---
title: "Grok 2 for OpenClaw: Pricing, Setup, and What It's Good At"
description: "Everything you need to know about using Grok 2 with OpenClaw. Costs $2.00/M input, $10/M output. 131K context window. Here's when to use it and when to pick something else."
date: 2026-03-12
updatedDate: 2026-03-12
image: /images/models/provider-xai-hero.jpg
keywords: "grok 2 openclaw, grok 2 pricing, grok 2 review, xai openclaw, grok 2 api"
category: model-guide
modelData:
  provider: "xAI"
  provider_slug: "xai"
  full_id: "xai/grok-2"
  input_cost_per_1m: 2
  output_cost_per_1m: 10
  max_input_tokens: 131072
  max_output_tokens: 131072
  features: ["function_calling", "web_search"]
  parameter_count: null
  architecture: null
  license: null
faq:
  - question: "What is the exact cost per million tokens?"
    answer: "Input tokens cost $2.00 and output tokens cost $10.00 per million."
  - question: "How large is the context window?"
    answer: "Grok 2 supports 131,072 tokens for both input and output."
  - question: "Does it support function calling?"
    answer: "Yes, it supports native function calling which maps directly to OpenClaw's tool-use architecture."
---

Current as of March 2026. Grok 2 is xAI's previous flagship — $2/M input, $10/M output, 131K context. The OpenAI-compatible API means dropping it into OpenClaw takes about two minutes. The question is whether the cheaper price justifies the rougher edges compared to GPT-4o or Sonnet.

## Specs

| | |
|---|---|
| **Provider** | xAI |
| **Input cost** | $2.00 / M tokens |
| **Output cost** | $10 / M tokens |
| **Context window** | 131K tokens |
| **Max output** | 131K tokens |
| **Parameters** | N/A |
| **Features** | function_calling, web_search |

## What it's good at

#### Pricing

$2/M input is 60% cheaper than GPT-4o. For workloads where you're feeding large amounts of context repeatedly — RAG pipelines, document analysis, summarization loops — that gap adds up fast.

#### Context window

131K tokens on both input and output is genuinely useful. You can load a substantial codebase or a long document thread without hitting truncation in the middle of something important.

#### Real-time data access

The native web search integration is one area where Grok consistently has an edge. If your agents need current information — news, prices, recent releases — this is already wired in rather than bolted on.

## Where it falls short

#### API reliability

The xAI infrastructure is not in the same league as AWS or Azure for uptime and latency consistency. Plan for retry logic. High-traffic periods can mean connection resets or rate limit errors at inconvenient times.

#### Instruction following

It tends toward verbosity and can drift on strict JSON output formatting. GPT-4o is noticeably more precise on structured outputs, which matters when your tool-calling schema has tight constraints.

## Best use cases with OpenClaw

- **Bulk content analysis** — The $2/M input cost makes it practical to feed large datasets through OpenClaw agents for summarization or classification without budget anxiety.
- **Current events research** — Agents tracking news, market data, or recent documentation benefit from the built-in web search rather than a separate retrieval step.

## Not ideal for

- **Critical production systems** — xAI is newer than the established cloud providers. If your uptime SLA is tight, this probably isn't your primary model.
- **Complex tool pipelines** — Function calling works, but it breaks down on deeply nested parameters more often than GPT-4o does.

## Run it through Haimaker

Skip juggling API keys. One Haimaker key gives you access to every model on the platform. Tell OpenClaw:

```
Add Haimaker as a custom provider to my OpenClaw config. Use these details:

- Provider name: haimaker
- Base URL: https://api.haimaker.ai/v1
- API key: [PASTE YOUR HAIMAKER API KEY HERE]
- API type: openai-completions

Add the auto-router model:
- haimaker/auto (reasoning: false, context: 128000, max tokens: 32000)

Create an alias "auto" for easy switching. Apply the config when done.
```

Or skip model selection entirely — Haimaker's [auto-router](/blog/openclaw-auto-router-setup/) picks the best model for each task so you don't have to.

## OpenClaw setup

Configure the provider using the OpenAI-compatible base URL at https://api.x.ai/v1 and ensure your API key is set in the environment variables.

```json
{
  "models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "xai": {
        "baseUrl": "https://api.x.ai/v1",
        "apiKey": "YOUR-XAI-API-KEY",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "grok-2",
            "name": "Grok 2",
            "cost": {
              "input": 2,
              "output": 10
            },
            "contextWindow": 131072,
            "maxTokens": 131072
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## How it compares

- **vs GPT-4o** — Grok 2 is cheaper ($2 vs $5 per million input tokens) but GPT-4o has better native tool-calling stability.
- **vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet** — Sonnet is superior for coding tasks, but Grok 2 offers a larger output limit of 131K tokens versus Sonnet's 8K cap.

## Bottom line

Grok 2 makes sense for input-heavy, high-volume workloads where the cost savings outweigh occasional API instability. It's not a replacement for GPT-4o in precise tool-calling scenarios, but for bulk processing it's hard to argue with the price.

<a href="https://app.haimaker.ai/sign-up?utm_source=model_guide&utm_medium=cta&utm_campaign=grok-2-openclaw" class="cta-button">TRY GROK 2 ON HAIMAKER</a>

---

*For setup instructions, see our [API key guide](/blog/openclaw-api-key-setup). For all available models, see the [complete models guide](/blog/best-models-for-openclaw).*