Mistral & Grok (xAI) APIs in India: The INR Setup Guide

Two providers, two separate USD billing headaches

Mistral AI and xAI (Grok) are both credible alternatives to the usual OpenAI/Anthropic/Google trio — Mistral for strong multilingual performance and open-weight options, Grok for its speed and coding-focused variants. Neither has meaningful INR billing support: both expect a card that works internationally and settle in USD.

AICredits gives you one API key that reaches both, billed from a single INR wallet topped up via UPI, net banking, or a domestic debit card.

Setup

Sign up at aicredits.in, add credits under Billing → Add Credits (₹10 minimum), then create a key under API Keys. From there, the only thing that changes between providers is the model field:

from openai import OpenAI
 
client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.aicredits.in/v1",
    api_key="sk-your-aicredits-key",
)
 
# Mistral Large
mistral_response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="mistral/mistral-large-latest",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Translate this paragraph to French, preserving tone."}],
)
 
# Grok 4
grok_response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="xai/grok-4",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Refactor this function for readability."}],
)

What each one costs in rupees

| Model | Input (₹/1M) | Output (₹/1M) | Notes | |-------|--------------|----------------|-------| | Mistral Small | ₹19.26 | ₹57.78 | Cost-efficient default for most tasks | | Mistral Large | ₹192.60 | ₹577.80 | Strongest Mistral model, multilingual | | Grok 4 | ~₹274 | ~₹1,370 | Approximate — check aicredits.in/calculator for the live rate | | Grok Code Fast | lower — see /models | lower — see /models | Tuned for coding tasks, priced below Grok 4 |

Grok's exact INR figure moves with the live forex rate since it doesn't have a dedicated landing page yet — use the cost calculator for the current number against your workload.

Choosing between them

Mistral Small is a strong default for high-volume, cost-sensitive tasks — classification, extraction, straightforward chat — and its open-weight lineage means the underlying model architecture is well documented if you need to reason about its behavior. Mistral Large steps up for tasks needing stronger multilingual or reasoning quality.

Grok's coding-focused variants (grok-code-fast-1) are worth testing specifically for code generation and refactoring tasks, where xAI has focused recent model tuning. Grok 4 is the general-purpose flagship, priced closer to Claude Sonnet than to the budget tier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Mistral and Grok with the same API key?

Yes — one AICredits key and wallet cover every provider. Switch the model field to change providers mid-application.

Is there a free tier for Mistral or Grok through AICredits?

No free tier — both are usage-based against your wallet balance. The minimum topup is ₹10, which is enough to test both extensively before committing further budget.

Which is cheaper for high-volume production: Mistral Small or DeepSeek V3?

They're close. DeepSeek V3 (₹12.18/₹48.72 per million) is slightly cheaper than Mistral Small (₹19.26/₹57.78) at list price — test both against your actual prompts, since output quality varies by task type.

Get started

• Create a free account and top up ₹10 via UPI.
• See the Mistral API India overview for the current pricing table.
• Related: The Complete LLM API Price List in Rupees (2026).