Novita AI vs OpenAI API

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.

OpenAI API

Official OpenAPI document and an llms.txt index. Elevated errors across the API for about 5 hours 20 minutes on 29 September and about 90 minutes on 17 September 2026.

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

OpenAI API

1. Build on the Responses API. Astra calls tools only there
2. Use gpt-6-luna for routing and extraction and gpt-6.1-sol for most work. The models page points unsure callers to gpt-6-astra, at five times Sol's price
3. Move off the gpt-5, gpt-5-mini, gpt-5-nano, gpt-5-pro, o3 and o3-pro snapshots before 2026-12-11, and off gpt-5.1, gpt-5.3-codex and gpt-5.4-nano before 2027-04-01
4. Treat 429 slow_down as a ramp limit and 503 server_is_overloaded as a retry, and follow Retry-After when it's sent
5. Prompts over 272K tokens cost double on input. Trim before you pay for it