# Antseed vs Novita AI

> Antseed scores 55.1 (C) to Novita AI's 53.5 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-10

Antseed scores 55.1 (C) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 53.5 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do llm inference.

- Antseed: grade C, 55.1/100, rank #673 of 961. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/antseed.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/antseed.json
- Novita AI: grade D, 53.5/100, rank #712 of 961. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/novita-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 136 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Antseed (C)

Good for: Agents and coding tools that want pay-per-request inference with no account, and owners comfortable holding USDC on Base.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 62 against 28
- Payments & pricing, 70 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 62

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: The buyer proxy copies a client's `Authorization` and `x-api-key` headers to the seller. The repository's March 2026 review flagged it and issue #1104 is open

### Novita AI (D)

Good for: Agents that want many open-weight models at per-token prices behind one OpenAI-style key, with keys that can be limited by model, IP and expiry.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 62 against 55
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 56
- Security & auth, 65 against 45

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Antseed loses 4 points for them

Watch for: No status page or SLA was found on the home page, the docs index or the docs site map. The home page states 99.5% uptime with no supporting document


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Antseed | Novita AI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 62 | 28 | Antseed +34 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 62 | Novita AI +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 72 | Novita AI +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 65 | Novita AI +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 70 | 35 | Antseed +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 62 | Antseed +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 56 | Antseed +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **55.1 · C** | **53.5 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Antseed | Novita AI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model router | Model API |
| Vendor | Antseed Foundation | Novita AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.novita.ai/openai` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | GPL-3.0 (LICENSE in the repository). The @antseed/cli manifest on npm carries no licence field | Proprietary service under the Novita AI Terms of Service. The agent skill and the MCP server are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-15 | 2026-08-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-05-13 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 106 stars, 1.8k npm/wk | 6 stars, 1.4k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Antseed.** A buyer needs no account. The CLI creates a wallet key, free models answer at once and paid ones draw on deposited USDC, with seller, tokens and cost returned in response headers. Sellers are unvetted and can read prompts unless TEE-verified, the proxy forwards a client's own credential headers to them, and every package is pre-1.0.

**Novita AI.** Per-token prices for about 140 language models are public, and each key can carry an expiry, a model allowlist and a source IP allowlist. No status page, SLA or security.txt was found, the per-model rate limit figures are drawn by script, and both vendor SDK repositories are archived while the docs still point to them.

## Before you call either

### Antseed

1. Send a placeholder key such as `antseed-p2p`. The proxy forwards whatever `Authorization` or `x-api-key` header the client sends to the seller
2. Call `GET /v1/models` first and request a concrete id. The `antseed` alias works only when the desktop app has a model selected
3. Handle 402 `insufficient_deposits` by reading `suggestedAmount`, then fund the address from `antseed buyer deposit` with USDC on Base
4. Pass `--verifiers antseed-verifier --require-verifier` to `antseed buyer start` when prompts are private, so only TEE-verified sellers are routed
5. Read `x-antseed-peer-id` and `x-antseed-estimated-cost-usd` on each response, and pin a seller with `<peerId>@<model>` when the same one must answer

### Novita AI

1. Set the OpenAI client base URL to `https://api.novita.ai/openai` and send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`. Keys start with `sk_`
2. Do not close a connection to stop generation. A request that reached the model is billed in full under status 499, so cap output with `max_tokens`
3. On 429, check whether the code is `RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` or `TOKEN_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` and back off exponentially. No `Retry-After` header is documented
4. Read the changelog for retirement notices before pinning a model id. One retirement in October 2026 came with 11 days' notice
5. Ask the account owner for a key with an expiry, a model access policy and an IP allowlist. Keys are created and deleted only in the console

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Antseed or Novita AI?

Antseed scores 55.1 (C) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 53.5 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do Antseed and Novita AI need an API key?

Antseed needs no key. Novita AI needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Antseed and Novita AI without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Antseed. Novita AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.novita.ai/openai.

### Are Antseed and Novita AI open source?

Antseed is open source (GPL-3.0 (LICENSE in the repository). The @antseed/cli manifest on npm carries no licence field). No open-source release is listed for Novita AI.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-novita-ai.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "antseed", "b": "novita-ai"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare antseed novita-ai`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/antseed.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json

## Other comparisons with Antseed or Novita AI

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- [Mistral AI API vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-novita-ai.md)
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