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Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

DeepInfra vs SiliconFlow

DeepInfra scores 63 (B) on agent readiness against SiliconFlow's 46.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SiliconFlow leads on payments & pricing. Both do llm inference.

Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 136 models comparisons

DeepInfraDeep Infra Inc. · Model API B63/100#411 of 950 SiliconFlowSiliconFlow Labs Pte. Ltd. · Model API D46.7/100#848 of 950

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 33
  • Agent ergonomics, 77 against 60
  • Security & auth, 64 against 39
  • Maintenance & community, 65 against 47
  • Transparency & trust, 67 against 51

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

SiliconFlow D

Good for Agents that want recent open-weight chat models, plus image, video and speech, behind one OpenAI-style key at low per-token prices, and can live without a status page or SLA.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 20

Watch for

No status page, incident history or SLA was found, and the terms disclaim any uptime or availability commitment

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDeepInfraSiliconFlowEdge
Reliability16%207033DeepInfra +37
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26965DeepInfra +4
Agent ergonomics13%16.27760DeepInfra +17
Security & auth14%17.56439DeepInfra +25
Payments & pricing10%12.52035SiliconFlow +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86547DeepInfra +18
Transparency & trust7%8.86751DeepInfra +16
Negative events≤1500
Total63 · B46.7 · D

Facts side by side

FactDeepInfraSiliconFlow
KindModel APIModel API
VendorDeep Infra Inc.SiliconFlow Labs Pte. Ltd.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openaihttps://api.siliconflow.com/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the DeepInfra Terms of Service. The Python and Node SDKs and the docs repository are MITProprietary service under the SiliconFlow Terms of Use
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-072026-09-14
Terms last updated2026-08-17no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-08-15no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesyes
Popularity21 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 50 PyPI/wknone

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.

SiliconFlow

Per-token prices for every listed model are public, and one key reaches chat, embeddings, reranking, image, video and speech through OpenAI-style and Anthropic-style routes. No status page, SLA, security page or official SDK was found, release notes stop at 11 June 2026, and several model removals are dated the same day as their notice.

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

SiliconFlow

  1. Set the OpenAI client's base URL to https://api.siliconflow.com/v1, or the Anthropic client's to https://api.siliconflow.com/, and send the key as a Bearer token
  2. Take model ids from the model pages or GET /v1/models, not from the OpenAPI enum or the function calling guide, which list removed models
  3. Check the model field of each response. On 11 June 2026 traffic for GLM-5 and Kimi-K2.5 was routed to successor models
  4. Use response_format of json_object only where the model page says JSON Mode is supported, and keep max_tokens about 10,000 below the context length
  5. Set the Claude Code environment variables by hand. The automated route pipes a script from an Amazon S3 bucket into bash

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, DeepInfra or SiliconFlow?

DeepInfra scores 63 (B) on agent readiness against SiliconFlow's 46.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. SiliconFlow leads on payments & pricing.

Do DeepInfra and SiliconFlow need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call DeepInfra and SiliconFlow without installing anything?

Yes. DeepInfra has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai and SiliconFlow at https://api.siliconflow.com/v1.

Other comparisons with DeepInfra or SiliconFlow

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