{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "name": "Hugging Face Inference Providers", "vendor": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://huggingface.co", "kind": "router", "category": "inference", "summary": "Hugging Face's serverless router that sends model calls to partner inference providers such as Groq, Cerebras, Together and Fireworks through one Hugging Face token, with an OpenAI-compatible API at router.huggingface.co/v1 and Python and JavaScript clients.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "dns": "hugging-face-inference-providers.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub", "license": "Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "huggingface_hub" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@huggingface/inference" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Hugging Face user access token sent as `Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN`. The docs recommend a fine-grained token with only the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission. Tokens are made in account settings in a browser, can be rotated and revoked, and a leaked token can be revoked by anyone through `POST /api/credentials/revoke`. A provider's own key can be stored in settings instead, and Hugging Face swaps it in when routing.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Pay as you go at each provider's own per-token rates with no Hugging Face markup, drawn from prepaid credits on the Hugging Face account. Free users get no included credits since 7 October 2026 and must buy credits. PRO users and Team or Enterprise seats get $2.00 a month of compute credits. Requests with a custom provider key are billed by the provider (https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/pricing, checked 2026-11-06).", "priceSummary": "$2 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Inference Providers docs, llms.txt or the router's model list. Calls draw on prepaid Hugging Face credits bought in the account's billing settings (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 483470, "pypiWeekly": 71518708, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/index", "llmsTxt": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "inference.router", "inference.open-weights", "inference.llm" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "router", "usage", "prepaid", "openai-compatible", "llms-txt", "python", "javascript", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 54, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 920, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 28, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 58, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 20, "reliability": 25, "schema": 62, "security": 79, "transparency": 71 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.", "bestFor": "Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.", "strengths": [ "router.huggingface.co/v1/models lists every routed model with each provider's price, context, tool support, latency and throughput, without a token", "Provider choice by suffix (`:fastest`, `:cheapest`, `:preferred` or a provider name) on an OpenAI-compatible endpoint", "Fine-grained tokens can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission and revoked at once", "No markup on provider rates, and request bodies and responses are not stored when routed", "Official clients in Python (`huggingface_hub` 2.4.0, 29 October 2026) and JavaScript (`@huggingface/inference` 4.13.32)" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router", "status.huggingface.co has no component for Inference Providers or the router", "Free users have had no included credits since 7 October 2026, and buying credits needs a person in the account settings", "No OpenAPI document for the router, no batch API, and the Responses API is beta", "Data handling past the router depends on each provider's own policy" ], "agentNotes": [ "Read https://router.huggingface.co/v1/models before choosing a provider; it shows price, context and `supports_tools` per provider", "Pin a provider with `model:\u003cprovider\u003e` when tool calling or structured output matters, since support varies by provider", "Use a fine-grained token with only the Inference Providers permission, and send `X-HF-Bill-To` to bill an organisation", "Back off on 429 without assuming a Retry-After header, since none is documented for the router" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 54 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 58, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 20, "reliability": 25, "schema": 62, "security": 79, "transparency": 58 }, "provenanceScore": 84, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install huggingface_hub # or: pip install openai, with base_url https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "http": "curl https://router.huggingface.co/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\":\"openai/gpt-oss-120b:fastest\",\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"How many Gs in huggingface?\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.router", "tool": "https://letme.dev/hugging-face-inference-providers" }, "sameCompany": [ "hugging-face-inference-endpoints", "smolagents", "carbon-x", "smollm3-3b" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "openai/gpt-oss-120b input, cheapest provider listed (DeepInfra)", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.037, "note": "Output $0.17. Groq lists $0.15/$0.75 and Cerebras $0.35/$0.75, per the router's model list of 6 November 2026" }, { "item": "PRO monthly compute credits", "unit": "month", "usd": 2, "note": "Also $2.00 per seat for Team and Enterprise organisations" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "domain": "huggingface.co", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://huggingface.co/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.huggingface.co", "changelog": "https://huggingface.co/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service (effective 15 September 2022) name Hugging Face, Inc. and define Inference Providers as a hosted service for running inference through an API on Hub models.", "huggingface.co/robots.txt and router.huggingface.co/robots.txt allow all. status.huggingface.co serves an empty robots.txt.", "status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with components for the Hub, git hosting, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, and none for Inference Providers or the router.", "huggingface.co/changelog covers the whole Hub and had no Inference Providers entry on its first page on 6 November 2026. Dated changes to the docs are in the hub-docs repository's history.", "security.txt, privacy policy and subprocessor list as recorded on the Inference Endpoints listing (checked 8 October and 2 November 2026); not re-read for this listing." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "live": { "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "probe": { "target": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:30.999057368Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 188, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 108, "p95ms24h": 196, "samples24h": 200, "samples30d": 200, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 187, "ok": 187 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.huggingface.co", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:47:55.542550557Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "huggingface/huggingface_hub", "version": "v2.4.0", "released": "2026-10-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:27.894225298Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@huggingface/inference", "version": "4.13.32", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:27.102558197Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "huggingface_hub", "version": "2.4.0", "released": "2026-10-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:26.910773744Z" } ], "githubStars": 4034, "npmWeekly": 483470, "pypiWeekly": 71518708, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2030-07-01T08:42:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:00.493446773Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:44.910268229Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:11:37.221950067Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "2cbe821ca9d2" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:30.999057368Z" } }, "answer": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) scores 88.7 (AA) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "vertex-ai", "name": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "vendor": "Google Cloud", "vendorUrl": "https://cloud.google.com/products/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform", "kind": "model", "category": "inference", "summary": "Google Cloud's enterprise API for Gemini models and Model Garden partner and open models, including Claude, Llama and Qwen, on the platform formerly called Vertex AI, with regional endpoints, provisioned throughput and IAM access.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-ai", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-ai.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-ai.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vertex-ai.json", "dns": "vertex-ai.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/googleapis/python-genai", "license": "Proprietary service under the Google Cloud Platform terms. Partner models carry their providers' terms. The Google Gen AI SDKs are Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-genai" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@google/genai" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-cloud-aiplatform" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.0 bearer tokens from application default credentials or service accounts, with IAM roles on a Google Cloud project, which the docs recommend for production. Google Cloud API keys, including express mode keys (Preview) that need no project or location in the URL, are recommended for testing. The OpenAI-compatible endpoint accepts only Google Cloud auth.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Per-token prices per model, with global and higher non-global rates and Standard, Priority and Flex/Batch options. Gemini 4 Argon costs $4/$20 per million, with 50% credits back through 2026-11-30. Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75/$3.75 through 2026-12-31, then $1.50/$7.50. Claude Opus 5.5 $4/$20. Batch and Flex half price on Gemini. Only requests that return 200 are charged. Express mode gives new users 90 days free with no billing details (https://cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/generative-ai/pricing).", "priceSummary": "from $0.30 / 1M in", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 on the pricing page or in the express mode docs (checked 2026-11-06). Access needs a Google account and, after the express trial, a Cloud billing account.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": 20917051, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/models/start", "rateLimitsUrl": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/models/standard-paygo", "openapi": "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/$discovery/rest?version=v1", "capabilities": [ "inference.llm", "inference.open-weights" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "model", "open-weights", "enterprise", "usage-priced", "free-tier", "no-card", "python", "typescript", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-11-05", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 88.7, "grade": "AA", "agentReady": true, "rank": 2, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 1, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 97, "maintenance": 91, "payments": 40, "reliability": 99, "schema": 94, "security": 97, "transparency": 90 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Gemini, Claude and open models through one Google Cloud API with IAM, regional endpoints, schema-guaranteed JSON and a 99.5 per cent SLA, and no Vertex incident on the Cloud status page in the 90 days to 6 November 2026. Gemini 4 Argon and 3.8 Flash have 12-month availability, but short-term Flash models get a 95 per cent SLA.", "bestFor": "Google Cloud customers who need Gemini with residency, VPC-SC, provisioned throughput and an SLA, or Claude under a Google bill.", "strengths": [ "No incident naming Vertex or Gemini on status.cloud.google.com between 8 July and 6 October 2026", "Public discovery document for the v1 API (revision 20260930) with 1,128 methods and 1,493 schemas", "JSON output follows a supplied `response_schema` when `response_mime_type` is `application/json`", "Express mode gives new users 90 days free with an API key and no billing details", "Only requests that return 200 are charged", "Gemini 4 Argon, GA since 13 October 2026, has a 1,048,576-token unified limit at $4/$20 per million tokens" ], "weaknesses": [ "The SLA drops from 99.5 to 95 per cent for short-term availability models, Gemini 3.7 and 3.6 Flash among them", "Gemini 3.6 Flash, released 21 July 2026, retires on 19 November 2026, and 3.7 Flash on 28 January 2027", "Zero retention needs an exception request, and flagged prompts may be kept up to 90 days", "The Interactions API stores prompts and responses unless `store` is set to false", "No llms.txt on the docs site, and the docs mix the Vertex AI and Agent Platform names", "The model versions table still listed Gemini 2.5 Pro, Flash and Flash-Lite as available after their 20 October 2026 retirement date" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call the `global` location on aiplatform.googleapis.com unless data residency requires a Region. The 429 guide says it spreads load and reduces errors", "Back off exponentially on 429 `Resource exhausted`. On Standard PayGo it means shared capacity is busy, not a fixed quota", "Send `response_schema` with `response_mime_type: application/json`. JSON mode alone doesn't guarantee valid output", "Set `store` to false on Interactions API calls. It defaults to true and keeps prompts and responses", "Pin `gemini-4-argon` or `gemini-3.8-flash`, both in the 12-month tier, rather than 3.7 or 3.6 Flash, which retire on 28 January 2027 and 19 November 2026" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "AA", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 88.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 97, "maintenance": 91, "payments": 40, "reliability": 99, "schema": 94, "security": 97, "transparency": 83 }, "provenanceScore": 97, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install google-genai # or: npm i @google/genai", "http": "curl -X POST \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)\" \\\n \"https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/${GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT}/locations/global/publishers/google/models/gemini-3.8-flash:generateContent\" \\\n -d '{\"contents\":{\"role\":\"user\",\"parts\":{\"text\":\"Explain how AI works in a few words\"}}}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm", "tool": "https://letme.dev/vertex-ai" }, "sameCompany": [ "gemini-api", "gemini-embedding", "vertex-ai-tuning", "cloud-run-gpus", "google-model-armor", "google-imagen", "google-veo", "google-lyria", "google-speech-to-text", "google-cloud-tts", "gemini-live", "google-adk", "google-memory-bank", "google-secret-manager", "google-cloud-document-ai", "google-weather-api", "chrome-devtools-mcp", "google-maps-platform", "google-cloud-translation", "google-calendar-api", "firebase-cloud-messaging", "google-cloud-storage", "google-drive-api", "gemini-enterprise", "gemini-cli", "google-search-console", "google-ads-api", "google-forms", "google-sheets-api", "gmail-api", "google-people-api" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Grounding with Google Search over 5,000 a month (Gemini 3)", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 14 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Google LLC", "domain": "google.com", "domainRegistered": "1997-09-15", "domainNote": "The endpoint is on googleapis.com, Google's API domain. google.com was registered in 1997.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://cloud.google.com/terms", "privacy": "https://policies.google.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.cloud.google.com", "changelog": "https://docs.cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/release-notes", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "The product runs under the Google Cloud Platform terms, whose contracting Google entity depends on the billing country, as for vertex-ai-tuning.", "www.google.com/.well-known/security.txt expires on 2030-04-01 (read 2026-11-06).", "docs.cloud.google.com has no llms.txt (404 on 6 October 2026), but each docs page answers as Markdown when `.md.txt` is added to its URL." ], "score": 97 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-ai.json", "live": { "slug": "vertex-ai", "probe": { "target": "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T18:21:03.779025658Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 763, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 118, "p95ms24h": 752, "samples24h": 200, "samples30d": 200, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 187, "ok": 187 } ] }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "googleapis/python-genai", "version": "v3.0.0", "released": "2026-11-06", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:15:33.519504561Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@google/genai", "version": "3.0.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:15:31.639429892Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-cloud-aiplatform", "version": "2.7.0", "released": "2026-10-28", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:15:32.521225598Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-genai", "version": "3.0.0", "released": "2026-11-06", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:15:31.485691571Z" } ], "githubStars": 4057, "npmWeekly": 31989360, "pypiWeekly": 38431674, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://google.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2030-04-01T00:00:00z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:22.068349931Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/generative-ai/pricing", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:01:16.257808105Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T14:01:16.257808105Z", "fingerprint": "a4fe253bd23f" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:21:03.779025658Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 74, "category": "reliability", "leads": "vertex-ai", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "Hosted lines. status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with 90-day component history for the Hub, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, but no component for Inference Providers or the router (10 of 20). With no component, there is no readable incident history for the surface agents call, and the feed's 23 items from 10 June to 7 October 2026 don't name it (5). No rate limits for the router were found; the Hub rate-limits page gives numbers for Hub APIs, resolvers and pages only (0). No 429 or overload guidance for the router was found (0). No SLA found (0). Chat completions on the router is generally available; the Responses API is labelled beta (10). Routing between providers with `:fastest` or `:cheapest` softens a single provider's outage, which this checklist doesn't score.", "b": "Google Cloud status dashboard with per-product history (20). Its incident feed, read on 6 November, has no incident naming Vertex Gemini API, Gemini or the Agent Platform in the 90 days. The regional incidents of 20 August, 1 September and 20 October (europe-west2) and the Cloud Storage incident of 8 and 9 October didn't list it among affected products (30). Standard PayGo publishes usage tiers by 30-day spend with baseline throughput, 2,000,000 to 50,000,000 tokens a minute for Flash models and 500,000 to 10,000,000 for Pro, plus quota tables for other methods (15). A 429 page says to use the global endpoint and truncated exponential backoff, and a retry-strategy page (15). SLA of 99.5 per cent a month on generateContent and streamGenerateContent, 95 per cent for short-term availability models, and a latency SLO on Provisioned Throughput. The 429 page says pay-as-you-go 429s don't count toward the SLA error rate (10). Gemini 4 Argon reached GA on 13 October and Gemini 3.8 Flash moved to the 12-month tier, and the v1 API, 3.5 Flash-Lite and Claude Opus 5.5 are GA, but express mode was Preview at the 6 October check (9 of 10, up from 8). Up from 98 on 6 October." }, "scores": { "a": 25, "b": 99 } }, { "by": 39, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "vertex-ai", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Router reading of the model checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors), as for openrouter. Tool calling through the OpenAI-compatible API with `tool_choice`, support flagged per provider in /v1/models (15 of 20). Structured output documented, support flagged per provider and false on some (10 of 15). No prompt caching guidance found, though the Enterprise usage API counts cached input tokens (3 of 15). Routes to models with up to 1,048,576 tokens of context per the model list, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). No batch API (0 of 10). Official clients in Python and JavaScript, plus any OpenAI SDK (10). Errors not documented (5 of 15).", "b": "Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Function calling with `FunctionCallingConfig` mode ANY and `allowedFunctionNames` to force a named tool (20). Schema-guaranteed JSON output (15). Implicit and explicit context caching, cached input at 0.1x, $0.075 per million on 3.8 Flash through 31 December (15). 1,048,576-token context on 3.8 Flash, a unified 1,048,576-token input and output limit on Gemini 4 Argon, and 1,000,000 on Claude Opus 5.5 (15). Flex/Batch at half price on Gemini (10). Gen AI SDKs for Python and JavaScript among others, and the OpenAI libraries work with Google Cloud auth (10). 429 handling documented per quota framework, with standard Google status codes elsewhere (12 of 15)." }, "scores": { "a": 58, "b": 97 } }, { "by": 32, "category": "schema", "leads": "vertex-ai", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "No OpenAPI document for the router (openapi.json paths answer 404). The task reference pages are generated from typed JSON Schema specs in huggingface.js, and the router's /v1/models gives a machine-readable catalogue, so 12 of 25. llms.txt for the Inference Providers docs and a Markdown twin of every page via `.md` (10). Guides say what each task and policy is for, with a quick setup page for coding agents (14 of 20). Parameter tables with types for chat completion, though `response_format` and `tool_choice` show as unknown types (9 of 15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every task page, but no documented error responses for the router (9 of 15). No changelog of its own; the Hub changelog doesn't cover it and dated changes are only in the hub-docs history (8 of 15).", "b": "Model reading. Keyless discovery document for the Agent Platform API v1, revision 20260930, with 1,128 methods and 1,493 schemas (25). No llms.txt, but every docs page answers as Markdown at `.md.txt`, counted as for vertex-ai-tuning (10). Model cards give limits, capabilities and retirement dates, and the 3.8 Flash card says when to use 3.7 Flash instead, but the docs mix the Vertex AI and Agent Platform names, and the OpenAI page tells new users to call the Gemini Developer API instead (16 of 20). Structured output with `response_schema` and `response_mime_type: application/json` always follows the schema per the docs, and complex schemas fail with a 400 (15). Examples on every page and a 429 guide, but we found no full error code list for generateContent (13 of 15). Versioned v1 and v1beta1 APIs and release notes with entries on most working days, newest 5 November 2026 (15)." }, "scores": { "a": 62, "b": 94 } }, { "by": 20, "category": "payments", "leads": "vertex-ai", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-token prices for every model and provider published without a login in the router's /v1/models and on model pages (20). No free tier since 7 October 2026, when free users lost their included monthly credits; PRO's $2.00 of credits needs a subscription (0). Sign-up, token creation and credit purchase are browser steps (0).", "b": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-token prices per model and option published without a login (20). Express mode gives new Google Cloud users 90 days free within quotas with no billing details, though it's in Preview and needs a @gmail.com account (20). A person signs up in the console to get the express key (0)." }, "scores": { "a": 20, "b": 40 } }, { "by": 19, "category": "transparency", "leads": "vertex-ai", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Closed service under Terms of Service that name Inference Providers, with an Apache-2.0 Python client and an MIT JavaScript client (20). The security page and the docs agree on no training, no stored bodies and 30-day logs, but the privacy policy dates from 28 March 2023 and each provider's own data policy governs the rest (18 of 30). No deprecation policy found. Provider support changes and the 7 October removal of free credits are dated only in the docs repository history (5 of 20). The privacy policy lists 11 subprocessors with countries per the Inference Endpoints check, and the docs name every provider a request can reach, though not where each runs (15 of 20).", "b": "Closed service under the Google Cloud terms, with the Gen AI SDKs under Apache-2.0 and a public discovery document (18, as for Bedrock's open service models). The zero data retention and abuse monitoring pages agree with the Cloud terms and give periods for each case, 24 hours in memory, up to 90 days for flagged prompts, 30 days for Advanced AI models, 3 days for Search grounding logs and 30 days for Maps grounding, and say which can't be switched off (27 of 30). A dated model versions table with release and retirement dates and a stated 12-month or 45-day policy, but on 6 November it still listed Gemini 2.5 Pro, Flash and Flash-Lite as available with a 20 October 2026 retirement date and left them out of the retired table (18 of 20, down from 20). The Cloud subprocessor list with locations, per the 1 October vertex-ai-tuning check, regional and multi-region endpoints, and per-model ML processing locations on the partner model cards (20)." }, "scores": { "a": 71, "b": 90 } }, { "by": 18, "category": "security", "leads": "vertex-ai", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading. Fine-grained user access tokens that can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission, rotated and revoked, plus a public revocation endpoint for leaked tokens, and organisation approval of fine-grained tokens on paid plans (30). Hugging Face says it doesn't store user data for training, but data handling past the router follows each provider's policy, with no per-request filter to exclude providers that train or retain (12 of 20). Request bodies and responses aren't stored when routed and debug logs are kept up to 30 days without user data or tokens, with provider retention outside that statement (10 of 15). Usage by model and provider in account settings, an Enterprise usage API, and Team and Enterprise admins can disable providers and set a spending limit (13 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2 for the Hub, of which the docs say Inference Providers is a feature, and security.txt valid to 2030 per the Inference Endpoints check; no bug bounty found (14 of 20).", "b": "Model reading. OAuth 2.0 with IAM roles and service accounts, which the docs recommend for production, with API keys for testing. No key in a query string found in the docs we read (30). The training restriction in the Service Specific Terms says Google won't use customer data to train or fine-tune any model without permission, GA and pre-GA alike (20). Default in-memory caching for 24 hours that can be disabled, flagged prompts logged up to 90 days unless an abuse-monitoring exception is granted or the customer has a Cloud Master Agreement, the Interactions API storing by default, and Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 requiring 30-day retention shared with Anthropic (12 of 15, a judgement call matching the Fable exception on the Anthropic and Bedrock listings). Cloud Audit Logs, with Data Access logs off until enabled, and optional request-response logging to BigQuery (15). google.com security.txt valid to 2030-04-01, the Google VRP, and Generative AI on the platform in ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 and SOC 1, 2 and 3 scope per the 1 October services-in-scope check for vertex-ai-tuning, not re-read on 6 October (20)." }, "scores": { "a": 79, "b": 97 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model router", "b": "Model API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "b": "Google Cloud", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "b": "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT", "b": "Proprietary service under the Google Cloud Platform terms. Partner models carry their providers' terms. The Google Gen AI SDKs are Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-29", "b": "2026-11-05", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2022-09-15", "b": "2026-09-02", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2023-03-28", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "483k npm/wk, 71.5M PyPI/wk", "b": "20.9M PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) scores 88.7 (AA) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Hugging Face Inference Providers or Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)?" }, { "answer": "Hugging Face Inference Providers needs an API key. Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Hugging Face Inference Providers and Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Hugging Face Inference Providers has a hosted endpoint at https://router.huggingface.co/v1 and Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) at https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Hugging Face Inference Providers and Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.", "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "watchFor": "No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 99 against 25", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 94 against 62", "Agent ergonomics, 97 against 58", "Security \u0026 auth, 97 against 79", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 91 against 80", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 90 against 71" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Google Cloud customers who need Gemini with residency, VPC-SC, provisioned throughput and an SLA, or Claude under a Google bill.", "slug": "vertex-ai", "watchFor": "The SLA drops from 99.5 to 95 per cent for short-term availability models, Gemini 3.7 and 3.6 Flash among them" } ], "history": null, "job": { "capability": "inference.llm", "name": "LLM inference" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": 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"url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prism-inference-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Router.com (Ramp Router) vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ramp-router-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Beam 1.0 vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-beam-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "RouterPlus vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/routerplus-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "SambaCloud vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sambanova-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "SiliconFlow vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/siliconflow-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Simplismart vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/simplismart-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "StepFun API vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stepfun-api-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/swe-2-flash-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "SWE-2 Flash vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/swe-2-flash-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tencent-tokenhub-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Tencent Cloud TokenHub vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tencent-tokenhub-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/together-inference-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Together AI Inference vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/together-inference-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vercel-ai-gateway-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Vercel AI Gateway vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vercel-ai-gateway-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-ai-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vertex-ai-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Antseed vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antseed-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Eden AI vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eden-ai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-litellm.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs LiteLLM", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-litellm" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs OpenRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Router.com (Ramp Router)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs RouterPlus", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Prism Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-vertex-ai" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 74, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 25, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "vertex-ai": 99, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 32, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 62, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "vertex-ai": 94, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 39, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 58, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "vertex-ai": 97, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 18, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 79, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "vertex-ai": 97, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 20, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "vertex-ai": 40, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 11, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 80, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "vertex-ai": 91, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 19, "edge": "vertex-ai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 71, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "vertex-ai": 90, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) scores 88.7 (AA) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do llm inference.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "hugging-face-inference-providers": "One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.", "vertex-ai": "Gemini, Claude and open models through one Google Cloud API with IAM, regional endpoints, schema-guaranteed JSON and a 99.5 per cent SLA, and no Vertex incident on the Cloud status page in the 90 days to 6 November 2026. Gemini 4 Argon and 3.8 Flash have 12-month availability, but short-term Flash models get a 95 per cent SLA." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.min.md" }, "markdown": "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) scores 88.7 (AA) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do llm inference.\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers: grade C, 54/100, rank #920 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform): grade AA, 88.7/100, rank #2 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vertex-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vertex-ai.json\n- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md\n- All 830 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers (C)\n\nGood for: Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.\n\nWatch for: No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router\n\n### Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (AA)\n\nGood for: Google Cloud customers who need Gemini with residency, VPC-SC, provisioned throughput and an SLA, or Claude under a Google bill.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 99 against 25\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 94 against 62\n- Agent ergonomics, 97 against 58\n- Security \u0026 auth, 97 against 79\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 91 against 80\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 90 against 71\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: The SLA drops from 99.5 to 95 per cent for short-term availability models, Gemini 3.7 and 3.6 Flash among them\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Reliability: Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +74\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (25): Hosted lines. status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with 90-day component history for the Hub, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, but no component for Inference Providers or the router (10 of 20). With no component, there is no readable incident history for the surface agents call, and the feed's 23 items from 10 June to 7 October 2026 don't name it (5). No rate limits for the router were found; the Hub rate-limits page gives numbers for Hub APIs, resolvers and pages only (0). No 429 or overload guidance for the router was found (0). No SLA found (0). Chat completions on the router is generally available; the Responses API is labelled beta (10). Routing between providers with `:fastest` or `:cheapest` softens a single provider's outage, which this checklist doesn't score.\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (99): Google Cloud status dashboard with per-product history (20). Its incident feed, read on 6 November, has no incident naming Vertex Gemini API, Gemini or the Agent Platform in the 90 days. The regional incidents of 20 August, 1 September and 20 October (europe-west2) and the Cloud Storage incident of 8 and 9 October didn't list it among affected products (30). Standard PayGo publishes usage tiers by 30-day spend with baseline throughput, 2,000,000 to 50,000,000 tokens a minute for Flash models and 500,000 to 10,000,000 for Pro, plus quota tables for other methods (15). A 429 page says to use the global endpoint and truncated exponential backoff, and a retry-strategy page (15). SLA of 99.5 per cent a month on generateContent and streamGenerateContent, 95 per cent for short-term availability models, and a latency SLO on Provisioned Throughput. The 429 page says pay-as-you-go 429s don't count toward the SLA error rate (10). Gemini 4 Argon reached GA on 13 October and Gemini 3.8 Flash moved to the 12-month tier, and the v1 API, 3.5 Flash-Lite and Claude Opus 5.5 are GA, but express mode was Preview at the 6 October check (9 of 10, up from 8). Up from 98 on 6 October.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +39\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (58): Router reading of the model checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors), as for openrouter. Tool calling through the OpenAI-compatible API with `tool_choice`, support flagged per provider in /v1/models (15 of 20). Structured output documented, support flagged per provider and false on some (10 of 15). No prompt caching guidance found, though the Enterprise usage API counts cached input tokens (3 of 15). Routes to models with up to 1,048,576 tokens of context per the model list, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). No batch API (0 of 10). Official clients in Python and JavaScript, plus any OpenAI SDK (10). Errors not documented (5 of 15).\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (97): Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Function calling with `FunctionCallingConfig` mode ANY and `allowedFunctionNames` to force a named tool (20). Schema-guaranteed JSON output (15). Implicit and explicit context caching, cached input at 0.1x, $0.075 per million on 3.8 Flash through 31 December (15). 1,048,576-token context on 3.8 Flash, a unified 1,048,576-token input and output limit on Gemini 4 Argon, and 1,000,000 on Claude Opus 5.5 (15). Flex/Batch at half price on Gemini (10). Gen AI SDKs for Python and JavaScript among others, and the OpenAI libraries work with Google Cloud auth (10). 429 handling documented per quota framework, with standard Google status codes elsewhere (12 of 15).\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +32\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (62): No OpenAPI document for the router (openapi.json paths answer 404). The task reference pages are generated from typed JSON Schema specs in huggingface.js, and the router's /v1/models gives a machine-readable catalogue, so 12 of 25. llms.txt for the Inference Providers docs and a Markdown twin of every page via `.md` (10). Guides say what each task and policy is for, with a quick setup page for coding agents (14 of 20). Parameter tables with types for chat completion, though `response_format` and `tool_choice` show as unknown types (9 of 15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every task page, but no documented error responses for the router (9 of 15). No changelog of its own; the Hub changelog doesn't cover it and dated changes are only in the hub-docs history (8 of 15).\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (94): Model reading. Keyless discovery document for the Agent Platform API v1, revision 20260930, with 1,128 methods and 1,493 schemas (25). No llms.txt, but every docs page answers as Markdown at `.md.txt`, counted as for vertex-ai-tuning (10). Model cards give limits, capabilities and retirement dates, and the 3.8 Flash card says when to use 3.7 Flash instead, but the docs mix the Vertex AI and Agent Platform names, and the OpenAI page tells new users to call the Gemini Developer API instead (16 of 20). Structured output with `response_schema` and `response_mime_type: application/json` always follows the schema per the docs, and complex schemas fail with a 400 (15). Examples on every page and a 429 guide, but we found no full error code list for generateContent (13 of 15). Versioned v1 and v1beta1 APIs and release notes with entries on most working days, newest 5 November 2026 (15).\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +20\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-token prices for every model and provider published without a login in the router's /v1/models and on model pages (20). No free tier since 7 October 2026, when free users lost their included monthly credits; PRO's $2.00 of credits needs a subscription (0). Sign-up, token creation and credit purchase are browser steps (0).\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (40): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-token prices per model and option published without a login (20). Express mode gives new Google Cloud users 90 days free within quotas with no billing details, though it's in Preview and needs a @gmail.com account (20). A person signs up in the console to get the express key (0).\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +19\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (71): Closed service under Terms of Service that name Inference Providers, with an Apache-2.0 Python client and an MIT JavaScript client (20). The security page and the docs agree on no training, no stored bodies and 30-day logs, but the privacy policy dates from 28 March 2023 and each provider's own data policy governs the rest (18 of 30). No deprecation policy found. Provider support changes and the 7 October removal of free credits are dated only in the docs repository history (5 of 20). The privacy policy lists 11 subprocessors with countries per the Inference Endpoints check, and the docs name every provider a request can reach, though not where each runs (15 of 20).\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (90): Closed service under the Google Cloud terms, with the Gen AI SDKs under Apache-2.0 and a public discovery document (18, as for Bedrock's open service models). The zero data retention and abuse monitoring pages agree with the Cloud terms and give periods for each case, 24 hours in memory, up to 90 days for flagged prompts, 30 days for Advanced AI models, 3 days for Search grounding logs and 30 days for Maps grounding, and say which can't be switched off (27 of 30). A dated model versions table with release and retirement dates and a stated 12-month or 45-day policy, but on 6 November it still listed Gemini 2.5 Pro, Flash and Flash-Lite as available with a 20 October 2026 retirement date and left them out of the retired table (18 of 20, down from 20). The Cloud subprocessor list with locations, per the 1 October vertex-ai-tuning check, regional and multi-region endpoints, and per-model ML processing locations on the partner model cards (20).\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +18\n\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (79): Model reading. Fine-grained user access tokens that can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission, rotated and revoked, plus a public revocation endpoint for leaked tokens, and organisation approval of fine-grained tokens on paid plans (30). Hugging Face says it doesn't store user data for training, but data handling past the router follows each provider's policy, with no per-request filter to exclude providers that train or retain (12 of 20). Request bodies and responses aren't stored when routed and debug logs are kept up to 30 days without user data or tokens, with provider retention outside that statement (10 of 15). Usage by model and provider in account settings, an Enterprise usage API, and Team and Enterprise admins can disable providers and set a spending limit (13 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2 for the Hub, of which the docs say Inference Providers is a feature, and security.txt valid to 2030 per the Inference Endpoints check; no bug bounty found (14 of 20).\n- Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) (97): Model reading. OAuth 2.0 with IAM roles and service accounts, which the docs recommend for production, with API keys for testing. No key in a query string found in the docs we read (30). The training restriction in the Service Specific Terms says Google won't use customer data to train or fine-tune any model without permission, GA and pre-GA alike (20). Default in-memory caching for 24 hours that can be disabled, flagged prompts logged up to 90 days unless an abuse-monitoring exception is granted or the customer has a Cloud Master Agreement, the Interactions API storing by default, and Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 requiring 30-day retention shared with Anthropic (12 of 15, a judgement call matching the Fable exception on the Anthropic and Bedrock listings). Cloud Audit Logs, with Data Access logs off until enabled, and optional request-response logging to BigQuery (15). google.com security.txt valid to 2030-04-01, the Google VRP, and Generative AI on the platform in ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 and SOC 1, 2 and 3 scope per the 1 October services-in-scope check for vertex-ai-tuning, not re-read on 6 October (20).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Hugging Face Inference Providers | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 25 | 99 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +74 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 94 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +32 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 97 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +39 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 79 | 97 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +18 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 91 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +11 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 90 | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) +19 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **54 · C** | **88.7 · AA** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Hugging Face Inference Providers | Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model router | Model API |\n| Vendor | Hugging Face, Inc. | Google Cloud |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://router.huggingface.co/v1` | `https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT | Proprietary service under the Google Cloud Platform terms. Partner models carry their providers' terms. The Google Gen AI SDKs are Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-05 |\n| Terms last updated | 2022-09-15 | 2026-09-02 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-03-28 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 483k npm/wk, 71.5M PyPI/wk | 20.9M PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Hugging Face Inference Providers.** One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.\n\n**Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform).** Gemini, Claude and open models through one Google Cloud API with IAM, regional endpoints, schema-guaranteed JSON and a 99.5 per cent SLA, and no Vertex incident on the Cloud status page in the 90 days to 6 November 2026. Gemini 4 Argon and 3.8 Flash have 12-month availability, but short-term Flash models get a 95 per cent SLA.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers\n\n1. Read https://router.huggingface.co/v1/models before choosing a provider; it shows price, context and `supports_tools` per provider\n2. Pin a provider with `model:\u003cprovider\u003e` when tool calling or structured output matters, since support varies by provider\n3. Use a fine-grained token with only the Inference Providers permission, and send `X-HF-Bill-To` to bill an organisation\n4. Back off on 429 without assuming a Retry-After header, since none is documented for the router\n\n### Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)\n\n1. Call the `global` location on aiplatform.googleapis.com unless data residency requires a Region. The 429 guide says it spreads load and reduces errors\n2. Back off exponentially on 429 `Resource exhausted`. On Standard PayGo it means shared capacity is busy, not a fixed quota\n3. Send `response_schema` with `response_mime_type: application/json`. JSON mode alone doesn't guarantee valid output\n4. Set `store` to false on Interactions API calls. It defaults to true and keeps prompts and responses\n5. Pin `gemini-4-argon` or `gemini-3.8-flash`, both in the 12-month tier, rather than 3.7 or 3.6 Flash, which retire on 28 January 2027 and 19 November 2026\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Hugging Face Inference Providers or Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)?\n\nVertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) scores 88.7 (AA) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in every scored category.\n\n### Do Hugging Face Inference Providers and Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) need an API key?\n\nHugging Face Inference Providers needs an API key. Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Hugging Face Inference Providers and Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) without installing anything?\n\nYes. Hugging Face Inference Providers has a hosted endpoint at https://router.huggingface.co/v1 and Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) at https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"hugging-face-inference-providers\", \"b\": \"vertex-ai\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare hugging-face-inference-providers vertex-ai`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vertex-ai.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Hugging Face Inference Providers or Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)\n\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Amazon Bedrock vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [Claude API vs Hugging Face Inference Providers](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md)\n- [Claude API vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n- [Antseed vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent 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Platform)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-vs-vertex-ai.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "" } ], "description": "Vertex AI scores 88.7 (AA) to Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Hugging Face Inference Providers C 54", "Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform) AA 88.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vertex AI for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 7650, "slim": 3430 }, "version": 1 }