Groq vs Vertex AI
A feature-by-feature comparison of Groq and Vertex AI across 7 capability categories.
Modalities — Vertex AI Wins
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
Text Input | Yes, requires free plan. Chat completions API and Playground take text messages. | Yes, requires plus plan. Gemini and other models via Generate Content API and Agent Studio. |
Image Upload / Vision | Unknown. Vision on hosted models was not confirmed on the quickstart page. | Yes, requires plus plan. Gemini multimodal accepts images in the API and console. |
Image Generation | No. Inference API for language/audio, not an image generator. | Yes, requires plus plan. Imagen models in Model Garden and Vertex AI Studio. |
Voice Mode | No. Speech-to-text exists. That is transcription, not a conversational voice loop. | Partial. Speech APIs exist. Not a consumer voice-chat loop like Gemini app. |
Video Understanding | No. Not a video-analysis product. STT can take video files but only transcribes the first audio track. | Yes, requires plus plan. Gemini video understanding in Agent Studio and the API. |
Video Generation | No. Not a video generation product. | Yes, requires plus plan. Vertex AI serves Veo and other video generation models. |
File Upload (PDF, DOCX) | No. Chat is messages. Audio files go to the STT endpoint, not a PDF chat uploader. | Yes, requires plus plan. RAG with Cloud Storage and document ingestion in Agent Builder. |
Code Execution | Yes, requires free plan. Built-in tools on Compound / gpt-oss include safe code execution on Groq infrastructure. | Partial. Colab Enterprise and notebooks for code. Not a chat Python sandbox. |
Audio Input | Yes, requires plus plan. OpenAI-compatible transcriptions/translations. Whisper Large V3 and Turbo. Free-tier 25 MB files. | Partial. Speech-to-text models available. Vertex is a platform, not a voice assistant. |
Canvas / Artifact Editor | No. Playground is a chat/API console, not an artifacts canvas. | No. Studio is a dev console, not a consumer canvas. |
Screen Sharing / Computer Use | No. No computer-use product. | No. No computer-use desktop product. |
Memory & Context — Tie
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
Persistent Memory | No. Stateless API. You keep history in your app. | Partial. RAG corpora and agent session config. Distinct from consumer Gemini memory. |
Large Context Window | Unknown. Depends on the hosted model. No single Groq window is on the quickstart page. | Unknown. Depends on the Gemini/model version deployed. |
Custom Instructions | Yes, requires free plan. System messages in the chat API. | Yes, requires plus plan. System instructions in Agent Studio and API prompts. |
Conversation History | Partial. Playground sessions exist. The API is stateless unless you resend messages. | Partial. Session state in agents. API calls are otherwise stateless. |
Integrations — Tie
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
Web Search / Browsing | Yes, requires free plan. Built-in tools include web search and website visiting on Compound / gpt-oss. | Partial. Grounding with Google Search in Gemini API. Enterprise Agent Platform feature set. |
Plugins / Extensions | Yes, requires free plan. Remote MCP tool calling, plus Python/JS SDKs and AI SDK provider. | Yes, requires plus plan. Extensions, tools, and Model Garden integrations. |
API Access | Yes, requires free plan. api.groq.com OpenAI-compatible chat and audio. Create a key on console.groq.com. | Yes, requires plus plan. Vertex AI REST/gRPC SDK. $300 credits for new accounts. |
Zapier Integration | Unknown. No first-party Zapier app was checked. | Unknown. No first-party Zapier listing was checked. |
Custom GPTs / Bots | No. No GPT Store. You build agents on the API. | Yes, requires plus plan. Agent Builder and Agent Studio deploy custom agents. |
Real-time Collaboration | No. No multiplayer chat. | Partial. IAM-shared console and notebooks. Not multiplayer chat. |
Live Social Data Integration | No. No live social firehose. | No. No live social firehose product. |
Live Citation Mapping | No. Built-in web search is not a cited academic mapper. | Partial. Grounding with Search returns citations. RAG returns source chunks. |
Developer — Vertex AI Wins
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
Function Calling | Yes, requires free plan. Tool use on all hosted chat models: local functions, remote MCP, or Groq built-in tools. | Yes, requires plus plan. Function calling in Gemini and agent tool use. |
Streaming Responses | Yes, requires free plan. Chat completions support streaming. Groq’s pitch is low-latency tokens. | Yes, requires plus plan. Streaming generateContent responses. |
Fine-Tuning | No. You pick hosted models. Groq is inference, not a fine-tune product. | Yes, requires plus plan. Supervised fine-tuning and tuning jobs in Vertex AI. |
Embeddings API | Unknown. An embeddings endpoint was not on the quickstart page checked. | Yes, requires plus plan. Text embeddings and Vector Search. |
Structured Output (JSON) | Yes, requires free plan. JSON mode is listed for the hosted chat models. | Yes, requires plus plan. JSON schema / response schema in Gemini API. |
Reasoning / Thinking Mode | Unknown. Overlapping columns disagreed (yes vs partial); left unverified rather than copying a no. | Partial. Thinking/reasoning models in Gemini 2.x family. Platform-level, not a single toggle. |
Local Execution | No. Runs on Groq LPUs in their cloud, not on your GPU. | No. Cloud GCP inference. Distinct from Antigravity local dev. |
Open Weights | Partial. Hosts open models (Llama, gpt-oss, Qwen). Groq’s runtime/hardware is not open weights. | Partial. Model Garden hosts open models (Gemma, Llama) plus Google proprietary models. |
Multi-Agent Orchestration | Partial. Compound/built-in tools are a single-call agent loop, not a multi-agent orchestrator product. | Yes, requires plus plan. Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform supports multi-agent flows. |
Platforms — Tie
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
Web App | Yes, requires free plan. Playground on console.groq.com. | Yes, requires plus plan. Google Cloud console and Vertex AI Studio. |
iOS App | No. No iOS app is documented. | No. No consumer iOS app. Distinct from Gemini mobile. |
Android App | No. No Android app is documented. | No. No consumer Android app. |
Desktop App | No. API + Playground, not a desktop app. | No. Browser console, not a desktop chat app. |
Chrome Extension | No. No Chrome extension is documented. | No. No Chrome extension. |
Privacy — Vertex AI Wins
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
GDPR Compliant | Unknown. Needs a current Groq DPA read. | Partial. Google Cloud compliance offerings. Specific Vertex DPA not re-read. |
Opt Out of Data Training | Unknown. Training use of API prompts was not checked on a privacy policy this round. | Partial. Enterprise terms restrict training on customer data. Consumer Gemini policies differ. |
Enterprise Privacy Mode | Unknown. Enterprise contracts exist in market; specifics were not on the public pricing page fetched. | Yes, requires enterprise plan. VPC-SC, CMEK, and Gemini Enterprise privacy controls. |
Workspaces — Tie
| Feature | Groq | Vertex AI |
|---|---|---|
Projects / Folders | No. No project/folder product in the API. | Unknown. Overlapping columns disagreed (yes vs partial); left unverified rather than copying a no. |