Comparison
Frontière AI vs Groq: the EU-sovereign alternative to custom-hardware inference
Groq and Frontière AI target different sides of the same equation, and on speed Groq usually wins. Groq, Inc. is a Delaware company that built its own LPU inference hardware — a chip designed for predictable, sub-millisecond token latency — and offers a generous free tier for developers experimenting with open-source models. On Llama 3.3 70B, Groq's pricing is roughly €0.078 ($0.09) per million input tokens against our €0.898. What custom silicon does not change is which government can compel the company behind it: a US-incorporated entity answers to a US court order under the CLOUD Act, wherever the inference physically runs. Frontière AI is a French company routing to EU providers with no non-EU capital control, labeling the jurisdiction of every model before you call it, and storing no prompts. If raw speed and a free tier are your only criteria, use Groq. If you have to answer for where your data can be compelled, that is a question about corporate control, and it is the one we are built around.
Side by side
Every row below comes from the other side's own published pages, checked on 2026-08-06 and linked at the end of this section — not from a third-party comparison.
| Criterion | Frontière AI | Groq |
|---|---|---|
| Operating company | FLEECE AI SASU | Groq, Inc. |
| Headquarters | France | San Diego, California, United States |
| Governing law | French / EU law | State of Delaware |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | None on the 14 sovereign models (EU companies, no non-EU control) | Yes — US-incorporated company, regardless of where inference runs |
| How the catalog works | Curated catalog, 27 models live, each pinned to a named provider | Direct provider running custom LPU hardware, plus a generous free developer tier |
| Llama 3.3 70B, per 1M tokens (in / out) | €0.898 / €0.898 | €0.078 ($0.09) / €0.701 ($0.81) |
| Prompt storage | Never stored — only token counts and the amount charged | Groq documents zero retention by default and states it does not use customer data for model training |
| Jurisdiction visible per model | Yes — sovereign / fast access, on the card and in the API response | No jurisdiction labeling per model; Groq runs its own infrastructure |
Prices published in USD, shown converted at 1 USD = 0.8655 EUR (rate of 2026-08-05) alongside the original figure. Frontière AI publishes in EUR, margin included — the amount actually debited.
Why the price gap? Groq built custom LPU hardware for raw speed and offers a generous free tier — pricing on Llama 3.3 70B is available through their enterprise sales channel. Frontière AI adds a fixed margin over named EU providers. The comparison here is asymmetric: Groq optimises for latency, Frontière AI for jurisdiction. If speed is your only criterion, Groq usually wins. If corporate control and EU data protection are yours, the price gap reflects that trade-off.
Sources, checked on 2026-08-06: console.groq.com — models · groq.com — pricing · groq.com — terms of service
Where Groq is the better choice
- Custom LPU hardware designed for inference delivers predictably low latency — often faster than GPU-based providers on the same model.
- A generous free developer tier lets you experiment without an API key or credit card.
- Zero retention by default and no training on customer data are genuine privacy-friendly practices.
- On pure speed benchmarks, Groq's LPU chip usually wins against GPU-based inference.
Where Frontière AI is the better choice
- The operating company is French. There is no US parent, licensee or affiliate through which a US order could reach your data on the sovereign tier.
- Every model carries its jurisdiction before you call it, in the catalog and in the API's own response — you never have to reconstruct who served a given request.
- API prompts and completions are never written to our database — only the token counts billing requires.
- The price you read is the price you are billed, on a named provider, with no per-request variance to reconcile later.
How to choose, concretely
The two are not mutually exclusive, and for most teams the honest answer is to use both:
- Regulated, personal or client data — anything a DPO signs off on: pick the tier where corporate jurisdiction is settled, not just the region.
- Volume experimentation, evaluation sweeps, hobby projects: Groq's free tier and raw speed win, and the jurisdiction question usually does not arise.
- If you only remember one rule: data-centre location is a geography question, and a subpoena is a corporate-control question. Answer the second one first.
FAQ
Is Groq GDPR-compliant?
Groq documents zero retention by default and states it does not use customer data for model training, which are genuinely GDPR-relevant practices. What that does not change is jurisdictional reach: Groq, Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated company, so US legal process under the CLOUD Act applies to data it controls. Compliance practices and jurisdictional exposure are two separate axes.
Is Frontière AI cheaper than Groq?
On Llama 3.3 70B input, Groq's pricing is around €0.078 ($0.09) per million input tokens against €0.898 on Frontière AI — cheaper on input but the output side varies. Our prices include a fixed margin over what named EU providers charge us, and sovereign EU capacity is not the cheapest capacity on the market. The argument for Frontière AI is jurisdiction, not price.
Does Groq store my prompts?
Groq documents a zero retention policy by default and states it does not use customer data for model training. What that does not address is jurisdictional reach: a Delaware company with retention disabled is still a Delaware company. On Frontière AI, API prompts are not stored either — and the operating company is a French company with no US parent, structured to stay outside US court-order reach.
Why does Groq seem faster than everyone?
Groq built its own LPU (Language Processing Unit) hardware specifically for inference — a single-chip design that loads the entire model into fast memory, eliminating the need to move weights between GPU and CPU at each token. That design choice trades flexibility for predictably low latency. Frontière AI routes to GPU-based EU providers, which are competitive but not optimised for the same metric. If token speed is your primary criterion, Groq usually wins.
See what we actually serve
Thirteen models live, each with its publisher, licence, hosting jurisdiction and real price.