# Novita AI vs SambaCloud

> SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) to Novita AI's 53.5 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-sambanova
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-sambanova.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-sambanova.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novita-ai-vs-sambanova.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 53.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do llm inference.

- Novita AI: grade D, 53.5/100, rank #706 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/novita-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json
- SambaCloud: grade B, 66.4/100, rank #293 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sambanova.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sambanova.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 136 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 67
- Security & auth, 65 against 58

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

### SambaCloud (B)

Good for: Agents that want open-weight models behind an OpenAI or Anthropic client with a free start and prices an agent can read from the API.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 28
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 62
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 62
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 56

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Production models get a notice of two to three weeks, and 13 model ids were removed between 9 March and 9 June 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Novita AI | SambaCloud | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 28 | 85 | SambaCloud +57 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 81 | SambaCloud +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 67 | Novita AI +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 58 | Novita AI +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | SambaCloud +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 77 | SambaCloud +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 63 | SambaCloud +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **53.5 · D** | **66.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Novita AI | SambaCloud |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Novita AI | SambaNova Systems, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.novita.ai/openai` | `https://api.sambanova.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Novita AI Terms of Service. The agent skill and the MCP server are MIT | Proprietary service under the SambaCloud Terms of Service. The SDKs and the OpenAPI document are Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-17 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-05 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-13 | 2023-05-27 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 6 stars, 1.4k npm/wk | 2 stars, 76 npm/wk, 6.1k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**SambaCloud.** Per-token prices and the model list are readable without a key at `/v1/models`, and a free tier needs no card. Production models get two to three weeks' notice before removal, 13 model ids left between March and June 2026, and the docs disagree with the live catalogue on MiniMax-M2.7.

## Before you call either

### 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

### SambaCloud

1. Call `GET https://api.sambanova.ai/v1/models` at start-up and use only ids it returns. The docs name models the endpoint no longer lists
2. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining-requests` and `x-ratelimit-remaining-requests-day` on every response. The free tier allows 20 requests a day per model
3. Treat 429 `queue_full` and 503 `maintenance` as retryable after a delay, and 410 `model_deprecated` as a signal to change model
4. Validate JSON output yourself. Schema enforcement is best effort and `strict: true` changes nothing
5. Check `max_completion_tokens` per model. DeepSeek-V3.1 caps output at 7,168 tokens and Llama 3.3 70B at 3,072

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Novita AI or SambaCloud?

SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 53.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do Novita AI and SambaCloud need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Novita AI and SambaCloud without installing anything?

Yes. Novita AI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.novita.ai/openai and SambaCloud at https://api.sambanova.ai/v1.


## For agents

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

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