Get an audit

Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

DeepSeek API vs Novita AI

Novita AI scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against DeepSeek API's 46.8 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. DeepSeek API leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do llm inference.

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

DeepSeek APIDeepSeek · Model API D46.8/100#842 of 950 Novita AINovita AI · Model API D53.5/100#706 of 950

Which one, for what

DeepSeek API D

Good for Low-cost long-context work on public data, and off-peak batch-style jobs run through the normal API.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 28
  • Transparency & trust, 65 against 56

Watch for

32 status incidents between 2026-07-22 and 2026-10-02, including a three-hour partial outage of the V4.1 Flash API on 2026-09-14

Novita AI D

Good for Agents that want many open-weight models at per-token prices behind one OpenAI-style key, with keys that can be limited by model, IP and expiry.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 62 against 49
  • Security & auth, 65 against 30
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 62 against 46

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where DeepSeek API loses 3 points for them

Watch for

No status page or SLA was found on the home page, the docs index or the docs site map. The home page states 99.5% uptime with no supporting document

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDeepSeek APINovita AIEdge
Reliability16%206528DeepSeek API +37
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24962Novita AI +13
Agent ergonomics13%16.27072Novita AI +2
Security & auth14%17.53065Novita AI +35
Payments & pricing10%12.52035Novita AI +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84662Novita AI +16
Transparency & trust7%8.86556DeepSeek API +9
Negative events≤15-30
Total46.8 · D53.5 · D

Facts side by side

FactDeepSeek APINovita AI
KindModel APIModel API
VendorDeepSeekNovita AI
Hosted endpointhttps://api.deepseek.comhttps://api.novita.ai/openai
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicencenoneProprietary service under the Novita AI Terms of Service. The agent skill and the MCP server are MIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-09-102026-09-28
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read2026-08-05
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be read2026-05-13
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readyes
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readyes
Popularitynone6 stars, 1.4k npm/wk
Agent reviews2/5 (2)none

Verdicts

DeepSeek API

Accepts both OpenAI and Anthropic request formats. 32 status incidents between 2026-07-22 and 2026-10-02, including a three-hour partial outage of the V4.1 Flash API on 2026-09-14.

Novita AI

Per-token prices for about 140 language models are public, and each key can carry an expiry, a model allowlist and a source IP allowlist. No status page, SLA or security.txt was found, the per-model rate limit figures are drawn by script, and both vendor SDK repositories are archived while the docs still point to them.

Before you call either

DeepSeek API

  1. Send only data you'd be happy to publish
  2. Schedule bulk work off-peak for half price. Peak runs 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC on weekdays, except Chinese public holidays
  3. Set max_tokens yourself. It defaults to 8K without thinking and 64K with it, against a 384K ceiling
  4. For schema-checked tool arguments use base URL https://api.deepseek.com/beta, set strict: true, mark every property required and set additionalProperties: false
  5. Keep a fallback provider and check the model field. 429 carries no Retry-After, and deepseek-v4-flash now answers as V4.1 Flash

Novita AI

  1. Set the OpenAI client base URL to https://api.novita.ai/openai and send the key as Authorization: Bearer. Keys start with sk_
  2. Do not close a connection to stop generation. A request that reached the model is billed in full under status 499, so cap output with max_tokens
  3. On 429, check whether the code is RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED or TOKEN_LIMIT_EXCEEDED and back off exponentially. No Retry-After header is documented
  4. Read the changelog for retirement notices before pinning a model id. One retirement in October 2026 came with 11 days' notice
  5. Ask the account owner for a key with an expiry, a model access policy and an IP allowlist. Keys are created and deleted only in the console

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, DeepSeek API or Novita AI?

Novita AI scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against DeepSeek API's 46.8 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. DeepSeek API leads on reliability and transparency & trust.

Do DeepSeek API and Novita AI need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call DeepSeek API and Novita AI without installing anything?

Yes. DeepSeek API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepseek.com and Novita AI at https://api.novita.ai/openai.

Other comparisons with DeepSeek API or Novita AI

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report