# DeepInfra vs Beam 1.0

> DeepInfra scores 63 (B) to Beam 1.0's 53.4 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

DeepInfra scores 63 (B) on agent readiness against Beam 1.0's 53.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Beam 1.0 leads on schema & documentation. Both do llm inference.

- DeepInfra: grade B, 63/100, rank #452 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepinfra.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepinfra.json
- Beam 1.0: grade D, 53.4/100, rank #786 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reflection-beam.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reflection-beam.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 326 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### DeepInfra (B)

Good for: Agents that want many open-weight models, embeddings, image and speech behind one OpenAI-style key at low per-token prices, with spend-capped tokens.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 40
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 67
- Security & auth, 64 against 46
- Maintenance & community, 65 against 50

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.5 out of 5

Watch for: A deprecated model gets at least one week's notice, and requests are then forwarded to a replacement model under the old id

### Beam 1.0 (D)

Good for: An OpenAI-compatible endpoint for a large open-weight coding and agent model, for builders who want the same model hosted or self-hosted under Apache-2.0.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 69

Watch for: The API is a public beta with no SLA, and per-organisation rate limits and the daily allocation are not published as numbers


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeepInfra | Beam 1.0 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 40 | DeepInfra +30 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 84 | Beam 1.0 +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 67 | DeepInfra +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 46 | DeepInfra +18 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 20 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 50 | DeepInfra +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 68 | Beam 1.0 +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63 · B** | **53.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepInfra | Beam 1.0 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Deep Infra Inc. | Reflection |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai` | `https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the DeepInfra Terms of Service. The Python and Node SDKs and the docs repository are MIT | Weights under Apache-2.0. The hosted Reflection API is a closed service under Reflection AI, Inc.'s commercial terms of service |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-17 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-15 |  |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 21 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 50 PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**DeepInfra.** The model list, context sizes and per-token prices are readable without a key, and keys can carry an IP allowlist, a monthly spending cap and model-limited JWTs. Deprecated models get one week's notice and are then redirected to another model, there is no changelog or SLA, and an account needs a card or prepayment before any call.

**Beam 1.0.** The Reflection API is OpenAI-compatible, with an OpenAPI document, strict structured outputs and tool calls, and error codes that say when to retry, and the weights are Apache-2.0. It is a free public beta with unpublished daily limits and no per-token price, reasoning can't be turned off, and three API incidents were posted between 14 and 16 October 2026.

## Before you call either

### DeepInfra

1. Call `GET https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai/models` at start-up for ids, context sizes and prices. No key is needed
2. Check the `model` field of each response. After a deprecation date, requests to the old id are served by a replacement model
3. Ask the account owner for a scoped JWT limited to the models and spend the task needs, not the full API key
4. Stay under 200 concurrent requests per model. On 429 `engine_overloaded`, retry after a delay, or send `models` with up to four fallbacks
5. Never inspect a JWT with `GET /v1/scoped-jwt?jwtoken=`, which puts the token in the URL. Keep credentials in the `Authorization` header

### Beam 1.0

1. Send `reasoning_effort` `low` or `medium` for short tasks. The default is `max`, and `none` or `minimal` return `400 unsupported_value`
2. Return every assistant message with its `reasoning_content` unchanged. If a turn comes back without it, start a new conversation, since later requests fail with `missing_required_parameter`
3. Don't rely on `stop` or `seed`. Both are accepted and ignored, so truncate output in your own code
4. Honour `x-should-retry: false` on a 429. It means a daily limit is spent and `Retry-After` counts to 00:00 UTC
5. Set `max_completion_tokens` yourself on long prompts. The default budget isn't reduced to fit the prompt and includes reasoning tokens

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, DeepInfra or Beam 1.0?

DeepInfra scores 63 (B) on agent readiness against Beam 1.0's 53.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Beam 1.0 leads on schema & documentation.

### Do DeepInfra and Beam 1.0 need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call DeepInfra and Beam 1.0 without installing anything?

Yes. DeepInfra has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai and Beam 1.0 at https://api.reflection.ai/openai/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with DeepInfra or Beam 1.0

- [Claude API vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Claude API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Antseed vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Antseed vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [DeepInfra vs DeepSeek API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-deepseek-api.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Glimpse](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-elorian-glimpse.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Gemini Developer API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-gemini-api.md)
- [DeepInfra vs GroqCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-groq.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Jais 3](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-jais-3.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Meta Model API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-meta-model-api.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-mistral-api.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Muse Spark Open](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-muse-spark-open.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [DeepInfra vs OpenAI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-openai-api.md)
- [DeepInfra vs OpenRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-openrouter.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Prism Inference](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-prism-inference.md)
- [DeepInfra vs RouterPlus](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-routerplus.md)
- [DeepInfra vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-sambanova.md)
- [DeepInfra vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [DeepInfra vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [DeepInfra vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Glimpse vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elorian-glimpse-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [GroqCloud vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Jais 3 vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jais-3-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Meta Model API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meta-model-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-reflection-beam.md)
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- [Prism Inference vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-reflection-beam.md)
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- [Beam 1.0 vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs StepFun API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-stepfun-api.md)
- [Beam 1.0 vs Vercel AI Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.md)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Beam 1.0](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-reflection-beam.md)

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