Baidu ERNIE vs Groq: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of Baidu ERNIE and Groq — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.
Baidu ERNIE
ERNIE 5 — Baidu's frontier Chinese-English bilingual LLM API
Baidu ERNIE is the LLM API from Baidu, China's largest search company. The ERNIE 5 series includes ERNIE-5.1 (balanced) and ERNIE-5.0 (frontier), both optimised for Chinese-English bilingual tasks, knowledge retrieval, and enterprise applications. Pricing is in USD via the international API.
Groq
LPU + LPX inference — high-throughput tokens per second, $350M Series A
Groq runs custom Language Processing Units (LPUs) and the newer LPX chips that work alongside NVIDIA next-generation GPUs for high-throughput inference. Groq raised a $350M Series A in 2026 and is building hundreds of megawatts of capacity. Check listed rates and provider documentation for current model availability and throughput figures.
Key metric comparison
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Live token pricing
Strengths and weaknesses
Baidu ERNIE
Groq
Key differentiators
ERNIE 5 is the leading Chinese-English bilingual LLM API, backed by Baidu's search knowledge graph — the go-to choice for applications targeting Chinese-language users.
Groq's custom LPU/LPX chips deliver high-throughput inference significantly faster than conventional GPU systems, backed by $350M in Series A funding and hundreds of megawatts of planned capacity.
Frequently asked questions
Baidu ERNIE FAQs
What is ERNIE?
ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration) is Baidu's LLM series. ERNIE 5 is the current generation, with ERNIE-5.1 (balanced) and ERNIE-5.0 (frontier) available via the Wenxin Qianfan API.
How much does the ERNIE API cost?
ERNIE-5.1 is $0.56/$2.53 per 1M input/output tokens. ERNIE-5.0 is $1.40/$5.60 per 1M tokens. See the Baidu Cloud pricing page for current rates.
Is ERNIE good for English tasks?
ERNIE 5 handles English competently but is primarily optimised for Chinese. For English-only workloads, frontier Western models typically outperform ERNIE. For Chinese or bilingual Chinese-English tasks, ERNIE is among the strongest options available.
Groq FAQs
How fast is Groq inference?
Groq delivers 750+ tokens/second on Llama 3.3 70B and 1,200+ tokens/second on Llama 3.1 8B using custom LPU/LPX chips, making it well-suited for real-time and low-latency applications.
What is Groq's LPX chip?
The LPX is Groq's next-generation inference chip, introduced alongside the existing LPU lineup. It expands Groq's capacity and enables even higher throughput for large-scale deployments.
How much does Groq cost?
Groq uses per-token pricing across its model catalog. Check console.groq.com/docs/openai for current rates on Llama 3.3 70B, Llama 3.1 8B, and other models.
Provider resources
Baidu ERNIE — ERNIE 5 — Baidu's frontier Chinese-English bilingual LLM API
Baidu ERNIE is the LLM API from Baidu, China's largest search company. The ERNIE 5 series includes ERNIE-5.1 (balanced) and ERNIE-5.0 (frontier), both optimised for Chinese-English bilingual tasks, knowledge retrieval, and enterprise applications. Pricing is in USD via the international API.
ERNIE 5 is the leading Chinese-English bilingual LLM API, backed by Baidu's search knowledge graph — the go-to choice for applications targeting Chinese-language users.
Groq — LPU + LPX inference — high-throughput tokens per second, $350M Series A
Groq runs custom Language Processing Units (LPUs) and the newer LPX chips that work alongside NVIDIA next-generation GPUs for high-throughput inference. Groq raised a $350M Series A in 2026 and is building hundreds of megawatts of capacity. Check listed rates and provider documentation for current model availability and throughput figures.
Groq's custom LPU/LPX chips deliver high-throughput inference significantly faster than conventional GPU systems, backed by $350M in Series A funding and hundreds of megawatts of planned capacity.
Key strengths compared
Baidu ERNIE
- Strong Chinese-English bilingual performance — best-in-class for Chinese language tasks
- Deep integration with Baidu Search knowledge graph
- ERNIE-5.1 at $0.56/$2.53 per 1M tokens is competitive for a frontier-tier bilingual model
- Primarily optimised for Chinese — English performance trails frontier Western models
- Limited ecosystem outside China; fewer third-party integrations
Groq
- 750+ tokens/sec on Llama 3.3 70B — high-throughput GPU-class inference (Groq-published)
- Sub-100ms time-to-first-token for real-time applications
- LPX chips alongside LPUs for expanded capacity
- Limited model selection vs. Together AI or Fireworks
- No vision model support on most models
Key weaknesses compared
Baidu ERNIE
- Primarily optimised for Chinese — English performance trails frontier Western models
- Limited ecosystem outside China; fewer third-party integrations
- Documentation and support primarily in Chinese
Groq
- Limited model selection vs. Together AI or Fireworks
- No vision model support on most models
- No fine-tuning capability
Provider category context
Baidu ERNIE is a frontier lab, founded in 2000. Groq is a inference api, founded in 2016. Baidu ERNIE as a frontier lab trains and serves its own proprietary models. Groq as an inference API provider hosts open-weight models — typically offering lower prices for equivalent capability tiers but without access to proprietary frontier models.
How to choose between them
Choose Baidu ERNIE if you need Chinese NLP. Choose Groq if you need 750+ tokens/sec on llama 3.3 70b — high-throughput gpu-class inference (groq-published). For high-volume production workloads, run a cost comparison using the token pricing table above with your actual prompt/completion token ratio — the cheapest provider depends heavily on your input-to-output token ratio.