Reka AI 2026: Multimodal API & Research Agent
Reka AI is a US AI lab offering one OpenAI-compatible endpoint for text, image, video and audio understanding. ⚠️ Unlike stacks that combine separate vision, transcription and chat products, Reka Core and Flash accept multiple modalities through the same chat-completions surface. This review covers models, verified August 2026 pricing, integration, Research, regional access, competitors and practical limits.
🧠 Model list
| Model | Tier | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| reka-edge | Small / fast | Cheap short chat and routing |
| reka-flash | Balanced | Fast multimodal applications |
| reka-core | Frontier | Best text, image, video and audio reasoning |
| reka-spark | Experimental | Interactive assistants |
| reka-flash-research | Research | Multi-step cited answers |
💰 Pricing
Token rates are USD per million tokens; media units stack on top. Reka is pay-as-you-go from the first production request.
| Model | Input | Output | Image | Video/min | Audio/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edge | $0.10 | $0.10 | $0.005 | $0.03 | — |
| Flash | $0.80 | $2.00 | $0.01 | $0.06 | $0.015 |
| Core | $2.00 | $6.00 | $0.02 | $0.08 | $0.02 |
🔌 OpenAI Python SDK
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.reka.ai/v1", api_key="YOUR_REKA_API_KEY")
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="reka-flash",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain this image"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)The same base URL works with OpenAI-compatible framework adapters. Tool calling, JSON mode and SSE streaming follow familiar chat-completions conventions, reducing migration work to a model-name and credential change.
🧠 Research agent
reka-flash-research plans sub-questions, runs web searches and synthesizes an answer with citations. Standard costs $25 per 1,000 requests, parallel-low $35, and parallel-high $60, plus consumed tokens. It fits due diligence, fact finding and market scans; casual chat should stay on Edge or Flash.
curl https://api.reka.ai/v1/chat/completions -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_REKA_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"model":"reka-flash-research","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Summarize recent EU AI Act enforcement with citations."}]}'🌐 Regional availability
Reka publishes no mainland China endpoint. Direct CN routing is not guaranteed, so production teams should test a stable Hong Kong or Singapore gateway and monitor failures. Domestic alternatives such as Qwen, GLM, DeepSeek and Kimi offer similar OpenAI-compatible surfaces with lower in-region latency. Do not assume a fixed cross-border latency number.
Reka vs competitors
| Provider | Where it wins | Where Reka wins |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | Largest ecosystem | Unified media billing and low-cost Edge |
| Anthropic | Long-context reasoning and tooling | First-class video and audio |
| Very long context and cloud distribution | Simpler OpenAI-style integration | |
| Mistral | Open-weight deployment | Managed Research surface |
⚠️ Limitations
- No permanent public free tier.
- No published mainland China region.
- A thinner community and integration ecosystem than incumbents.
- Parallel-high Research can become expensive without quotas.
- Public enterprise compliance documentation is less extensive; confirm SOC 2, HIPAA and data-retention terms contractually.
🎯 Verdict
Choose Reka when one API and one invoice must cover text, image, video, audio and optional cited research. Edge is especially compelling for inexpensive routing. Skip it when a free tier, mainland deployment, the broadest third-party ecosystem or documented compliance packages are mandatory.
FAQ
Is Reka OpenAI compatible?
Yes. Set the OpenAI client base URL to https://api.reka.ai/v1.
Which inputs are supported?
Core and Flash support text, images, video and audio; Edge targets text workloads.
Is there a free tier?
No permanent public hosted-API tier is advertised.
What is Research for?
Cited, multi-step web research such as due diligence and market scans.
Can it be used in China?
Possibly through tested cross-border routing, but no mainland endpoint is published.