# DeepInfra vs Vercel AI Gateway

> Vercel AI Gateway scores 66.7 (B) to DeepInfra's 63 (B) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

Vercel AI Gateway scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against DeepInfra's 63 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. 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
- Vercel AI Gateway: grade B, 66.7/100, rank #302 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vercel-ai-gateway.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vercel-ai-gateway.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.

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 3.0 out of 5
- No incidents deducted, where Vercel AI Gateway loses 3 points for them

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

### Vercel AI Gateway (B)

Good for: Teams that want one key, one bill, budgets and failover in front of many model providers, especially on Vercel with OIDC.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 74 against 69
- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 77
- Security & auth, 79 against 64
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 65

Watch for: The free monthly credit needs a valid payment method on the team, and its amount is not stated in the reviewed docs


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeepInfra | Vercel AI Gateway | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 74 | Vercel AI Gateway +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 74 | Vercel AI Gateway +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 83 | Vercel AI Gateway +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 79 | Vercel AI Gateway +15 |
| 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 | 79 | Vercel AI Gateway +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 70 | Vercel AI Gateway +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **63 · B** | **66.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepInfra | Vercel AI Gateway |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model router |
| Vendor | Deep Infra Inc. | Vercel Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai` | `https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or 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 Vercel's Terms of Service and AI Product Terms, with Token Pass terms on its docs page. Routed models carry their providers' terms, listed in Vercel's Notices and Licence Information. The `@ai-sdk/gateway` provider is Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-17 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-17 | 2026-06-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-15 | 2026-06-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 21 stars, 1.2k npm/wk, 50 PyPI/wk | 29.6M npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 3/5 (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.

**Vercel AI Gateway.** Token prices pass through with no markup, prompts are not stored by the gateway, and budgets, provider failover and per-request logs are built in. The free monthly credit needs a card on file, rate limits are not published as numbers, no SLA covers the API, and the contractual promise not to train on content applies to Enterprise subscriptions only.

## 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

### Vercel AI Gateway

1. Read `GET https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/models` without a key to pick a model ID and check its price, context, ZDR and no-training flags before calling
2. Set `zeroDataRetention` or `disallowPromptTraining` to true in `providerOptions.gateway` on sensitive requests. Default routing ignores provider retention and training policies
3. Treat a 429 as retryable and honour `retry-after` when present. A 402 with `quota_for_entity_exceeded` is a spent budget, so do not retry it
4. On a Token Pass key, a 403 with `no_providers_available` means spent credit or a model outside the pass. Retry with a standard AI Gateway key, which bills credits
5. Set `inferenceRegion` when data residency matters. The default `global` may run inference outside the user's jurisdiction

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, DeepInfra or Vercel AI Gateway?

Vercel AI Gateway scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against DeepInfra's 63 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do DeepInfra and Vercel AI Gateway need an API key?

DeepInfra needs an API key. Vercel AI Gateway takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call DeepInfra and Vercel AI Gateway without installing anything?

Yes. DeepInfra has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai and Vercel AI Gateway at https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1.


## For agents

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

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