Is Grok Down?

Quickest ways to check the current status of grok.x.ai plus recent known issues and working alternatives if it's out.

Last editorial review: 2026-04-18

How to check right now

Step 1 -- Load the site
Open grok.x.ai→

The simplest check. If it loads and you can log in, the tool is up for you.

Step 2 -- Crowdsourced reports
DownDetector: Grok→

User-reported outages aggregated across regions. Good signal for partial or regional outages.

Step 3 -- Live social
Search X for “Grokdown” →

Live tweets from other users. Fastest signal for a fresh outage -- often beats status pages by 10-20 minutes.

Step 4 -- Official status page
Find Grok's status page →

Most vendors publish a status page at status.[domain] or on Statuspage.io. Google-search to find the current URL.

Known issues we've tracked

xAI joined SpaceX on 2026-02-02 -- SpaceX acquired xAI. Procurement, billing, and compliance workflows now route through SpaceX's vendor pipeline. For regulated industries (healthcare, finance, US government) this may require re-qualifying xAI as a vendor even if Grok itself was previously approved
2026-02•xAI announcement (x.ai/news/xai-joins-spacex), SpaceX updates
Grok Speech (STT + TTS) APIs launched 2026-04-17 as separate products from the chatbot -- see /tools/grok-voice on this site. Built on the same stack Grok Voice uses. Not included in Premium/SuperGrok consumer tiers; billed separately at $0.10/hr STT batch and $4.20/1M char TTS
2026-04•xAI Grok STT/TTS announcement
Real-time X data can surface misinformation from viral posts without adequate fact-checking
2026-02•Reddit r/artificial
Free tier rate limits are aggressive -- many users report hitting caps within a few queries
2026-03•X/Twitter user reports
Grok 4.20's 4-agent system (Grok, Harper, Benjamin, Lucas) can take 30+ seconds for complex queries as agents debate internally. Grok 4.20 Beta 2 (landed ~2026-04-07) improved instruction-following, reduced hallucinations, better LaTeX and image search -- partially addresses the slowness and reliability complaints from early 4.20 feedback
2026-04•Reddit r/grok, IBTimes
Grok 4.3 Beta dropped 2026-04-17 as a SuperGrok Heavy exclusive ($300/mo tier). Elon Musk clarified on 2026-04-18 that the live checkpoint is ~0.5T params; the full 1T version is ~5 days from finishing training. New capabilities in 4.3 Beta: native PDF/PowerPoint/spreadsheet output, video input, and Grok Computer (xAI's autonomous PC-agent) rolling into wider beta. Consumer Premium/Premium+ users do not get access to 4.3 yet -- they stay on 4.20. If the SuperGrok Heavy plan above says 'Grok 4 Heavy exclusive access', in April 2026 that means Grok 4.3 Beta specifically
2026-04•PiunikaWeb, BuildFastWithAI, xAI release notes, Musk posts on X (2026-04-18)

Issues here are sourced from our editorial sweeps, not real-time telemetry. Newer issues may exist.

What to use if Grok is down

Top AIToolTier-ranked alternatives in the same category, ordered by our overall score.

A

Muse Spark (Meta)

8.8

Meta's first model from its Superintelligence Lab -- natively multimodal with Contemplating mode for multi-agent reasoning

A

Claude (Anthropic)

8.5

Anthropic's flagship LLM -- Opus 4.7 (launched April 16, 2026) with 1M-token context, high-res vision, new xhigh reasoning level, and the most natural conversational style

A

Gemini (Google)

8.3

Google's LLM with deep Google Workspace integration, 2M token context window, and native code execution

B

GPT-5.4-Cyber (OpenAI)

7.2

OpenAI's defensive-cybersecurity variant of GPT-5.4, launched 2026-04-16. Lowered refusal boundary for security-research tasks and native binary reverse-engineering. Access gated via Trusted Access for Cyber (TAC) program -- thousands of verified defenders, hundreds of teams, no public pricing

C

GPT-Rosalind (OpenAI)

6.8

OpenAI's first domain-specific model -- life sciences, drug discovery, translational medicine. Launched 2026-04-16 as a Trusted Access research preview. Launch partners: Amgen, Moderna, Allen Institute, Thermo Fisher. Paired with a Life Sciences Codex plugin (50+ scientific tool integrations)

About Grok

Tier B (7.5/10). xAI's irreverent chatbot with a direct line to X/Twitter -- real-time data meets unfiltered personality

Read the full Grokreview →