# DeepInfra vs SiliconFlow

> DeepInfra scores 63 (B) to SiliconFlow's 46.7 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-siliconflow
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-siliconflow.md (~2,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-siliconflow.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-siliconflow.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

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.

- DeepInfra: grade B, 63/100, rank #411 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepinfra.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepinfra.json
- SiliconFlow: grade D, 46.7/100, rank #848 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/siliconflow.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/siliconflow.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

### 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

| Category | Weight | DeepInfra | SiliconFlow | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 33 | DeepInfra +37 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 65 | DeepInfra +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 60 | DeepInfra +17 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 39 | DeepInfra +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | SiliconFlow +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 47 | DeepInfra +18 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 51 | DeepInfra +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63 · B** | **46.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepInfra | SiliconFlow |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Deep Infra Inc. | SiliconFlow Labs Pte. Ltd. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai` | `https://api.siliconflow.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| 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 SiliconFlow Terms of Use |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-17 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-15 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 21 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 50 PyPI/wk | none |

## 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.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with DeepInfra or SiliconFlow

- [Claude API vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Claude API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Antseed vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Antseed vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [BlockRun.AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/blockrun-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cloudflare AI Gateway vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-gateway-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs DeepInfra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-deepinfra.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-siliconflow.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 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 SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepinfra-vs-sambanova.md)
- [DeepSeek API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Gemini Developer API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [GroqCloud vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/groq-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Mistral AI API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Novita AI vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [OpenAI API vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-api-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [OpenRouter vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openrouter-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [Prism Inference vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-siliconflow.md)
- [SambaCloud vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-siliconflow.md)