# Grok answers API > aivisibilityskill returns Grok's answer to a question as JSON, from xAI's Grok model with its own search, which covers the web and posts on X: the brands it names in order and whether it recommends them, every citation with its source type, and the raw response with its SHA-256 hash. It's asked through the API, not the Grok app, costs $0.20 an answer, and failed answers are never charged. Canonical page: https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/grok. Updated November 5, 2026 by Ahmed Gagan, founder of aivisibilityskill. - Asks: xAI's Grok model, with its own web and X search - Returns: The answer, brands in order, every citation, facts and the raw response - Countries: Any of 250 countries and territories, told to the model - Price per answer: $0.20 (live); half for a reused answer - Speed: Live only, one call per answer - Try it: Free sandbox keys and 500 free credits, no card Get a free sandbox key: https://app.aivisibilityskill.com/login?next=%2Fkeys. API reference: https://api.aivisibilityskill.com/docs. OpenAPI 3.1: https://api.aivisibilityskill.com/openapi.json. ## Request and response ```bash curl https://api.aivisibilityskill.com/v1/checks \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $AIV_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "questions": ["best CRM for early-stage startups"], "engines": ["grok"], "locale": "en-US", "mode": "live", "wait": 60 }' ``` Response, shortened (real values from October 29, 2026): ```json { "status": "succeeded", "credits": { "quoted": 200, "charged": 200 }, "answers": [ { "engine": "grok", "surface": "api", "question": "best CRM for early-stage startups", "locale": "en-US", "has_ai_answer": true, "brands": [ { "name": "HubSpot", "rank": 1, "recommended": true, "sentiment": "positive", "quote": "safest default for most startups" }, { "name": "Folk", "rank": 6, "recommended": false, "sentiment": "positive", "quote": "Great for relationship-driven or LinkedIn-heavy founder work" } ], "facts": [ { "brand": "HubSpot", "type": "price", "value": "~$20/seat/mo", "price": { "amount": 20, "currency": "USD", "period": "month", "per_user": true } } ], "citations": [ { "position": 1, "domain": "stackbytrade.com", "source_type": "other" }, { "position": 2, "domain": "dupple.com", "source_type": "other" } ], "receipt": { "sha256": "…", "url": "…/receipt" } } ] } ``` ## What the Grok API returns Grok's answers are long and list many options. Each one comes back read the same way as the other engines: brands in order with whether Grok actually recommends them, every citation typed, and the raw response kept as proof. What each answer includes: | Field | What it holds | | --- | --- | | `has_ai_answer` | false when the engine showed no AI answer (for example, no AI Overview for that query). | | `text` | The full answer, as markdown. | | `brands[].name, rank` | Every brand the answer names, in order of first mention (rank 1 = named first). | | `brands[].recommended, sentiment, quote` | Whether it recommends the brand, the tone (positive, neutral, negative) and the exact words. | | `citations[].position, url, domain, title` | Every source the answer cites, in the order it cites them. | | `citations[].source_type` | What kind of site each source is: brand_owned, review_site, media, reddit, youtube, wikipedia, forum, social, blog_platform, marketplace, gov_edu or other. | | `facts[]` | Claims about each brand (price, plan, free tier, platform, feature) with the quote they came from; prices parsed into amount, currency and period. | | `model, locale, collected_at` | The model the engine reported, the country and language asked from, and when. | | `receipt.sha256, receipt.url` | The engine's raw response, stored as returned, and its SHA-256 hash. | ## Grok searches X as well as the web Unlike the other engines, Grok's search can read posts on X as well as web pages. Every citation comes back with its URL and a source type, and X posts are typed as `social`, so you can see when an answer about a brand leans on what people post rather than on articles. For the CRM question, all eight of Grok's sources were web pages: roundups and review sites such as stackbytrade.com, dupple.com and whichcrms.com. ## One question, three different answers We asked “best CRM for early-stage startups” on each engine from the US on the same morning. Each card is what the API returned: how the answer opens, the brands it named in order, and the first sites it cited. Real answers to "best CRM for early-stage startups" (en-US), collected October 29, 2026, as the API read them: - Grok: opens "HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive, and Zoho CRM are the most frequently recommended options for early-stage startups in 2026." Names, in order: HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Bigin (named, not recommended), Folk (named, not recommended), Freshsales (named, not recommended), Salesflare (named, not recommended), Copper (named, not recommended). Cites 8 sources, starting with stackbytrade.com, dupple.com, kurums.com. - ChatGPT: opens "My recommendation: start with Attio if you're building a tech startup, or HubSpot if you want a free, all-purpose sales and marketing platform." Names, in order: Attio, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, Close. Cites 10 sources, starting with hackceleration.com, softwarecompare.net, stackbytrade.com. - Perplexity: opens "The best CRM for an early-stage startup is usually the simplest one your team will actually use …" Names, in order: HubSpot, Less Annoying CRM, Attio, Pipedrive, Zoho, Zoho Bigin, Salesforce Starter, monday CRM, Folk, Capsule. Cites 17 links from 15 sites, starting with techradar.com, salesforce.com, slack.com. Where each answer ranks each brand (1 = named first; – = not named): | Brand | Grok | ChatGPT | Perplexity | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | HubSpot | **1** | 2 | **1** | | Attio | 2 | **1** | 3 | | Pipedrive | 3 | 3 | 4 | | Zoho CRM | 4 | 4 | 5 | | Bigin | 5 (not recommended) | – | 6 | | Folk | 6 (not recommended) | – | 9 | | Freshsales | 7 (not recommended) | – | – | | Close | – | 5 | – | | Less Annoying CRM | – | – | 2 | | Salesforce Starter | – | – | 7 | All three name HubSpot, Attio and Pipedrive. Grok names nine brands but recommends only four; the other five are listed as alternatives, and the API's recommended field tells them apart. Grok's sources don't overlap with Perplexity's at all, and it shares just stackbytrade.com and dupple.com with ChatGPT. ## Named isn't the same as recommended Grok tends to list alternatives after its top picks. For the CRM question it named nine brands but recommended four: HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM. Bigin, Folk, Freshsales, Salesflare and Copper were mentioned without being recommended. A simple mention count would treat all nine the same. The API returns `recommended` and `sentiment` for every brand, so a tracker can tell a recommendation from a passing mention. ## Track brand mentions in Grok Grok is the most expensive engine to ask because its search costs the most to run, so most teams track it on fewer questions or weekly. Put a brand, its competitors and its buyers' questions in a project with a schedule, then read how often Grok names and recommends the brand, competitor share, the sites it cites and the history. A webhook tells your server when each run is done. ## Call the Grok API from TypeScript or Python ```ts import { Aiv } from "@aivisibilityskill/sdk"; const aiv = new Aiv({ apiKey: process.env.AIV_KEY! }); const job = await aiv.checks.create({ questions: ["best CRM for early-stage startups"], engines: ["grok"], locale: "en-US", }); const done = await aiv.jobs.wait(job.id); for (const answer of done.answers ?? []) { console.log(answer.brands?.map((b) => `${b.rank}. ${b.name}`)); console.log(answer.citations?.map((c) => c.domain)); } ``` ```python import os from aivisibilityskill import Aiv aiv = Aiv(api_key=os.environ["AIV_KEY"]) job = aiv.checks.create( ["best CRM for early-stage startups"], engines=["grok"], locale="en-US", ) done = aiv.jobs.wait(job["id"]) for answer in done["answers"]: print([(b["rank"], b["name"]) for b in answer["brands"]]) print([c["domain"] for c in answer["citations"]]) ``` ## Grok API pricing You pay per answer, in credits. Grok is asked live, one call per answer, so there's one speed. A dollar buys 1,000 credits on a pack; monthly and volume plans include more. An answer reused from a recent identical one (`max_age_hours`) costs half, and an answer that fails costs nothing. Grok answer prices: | Speed | Ready | Credits | Pay as you go | Business and Enterprise plans | Reused answer | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Live | Usually under a minute | 200 | $0.20 | $0.125 | 100 credits | Every account gets the same API and every engine, starting with 500 free credits and no card. Volume plans start at $500 a month for 750,000 credits, with invoicing and a [99.5% uptime commitment](https://aivisibilityskill.com/sla): [see volume plans](https://aivisibilityskill.com/volume). ## Countries and languages Grok is asked through its API, so it isn't answering from a location. For any locale other than `en-US`, it's told which country the buyer is in, for any of 250 countries and territories, and it answers in the question's language (`de-DE`, `pt-BR`, `ja-JP`…). The app and search engines answer from the country itself: ChatGPT in 192, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode in 240. `GET /v1/locales` lists every pair for free. ## Questions ### Is this the Grok app's answer? No. It's xAI's Grok model through the API with its own search on, asked as a fresh conversation. The Grok app on X and grok.com can answer differently, depending on a person's settings and history. ### Does Grok search X? Its search can read posts on X as well as web pages. X posts come back as citations with the source type social, so you can see when an answer relies on them. ### Why does Grok cost more than other engines? Its search costs the most to run, so each answer is 200 credits: $0.20 at pay-as-you-go rates and about $0.125 on volume plans. A recent identical answer reused with max_age_hours costs half, and failed answers are never charged. ### Does it tell me which brands Grok recommends, not just mentions? Yes. Every brand comes with recommended (true or false), its sentiment and the exact words Grok used. In our CRM example Grok named nine brands and recommended four. ### Does it return Grok's citations? Yes. Every citation comes back in order, with its URL, domain, page title and a source type such as review_site, media, social or brand_owned. ### Can I ask Grok from another country? Yes. For any locale other than en-US, Grok is told which country the buyer is in, for any of 250 countries and territories, and it answers in the question's language. ## Related - [ChatGPT API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/chatgpt): The ChatGPT app's answer as JSON: brands in order, every citation and the raw response. - [Google AI Overview API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/google-ai-overviews): AI Overviews as JSON for any query, with every cited link, and a ready-made AI Overview tracker. - [Google AI Mode API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/google-ai-mode): AI Mode answers and sources as JSON, and how AI Mode differs from AI Overviews and Gemini. - [Gemini API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/gemini): The Gemini app's answer as JSON, and how Gemini differs from ChatGPT and AI Mode. - [Perplexity API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/perplexity): Perplexity's Sonar answers and citations as JSON, read into brands and source types. - [Claude API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/claude): Claude's web search answers as JSON: which brands Claude recommends, and why. - [DeepSeek API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api/deepseek): DeepSeek's answers as JSON, grounded in DeepSeek's web search, read into brands. - [AI visibility API](https://aivisibilityskill.com/api): All 8 engines in one call, with builder features and every endpoint. - [What AI engines cite](https://aivisibilityskill.com/guides/what-ai-engines-cite): 24,258 citations from ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI, analyzed.