005000 ms11 Sept10 Oct
Show the numbers
DayAmsterdamSan FranciscoMontrealSingaporeTokyoMumbai
11 September 20263473 ms3236 ms2065 ms2960 ms2777 ms2788 ms
12 September 20261920 ms1984 ms1754 ms1724 ms2243 ms1730 ms
13 September 20262854 ms2702 ms2683 ms3023 ms3022 ms3589 ms
14 September 20262945 ms2292 ms2294 ms3178 ms2060 ms2743 ms
15 September 20262683 ms2462 ms2089 ms3481 ms1743 ms2853 ms
16 September 20262824 ms2381 ms2782 ms2580 ms2685 ms2171 ms
17 September 20262288 ms2748 ms2355 ms3665 ms2496 ms2540 ms
18 September 20263244 ms1990 ms2989 ms2933 ms2384 ms3371 ms
19 September 20262745 ms2910 ms2965 ms3004 ms2512 ms2598 ms
20 September 20262592 ms2145 ms2106 ms2320 ms2939 ms2741 ms
21 September 20262348 ms2165 ms3689 ms2454 ms3191 ms3129 ms
22 September 20261729 ms2973 ms2342 ms3067 ms2889 ms2216 ms
23 September 20262839 ms2005 ms2351 ms2341 ms2618 ms2770 ms
24 September 20262593 ms1997 ms2702 ms2678 ms2690 ms2394 ms
25 September 20261428 ms1441 ms1448 ms1659 ms1229 ms1462 ms
26 September 20261891 ms954 ms1633 ms1993 ms1970 ms2519 ms
27 September 20262673 ms1699 ms2378 ms2402 ms2775 ms2297 ms
28 September 20263003 ms1970 ms2763 ms2600 ms2856 ms3316 ms
29 September 20262948 ms2441 ms1652 ms2717 ms2642 ms1791 ms
30 September 20262172 ms2987 ms2871 ms2376 ms2357 ms2823 ms
1 October 20263163 ms2208 ms1980 ms2270 ms3038 ms2399 ms
2 October 20263115 ms2087 ms2995 ms1953 ms1988 ms2801 ms
3 October 20262494 ms2759 ms2401 ms3228 ms2988 ms3686 ms
4 October 20262917 ms2820 ms1894 ms2984 ms2489 ms2558 ms
5 October 20263018 ms2703 ms2681 ms3421 ms2580 ms2647 ms
6 October 20262967 ms2919 ms3217 ms2973 ms3788 ms3281 ms
7 October 20263142 ms2381 ms2476 ms2641 ms2531 ms2044 ms
9 October 20263026 ms2601 ms2591 ms3154 ms3377 ms2812 ms
10 October 20263458 ms2962 ms3089 ms4150 ms2922 ms3052 ms

About this measurement

POST api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions · 65 requests per location over 13 daily runs · 27 September 2026 to 10 October 2026

What we tested · AI response. Time to first visible token from grok-4.6 on a one-word prompt: streaming, reasoning_effort low, 256 max tokens, paid key.

How LatencyRadar measures response time →

Technical details

Doesn’t measure: Grok inside X or at grok.com, tokens per second, long prompts or other xAI models.

One xAI surface: time to first visible token from grok-4.6 at api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions, a one-word prompt, streaming, reasoning_effort low, 256 max tokens, paid key. xAI opens the stream before the first token arrives, so stream-open time and first-token time differ here more than for OpenAI or Anthropic. We report the first visible token as the measurement, never the stream opening.

Between 27 September and 10 October 2026, typical first-token times range from 2.47 seconds in San Francisco to 3.03 seconds in Amsterdam across six cities, and a city's daily median moved between 1.65 and 4.15 seconds inside that window. The stream can open before visible text arrives, so an early connection alone would make the wait appear shorter than it is. The first-token measurement captures the delay a user sees before the answer starts. Network evidence does not tell us where xAI runs the model.

Test locationTypical response timeSlower response timeRequests
Amsterdam3026 ms4975 ms65
San Francisco2474 ms3716 ms65
Montreal2591 ms4516 ms65
Singapore2656 ms4910 ms65
Tokyo2744 ms4845 ms65
Mumbai2641 ms5010 ms65

Typical: half of the requests finished within this time (technical: p50 of time to first visible token). Slower: 95% of requests finished within this time (technical: p95). Statistics

Request
Authenticated streaming POST to api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions
Measured from
Amsterdam · San Francisco · Montreal · Singapore · Tokyo · Mumbai
Requests
Daily measurements from 27 September 2026 to 10 October 2026. 6 of 6 test locations included: Amsterdam, San Francisco, Montreal, Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai. · 27 September 2026 to 10 October 2026
Model
grok-4.6 · reasoning effort "low" · max_tokens 256 · default temperature
Prompt
"Say 'ok' and nothing else." Identical across every city and every LLM API we benchmark
Reasoning stream
xAI reasons inside the open stream, so we also timestamp the first reasoning delta; it never counts as the first visible token
Comparison figures
ChatGPT (gpt-5.6-sol, reasoning_effort low) and Claude (claude-opus-5, effort low) come from the same daily collection over the same days
Timings taken
Parsed from the token stream: stream open, first visible token, completion, plus DNS, connect and TLS
Report coverage
6 of 6 test locations included: Amsterdam, San Francisco, Montreal, Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai.
Coverage changes
Mumbai (measured since 7 September 2026) joined this report on 21 September 2026. Earlier daily bands keep their previous location set.
Daily requests in each location
Amsterdam: 65 · San Francisco: 65 · Montreal: 65 · Singapore: 65 · Tokyo: 65 · Mumbai: 65
Typical response time
Median of the eligible daily requests in each included location.
Slower response time
The 95th percentile of the same eligible daily requests in each included location.

Grok API

https://api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions

Independent measurement by LatencyRadar. Not affiliated with xAI. · How we measure (v1.3)

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