Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run
Antseed vs StepFun API
Antseed scores 55.1 (C) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. StepFun API leads on agent ergonomics. Both do llm inference.
Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 153 models comparisons
Which one, for what
Antseed C
Best 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 20
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 50
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
Best for Long-context agent and coding work over text, screenshots and video at a low per-token price, where a preview model is acceptable.
Ahead on
- Agent ergonomics, 68 against 56
Also in its favour
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Antseed loses 4 points for them
Watch for
Step 5 Preview is labelled a preview, and no release date or support commitment was found
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Antseed | StepFun API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 62 | 28 | Antseed +34 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 55 | 53 | Antseed +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 56 | 68 | StepFun API +12 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 45 | 41 | Antseed +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 70 | 20 | Antseed +50 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 79 | 50 | Antseed +29 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 59 | 58 | Antseed +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| Total | C 55.1/100 | E 44.4/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Antseed | StepFun API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Model router | Model API |
| Vendor | Antseed Foundation | StepFun |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | https://api.stepfun.ai/v1 |
| 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 | Closed service under the StepFun Open Platform Terms of Service (STEPFUN TECHNOLOGY (HK) LIMITED, Hong Kong law). |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-15 | |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | |
| Popularity | 106 stars, 1.8k npm/wk | none |
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.
StepFun API
StepFun's API serves Step 5 Preview with a 1M-token context, video input, strict JSON Schema output and published per-token prices, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt. The model is a preview with no release date found, there's no free allowance or SLA, and the terms and privacy policy leave room to train on customer data.
Before you call either
Antseed
- Send a placeholder key such as
antseed-p2p. The proxy forwards whateverAuthorizationorx-api-keyheader the client sends to the seller - Call
GET /v1/modelsfirst and request a concrete id. Theantseedalias works only when the desktop app has a model selected - Handle 402
insufficient_depositsby readingsuggestedAmount, then fund the address fromantseed buyer depositwith USDC on Base - Pass
--verifiers antseed-verifier --require-verifiertoantseed buyer startwhen prompts are private, so only TEE-verified sellers are routed - Read
x-antseed-peer-idandx-antseed-estimated-cost-usdon each response, and pin a seller with<peerId>@<model>when the same one must answer
StepFun API
- Set
max_tokensyourself. It defaults to unlimited on Step 5 Preview, and reasoning tokens are billed as output - Use
response_formatwithtype: json_schemaandstrict: truewhen the shape matters. JSON Mode alone isn't schema-checked - Back off and retry on 429, 500, 503 and 504. The docs give no Retry-After header or backoff schedule
- Expect HTTP 451 or
finish_reason: content_filterwhen content fails StepFun's review, and don't retry the same input - Use api.stepfun.ai for the international platform. api.stepfun.com is the China platform with yuan pricing
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Antseed or StepFun API?
Antseed scores 55.1 (C) on agent readiness against StepFun API's 44.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. StepFun API leads on agent ergonomics.
Do Antseed and StepFun API need an API key?
Antseed needs no key. StepFun API needs an API key.
Can an agent call Antseed and StepFun API without installing anything?
No hosted endpoint is listed for Antseed. StepFun API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.stepfun.ai/v1.
Are Antseed and StepFun API 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 StepFun API.
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- Antseed vs SiliconFlow
- BlockRun.AI vs StepFun API
- Cloudflare AI Gateway vs StepFun API
- Cloudflare Workers AI vs StepFun API
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- DeepInfra vs StepFun API
- DeepSeek API vs StepFun API
- Gemini Developer API vs StepFun API
- GroqCloud vs StepFun API
- Mistral AI API vs StepFun API
- Novita AI vs StepFun API
- OpenAI API vs StepFun API
- OpenRouter vs StepFun API
- Prism Inference vs StepFun API
- SambaCloud vs StepFun API
- SiliconFlow vs StepFun API
- Antseed vs Cloudflare AI Gateway
- Antseed vs OpenRouter
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/antseed-vs-stepfun-api.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/antseed.json·/api/v1/tools/stepfun-api.json - From a terminal
anchor compare antseed stepfun-api(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "antseed", "b": "stepfun-api"}at/mcp, no key