Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

Tencent Hy4 vs Novita AI

Tencent Hy4 scores 64 (B) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 56.1 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do llm inference.

Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 1044 models comparisons

Which one, for what

Tencent Hy4 B

Best for Long-context agent work, coding and office or finance tasks on a 1M-token context with images, for teams already on Tencent Cloud or happy to verify an account there.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 46 against 28
  • Schema & documentation, 73 against 62
  • Agent ergonomics, 86 against 72
  • Security & auth, 71 against 65
  • Maintenance & community, 73 against 66

Watch for

Weights, licence and system card are promised but not published; tencent/Hy4 didn't answer on Hugging Face on 11 November

Novita AI C

Best 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

  • Payments & pricing, 53 against 45
  • Transparency & trust, 57 against 52

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

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

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Reliability Tencent Hy4 +18

Tencent Hy4 46

Model reading for hy4 on Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Platform facts are the tencent-tokenhub listing's (checked 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. No public status page (0) and so no incident record to read (5 of 30). Per-model rate limits only in the console and DescribeModelQuota (8 of 15). Six 429 codes, Retry-After and backoff advice (13 of 15). The TokenHub SLA promises 99.5% a month, and Hy4 is Tencent's own model, so the third-party exclusion doesn't apply (10). Released as hy4 on 4 November, a separate id from hy4-preview, with no preview label (10). 0 + 5 + 8 + 13 + 10 + 10 = 46.

Novita AI 28

Hosted reading. No status page was found. None is linked from the home page, the pricing page, the docs introduction, either llms.txt or the docs site map (0), so there is no incident record to read (0). The rate limit page documents five account tiers set by monthly top-ups, from under $50 to $10,000 and over, and limits counted in RPM and TPM per model. The figures per model are drawn by script and were not readable, so this line takes part marks (8 of 15). 429 with RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED or TOKEN_LIMIT_EXCEEDED, advice to throttle and use exponential backoff, and a billing page that says 429, 500, 503 and 504 are not charged. No Retry-After header was found (10 of 15). No SLA was found. The home page states 99.5% uptime, and the terms say availability is not guaranteed (0). Generally available (10). Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 4 November, as the terms bar automated access to the site and docs.

Agent ergonomics Tencent Hy4 +14

Tencent Hy4 86

Model reading for hy4 on Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Platform facts are the tencent-tokenhub listing's (checked 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Function calling is marked for hy4 in the model list (18 of 20). Structured output marked (13 of 15). Cache-hit price published, ¥0.3 against ¥6 input (14 of 15). 1M-token context with 960K input and 64K output (15). Batch at half price covered Hy3 and Hy4 preview on 1 November; whether it covers hy4 wasn't re-read (3 of 10). OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs with a changed base URL, plus Tencent Cloud's SDK and CLI for the control plane (8 of 10). Errors with code, messages, upstream status and request ID (15 of 15). 18 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 3 + 8 + 15 = 86.

Novita AI 72

Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). tools with a strict flag and a worked example. The list of models that support it is drawn by script, and tool_choice is absent from the chat reference (13 of 20). response_format takes json_object and json_schema with strict in the reference, while the FAQ says only json_object works (9 of 15). Prompt caching is automatic on supported models, cache-read prices are on the pricing page and cached_tokens is returned in usage (12 of 15). Context of 1M tokens on DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.3 and Kimi K3 per the pricing page. Output caps were not read (12 of 15). OpenAI-style files and batches with a 24-hour window, one model per file and an introductory 50 per cent discount (10). The OpenAI client works with a changed base URL. Both vendor SDK repositories are archived (5 of 10). Named error codes, a 429 that separates request and token limits, and a trace_id for support (11 of 15). Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 4 November, as the terms bar automated access to the site and docs.

Schema & documentation Tencent Hy4 +11

Tencent Hy4 73

Model reading for hy4 on Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Platform facts are the tencent-tokenhub listing's (checked 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. No OpenAPI file for inference; field pages for the OpenAI and Anthropic formats as TokenHub implements them (12 of 25). llms.txt with Markdown copies (10). The model list, updated 9 November, gives hy4's context, input and output limits and marks thinking, structured output, function calling, caching and image understanding; computer use, which Tencent's release names, isn't marked (13 of 20). Typed field pages (10 of 15). Examples in five languages and an error page of 30 codes (14 of 15). Dated release notes, with hy4 added on 4 November (14 of 15). 12 + 10 + 13 + 10 + 14 + 14 = 73.

Novita AI 62

Model reading. The OpenAPI 3.1.0 document at /.well-known/openapi.json is a 964-byte discovery file with four paths and no schemas, and the API reference is written by hand (6 of 25). llms.txt on both hosts, a Markdown copy of every docs page and an llms-full.txt (10). Guides for function calling, structured output, prompt caching, batch and reasoning say what each is for, and the chat reference describes 136 request and response fields (14 of 20). Fields are typed with required flags and defaults. Enums and ranges are stated in prose only (10 of 15). Curl and Python examples on each guide, error tables by product, a common errors guide and a table of which statuses are billed. The FAQ says json_schema and top_logprobs are unsupported while the reference and a guide document both (10 of 15). A dated changelog with 84 entries since February 2024. The API has no version scheme beyond /v1 (12 of 15). Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 4 November, as the terms bar automated access to the site and docs.

Payments & pricing Novita AI +8

Tencent Hy4 45

Model reading for hy4 on Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Platform facts are the tencent-tokenhub listing's (checked 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. No machine payment protocol (0). The price page, updated 9 November, lists ¥6 input, ¥0.3 cached and ¥18 output per million tokens, with Hy4 billed at 50% until 31 December 2026 (20). TokenHub's campaign of 1M free tokens per language model, read on 1 November, isn't confirmed for hy4 on the price page, so half (10 of 20, a judgement call). A person signs up with real-name verification (0). 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 30 is 45.

Novita AI 53

No machine payment protocol was found in the docs index, the site map, the pricing page or the skill repository (0). Per-token prices for each model on the pricing page without a login, such as deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash at $0.30 in and $1.20 out per 1M tokens (20). Two language models are listed as free and the FAQ describes a voucher for new users. Whether a card is needed to use either was not stated in the pages read (15 of 20). A person signs up in a browser, keys are created only in the console, and the OAuth route needs the user to sign in and approve (0). Per the 9 October check, not re-read on 4 November, as the terms bar automated access to the site and docs. Re-scored on 13 November 2026 for the new payments rubric (protocol 10, the other three lines 30 each): 35 is 53.

Maintenance & community Tencent Hy4 +7

Tencent Hy4 73

Model reading for hy4 on Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Platform facts are the tencent-tokenhub listing's (checked 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Added on 4 November 2026 per the release notes; the model list and price page were updated on 9 November (30). Retirement notices of 21 to 33 days, no minimum written (7 of 12). Heavy retirement churn on the platform (3 of 8). Dated release notes and announcements, round-the-clock support (13 of 15). CLI replies not sampled (3 of 10). Control-plane SDKs and CLI, no inference SDK of its own (12 of 15). CLI runtime stated, CI not checked (5 of 10). 30 + 7 + 3 + 13 + 3 + 12 + 5 = 73. The model is a week old, so these lines are TokenHub's habits more than Hy4's record.

Novita AI 66

Model reading. Changelog entries per the 27 October reading of each entry page, not re-read on 4 November because Novita's terms bar automated access to the site and its linked channels. The newest entry is dated 22 October 2026 (30). Retirement notices carry a UTC time and a replacement, with notice of 1 day (22 October for xiaomimimo/mimo-v2.5 at 00:00 UTC on 23 October) to 29 days (1 September for multimodal models on 30 September). No written notice period was found (6 of 12). Nine dated entries in the 90 days from 6 August (1, 8, 18, 20, 23 and 28 September, 15, 19 and 22 October), each read on its own page (8 of 8). A dated changelog, a Discord server and a support address per the 9 October check (12 of 15). novitalabs/python-sdk and novitalabs/javascript-sdk are archived, unchanged since 8 November 2024 and 4 March 2025, and issue replies were not examined (2 of 10). The docs rely on the OpenAI client, the SDK page still named the two archived packages on 9 October, and the skill repository is unchanged since 24 September 2026 (5 of 15). The JavaScript SDK repository has a publish workflow only and the Python one has none (3 of 10). 30 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 2 + 5 + 3 = 66.

Security & auth Tencent Hy4 +6

Tencent Hy4 71

Model reading for hy4 on Tencent Cloud TokenHub. Platform facts are the tencent-tokenhub listing's (checked 1 November), carried over as RULES.md allows for a model on an already graded platform. Bearer keys limited by model, service, IP range and token quota, long-lived with no rotation (26 of 30). The terms say inputs aren't used to train Tencent Cloud's own models, and Hy4 is first party, so no third party's terms apply (14 of 20). Retention only as long as the service needs, no periods (7 of 15). Per-call audit logs and optional full logs to the customer's CLS (14 of 15). No security.txt; Tencent's TSRC bounty covers Tencent Cloud; no certification checked (10 of 20). 26 + 14 + 7 + 14 + 10 = 71.

Novita AI 65

Model reading. Bearer keys with the sk_ prefix, shown once, up to 10 an account, with an expiry of 24 hours, 30 days, 90 days or none fixed at creation, deletable in the console, and a per-key model access policy and source IP allowlist that can be set by API. OAuth with PKCE and the scopes api and balance:read is described in auth.md, with no token revocation endpoint. No documented way to send a key in a URL was found (26 of 30). The terms, re-read on 4 November and still updated 5 August 2026, say content is not used to train Novita's models or improve the services by default (17 of 20). The terms state zero data retention, with exceptions for law and for what is necessary to run or support the service, and allow automated safety screening. Batch input files are kept for 15 days (11 of 15). Billing can be queried per key, and budget, monitoring and metrics pages are listed in the docs index and were not read (7 of 15). The trust centre at trust.novita.ai is drawn by script and was not read. /.well-known/security.txt returns 404, and no disclosure policy or bug bounty was found (4 of 20). The key, retention and trust-centre readings are per the 9 October check, not re-read on 4 November.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runTencent Hy4Novita AIEdge
Reliability16%204628Tencent Hy4 +18
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27362Tencent Hy4 +11
Agent ergonomics13%16.28672Tencent Hy4 +14
Security & auth14%17.57165Tencent Hy4 +6
Payments & pricing10%12.54553Novita AI +8
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87366Tencent Hy4 +7
Transparency & trust7%8.85257Novita AI +5
Negative events≤1500
TotalB 64/100C 56.1/100

Facts side by side

FactTencent Hy4Novita AI
KindModel APIModel API
VendorTencent (Hy team)Novita AI
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.novita.ai/openai
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicenceHosted model under the Tencent Cloud TokenHub terms. Tencent says weights and a system card will follow; no licence is stated yetProprietary service under the Novita AI Terms of Service. The agent skill and the MCP server are MIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-11-042026-10-22
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

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Tencent Hy4

Tencent's flagship model is on TokenHub as hy4, with a 1M-token context, image understanding, function calling and caching, at ¥6 input and ¥18 output per million tokens, half price until the end of 2026. The weights it is called open source for aren't published yet, and every benchmark is Tencent's own.

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

Tencent Hy4

  1. Use model id hy4 on TokenHub's OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible endpoints; hy4-preview is a separate, older model
  2. Keep input under 960K tokens and expect at most 64K output
  3. Reuse prompt prefixes: cached input is ¥0.3 against ¥6
  4. Check the price page for the end of the 50% discount on 31 December 2026 before budgeting
  5. Read rate limits from the console or DescribeModelQuota; the public docs don't give them for chat models

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, Tencent Hy4 or Novita AI?

Tencent Hy4 scores 64 (B) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 56.1 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

Do Tencent Hy4 and Novita AI need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Tencent Hy4 and Novita AI without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Tencent Hy4. Novita AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.novita.ai/openai.

Other comparisons with Tencent Hy4 or Novita AI

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