# DeepInfra vs SambaCloud

> SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against DeepInfra's 63 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. DeepInfra leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do llm inference. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-sambanova
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-sambanova.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-sambanova.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-sambanova.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: 2026-10-09

SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against DeepInfra's 63 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. DeepInfra leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do llm inference.

- DeepInfra: grade B, 63/100, rank #371 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepinfra.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepinfra.json
- SambaCloud: grade B, 66.4/100, rank #269 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sambanova.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sambanova.json

## 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:
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 67
- Security & auth, 64 against 58

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

### SambaCloud (B)

Good for: Agents that want open-weight models behind an OpenAI or Anthropic client with a free start and prices an agent can read from the API.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 70
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 69
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 65

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Production models get a notice of two to three weeks, and 13 model ids were removed between 9 March and 9 June 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeepInfra | SambaCloud | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 85 | SambaCloud +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 81 | SambaCloud +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 67 | DeepInfra +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 58 | DeepInfra +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | SambaCloud +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 77 | SambaCloud +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 63 | DeepInfra +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **63 · B** | **66.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepInfra | SambaCloud |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Deep Infra Inc. | SambaNova Systems, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai` | `https://api.sambanova.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the DeepInfra Terms of Service. The Python and Node SDKs and the docs repository are MIT | Proprietary service under the SambaCloud Terms of Service. The SDKs and the OpenAPI document are Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-17 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-17 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-15 | 2023-05-27 |
| 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 | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 21 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 50 PyPI/wk | 2 stars, 76 npm/wk, 6.1k PyPI/wk |

## 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.

**SambaCloud.** Per-token prices and the model list are readable without a key at `/v1/models`, and a free tier needs no card. Production models get two to three weeks' notice before removal, 13 model ids left between March and June 2026, and the docs disagree with the live catalogue on MiniMax-M2.7.

## 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

### SambaCloud

1. Call `GET https://api.sambanova.ai/v1/models` at start-up and use only ids it returns. The docs name models the endpoint no longer lists
2. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining-requests` and `x-ratelimit-remaining-requests-day` on every response. The free tier allows 20 requests a day per model
3. Treat 429 `queue_full` and 503 `maintenance` as retryable after a delay, and 410 `model_deprecated` as a signal to change model
4. Validate JSON output yourself. Schema enforcement is best effort and `strict: true` changes nothing
5. Check `max_completion_tokens` per model. DeepSeek-V3.1 caps output at 7,168 tokens and Llama 3.3 70B at 3,072

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, DeepInfra or SambaCloud?

SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against DeepInfra's 63 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. DeepInfra leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do DeepInfra and SambaCloud need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call DeepInfra and SambaCloud without installing anything?

Yes. DeepInfra has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai and SambaCloud at https://api.sambanova.ai/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with DeepInfra or SambaCloud

- [Claude API vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Claude API vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Antseed vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Antseed vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-sambanova.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-sambanova.md)
- [DeepInfra vs DeepSeek API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-deepseek-api.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 Mistral AI API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-mistral-api.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)
- [DeepSeek API vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-sambanova.md)
- [GroqCloud vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-sambanova.md)
- [OpenAI API vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-sambanova.md)
- [OpenRouter vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-sambanova.md)
- [Prism Inference vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-sambanova.md)