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Groq vs HOL Guard

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Verdict

Groq is listed under Developer Tools and HOL Guard under Coding AI. Groq scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.6 vs 7.8 out of 10). Both have a free plan or trial. Only Groq is available on Web and offers an API. Only HOL Guard is available on macOS, Linux and CLI.

Best overall

Groq

  • Software developers
  • AI application builders
  • Enterprise engineering teams
  • Voice and agent developers

Choose Groq if

  • You want a tool built for Low-latency LLM API calls.
  • Listed speeds of about 280 to 1,000 tokens per second on hosted models.
  • OpenAI-compatible API and Responses API support, so migration is mostly a base URL change.

Choose HOL Guard if

  • You want a tool built for approving risky agent actions locally, Protecting secrets from coding agents, Reviewing MCP servers, skills and plugins before use.
  • Open source under Apache-2.0 with public code and release history.
  • Works offline with no account on the free local tier.
Best for beginners
Groq
Best for business
Groq

Features

18 features compared.

  • LPU inference
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • OpenAI-compatible API
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Open model catalog
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Speech models
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Built-in tools and MCP
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Batch and Flex tiers
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Structured outputs and reasoning
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Spend limits and projects
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • LoRA inference
    Groq
    Available
    HOL Guard
    Not available
  • Pre-action interception
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Policy outcomes
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Local audit trail
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • MCP, skills and plugin inspection
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Layered policy
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Plugin scanner
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Risk check
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Coverage matrix
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available
  • Broad agent support
    Groq
    Not available
    HOL Guard
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    Groq
    Freemium
    HOL Guard
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    Groq
    Yes
    HOL Guard
    Yes
  • Starting price
    Groq
    $0
    HOL Guard
    $0
  • Plans
    Groq
    3 plans
    HOL Guard
    5 plans

Groq plans

  • Free

    $0

    Free API access with lower rate limits, for evaluation and small projects

    • API key from the console
    • Access to hosted open models
    • Playground
    • Lower rate limits than the Developer tier

  • Developer

    Most popular

    $0.075-$4.00/1M tokens

    Pay-as-you-go usage billing with higher rate limits, no monthly fee

    • Higher rate limits
    • Chat support
    • Flex service tier
    • Batch processing
    • Spend limits

  • Enterprise

    Custom/custom

    Contact sales for dedicated capacity and enterprise-only models

    • Custom rate limits
    • Models such as Llama 3.3 70B
    • Dedicated infrastructure
    • Enterprise controls

HOL Guard plans

  • Free

    $0

    Local protection on one machine, no account required

    • Local scanning and command interception
    • On-device decisions and change diffs
    • Local policy
    • Offline support
    • Local leaked-secret scanning

  • Solo

    $4.99/month

    Personal Cloud memory across two devices

    • 2 devices
    • 30-day retention
    • 1 GB storage
    • Monitoring of up to 5 GitHub repositories
    • 250 credential validity checks per month

  • Pro

    $15/month

    Longer history and alerts for one person

    • 5 devices
    • 180-day retention
    • 5 GB storage
    • Audit log sync
    • Alert notifications
    • Policy versioning

  • Team

    $30/user/mo

    Shared policy and fleet visibility for teams

    • Up to 25 devices
    • 365-day retention
    • 25 GB plus 5 GB per seat
    • Shared policy
    • Owner queues
    • Fleet dashboards

  • Enterprise

    Custom/custom

    Identity review, evidence export and self-hosted deployment review

    • Identity and access review
    • Redacted evidence export via webhook
    • Volume pricing
    • Self-hosted or VPC deployment review

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

Groq
8.6overall
HOL Guard
7.8overall

  • Inference Speed

    Groq
    9.5
    HOL Guard
    Not rated

  • Latency

    Groq
    9.2
    HOL Guard
    Not rated

  • API Compatibility

    Groq
    9.0
    HOL Guard
    Not rated

  • Cost Efficiency

    Groq
    8.5
    HOL Guard
    Not rated

  • Model Selection

    Groq
    7.0
    HOL Guard
    Not rated

  • Action Interception

    Groq
    Not rated
    HOL Guard
    8.0

  • Agent Coverage

    Groq
    Not rated
    HOL Guard
    7.8

  • Ease of Setup

    Groq
    Not rated
    HOL Guard
    7.5

  • Transparency & Openness

    Groq
    Not rated
    HOL Guard
    8.6

  • Pricing Clarity

    Groq
    Not rated
    HOL Guard
    7.2

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

Groq

Pros

  • Listed speeds of about 280 to 1,000 tokens per second on hosted models
  • OpenAI-compatible API and Responses API support, so migration is mostly a base URL change
  • Free tier with an API key, and pay-as-you-go pricing with no monthly fee
  • Low per-token prices, for example $0.15 input and $0.60 output per 1M tokens for GPT OSS 120B
  • Includes speech-to-text and text-to-speech models alongside text models

Cons

  • Only hosts a curated set of open models; no proprietary frontier models such as GPT or Claude
  • Some models, including Llama 3.3 70B, are enterprise-only and require contacting sales
  • Free tier rate limits are low for production use
  • No public pricing page on groq.com; prices sit in the developer docs
  • Preview models can be discontinued at short notice

HOL Guard

Pros

  • Open source under Apache-2.0 with public code and release history
  • Works offline with no account on the free local tier
  • Lets you approve or block actions instead of only logging them
  • Covers MCP servers, skills, plugins and package installs, not just shell commands
  • Publishes a coverage matrix and states its limits openly

Cons

  • Coverage depth varies by agent and event type, and some integrations are alpha
  • Install instructions cover macOS and Linux; Windows support is not stated
  • Cloud tiers add cost, and annual prices are not listed
  • Site has no visible terms or company address on the product page

Platforms

  • Web
    Groq
    Supported
    HOL Guard
    Not supported
  • Windows
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Not supported
  • macOS
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Supported
  • iOS
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Not supported
  • Android
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Not supported
  • API
    Groq
    Supported
    HOL Guard
    Not supported
  • Browser Extension
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Not supported
  • Linux
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Supported
  • CLI
    Groq
    Not supported
    HOL Guard
    Supported

Integrations

Groq

8 integrations
  • OpenAI SDK
  • Factory Droid
  • OpenCode
  • Kilo Code
  • Roo Code
  • Cline
  • Google Workspace
  • MCP connectors

HOL Guard

7 integrations
  • Claude Code
  • Codex
  • Cursor
  • OpenCode
  • GitHub Copilot CLI
  • GitHub Actions
  • MCP servers

Company

  • Company
    Groq
    Groq LLC
    HOL Guard
    Hashgraph Online DAO LLC
  • Founded
    Groq
    2016
    HOL Guard
    Not listed
  • Headquarters
    Groq
    San Francisco, CA
    HOL Guard
    Not listed
  • Listing
    Groq
    Claimed
    HOL Guard
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is Groq better than HOL Guard?

It depends on your workflow. Groq is built for Low-latency LLM API calls. HOL Guard is built for approving risky agent actions locally, Protecting secrets from coding agents, Reviewing MCP servers, skills and plugins before use.

What are the key feature differences between Groq and HOL Guard?

Groq: Fast, OpenAI-compatible inference API for open models, running on custom LPU chips. HOL Guard: Local approvals for AI coding agent actions before they touch your machine.

Does Groq or HOL Guard have a free plan?

Yes, both do. Groq is freemium and HOL Guard is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

Which is cheaper, Groq or HOL Guard?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.