AI21 Labs vs Baseten: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of AI21 Labs and Baseten — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.
AI21 Labs
Jamba 1.6 — hybrid SSM-Transformer models with 256K context
AI21 Labs develops the Jamba model family, which uses a hybrid SSM (Mamba) and Transformer architecture. Jamba 1.6 Large and Mini offer 256K token context windows at competitive prices. The hybrid architecture delivers faster inference and lower memory usage than pure-Transformer models of comparable size.
Baseten
Inference infrastructure for production ML — GLM, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K3, Nemotron, Muse
Baseten is a production ML inference platform offering dedicated and serverless GPU deployments for open-weight models. The catalog includes GLM-5.3, GLM-5.2, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813, Kimi K3, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra, GPT OSS 120B, and Muse Spark Open. Baseten is designed for teams that need reliable, low-latency inference with custom deployment options. Pricing is published at baseten.co/pricing.
Key metric comparison
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Live token pricing
Strengths and weaknesses
AI21 Labs
Baseten
Key differentiators
Jamba's hybrid SSM-Transformer architecture enables 256K context at lower memory and latency cost than pure-Transformer models — with Jamba 1.6 Mini among the cheapest 256K-context options available.
Production ML inference infrastructure with dedicated GPU deployments — GLM-5.3, DeepSeek V4.1, Kimi K3, and Nemotron with Fast variants for throughput-optimised workloads.
Frequently asked questions
AI21 Labs FAQs
What is the Jamba architecture?
Jamba uses a hybrid of Mamba (SSM) and Transformer layers. This reduces memory usage and improves throughput on long sequences compared to pure-Transformer models, while maintaining strong reasoning performance.
How much does AI21 Labs API cost?
Jamba 1.6 Large is $2.00/$8.00 per 1M input/output tokens. Jamba 1.6 Mini is $0.20/$0.40 per 1M tokens. Both support 256K context. See ai21.com/pricing for current rates.
What context window does Jamba 1.6 support?
Both Jamba 1.6 Large and Jamba 1.6 Mini support 256K token context windows, making them suitable for long-document analysis and extended conversations.
Baseten FAQs
What is Baseten?
Baseten is a production ML inference platform offering dedicated and serverless GPU deployments for open-weight models including GLM-5.3, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, Nemotron, and Muse Spark Open. See baseten.co/pricing for current rates.
What models does Baseten offer?
Baseten's catalog includes GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3 Fast, GLM-5.3-Flash, GLM-5.2, GLM-5.2 Fast, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Fast, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813, Kimi K3, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra, GPT OSS 120B, and Muse Spark Open. See baseten.co/pricing for current rates.
How much does Baseten cost?
As of October 2026: GLM-5.3 $1.40/$4.40, GLM-5.3 Fast $2.10/$6.60, GLM-5.3-Flash $0.15/$0.50, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $0.30/$1.20, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 $1.32/$3.96, Kimi K3 $3.00/$15.00, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL $0.20/$0.50, GPT OSS 120B $0.10/$0.50. See baseten.co/pricing for current rates.
Provider resources
AI21 Labs — Jamba 1.6 — hybrid SSM-Transformer models with 256K context
AI21 Labs develops the Jamba model family, which uses a hybrid SSM (Mamba) and Transformer architecture. Jamba 1.6 Large and Mini offer 256K token context windows at competitive prices. The hybrid architecture delivers faster inference and lower memory usage than pure-Transformer models of comparable size.
Jamba's hybrid SSM-Transformer architecture enables 256K context at lower memory and latency cost than pure-Transformer models — with Jamba 1.6 Mini among the cheapest 256K-context options available.
Baseten — Inference infrastructure for production ML — GLM, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K3, Nemotron, Muse
Baseten is a production ML inference platform offering dedicated and serverless GPU deployments for open-weight models. The catalog includes GLM-5.3, GLM-5.2, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813, Kimi K3, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra, GPT OSS 120B, and Muse Spark Open. Baseten is designed for teams that need reliable, low-latency inference with custom deployment options. Pricing is published at baseten.co/pricing.
Production ML inference infrastructure with dedicated GPU deployments — GLM-5.3, DeepSeek V4.1, Kimi K3, and Nemotron with Fast variants for throughput-optimised workloads.
Key strengths compared
AI21 Labs
- Hybrid SSM-Transformer architecture delivers faster inference than pure-Transformer models
- 256K token context window on both Jamba 1.6 Large and Mini
- Jamba 1.6 Mini at $0.20/$0.40 per 1M tokens is highly cost-competitive
- Smaller model family than frontier labs — two models vs dozens at OpenAI or Anthropic
- Less ecosystem support than OpenAI-compatible providers
Baseten
- Dedicated GPU deployments for production reliability and consistent latency
- GLM-5.3, GLM-5.2, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash/Pro, Kimi K3, Nemotron, Muse Spark Open
- Fast and Fast variants for throughput-optimised inference
- Smaller catalog than Together AI or Fireworks
- Less documentation for new users than major providers
Key weaknesses compared
AI21 Labs
- Smaller model family than frontier labs — two models vs dozens at OpenAI or Anthropic
- Less ecosystem support than OpenAI-compatible providers
- No image, audio, or multimodal models
Baseten
- Smaller catalog than Together AI or Fireworks
- Less documentation for new users than major providers
- Dedicated deployments require more setup than pure serverless
Provider category context
AI21 Labs is a frontier lab, founded in 2017. Baseten is a inference api, founded in 2019. AI21 Labs as a frontier lab trains and serves its own proprietary models. Baseten as an inference API provider hosts open-weight models — typically offering lower prices for equivalent capability tiers but without access to proprietary frontier models.
How to choose between them
Choose AI21 Labs if you need Long-context tasks. Choose Baseten if you need dedicated gpu deployments for production reliability and consistent latency. For high-volume production workloads, run a cost comparison using the token pricing table above with your actual prompt/completion token ratio — the cheapest provider depends heavily on your input-to-output token ratio.