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AI21 LabsvsScaleway

AI21 Labs vs Scaleway: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of AI21 Labs and Scaleway — 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.

Long-context chatDocument analysisSummarisationCost-sensitive inference
Proprietary models

Scaleway

B300-SXM GPU instances — French sovereign cloud, Generative APIs with 1M free tokens

Scaleway is a French cloud provider offering GPU compute and LLM inference with the strongest EU data sovereignty credentials. The Generative APIs catalog includes GLM-5.2 (€1.80/€5.50), Mistral Medium 3.5 (€1.50/€7.50), Qwen3.8-27B (€0.60/€3.30), DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (€0.40/€0.80), gpt-oss-120B (€0.15/€0.60), and Llama 3.3 70B (€0.90/€0.90). All new customers get 1M free tokens. GPU instances include B300-SXM, H100, L40S, and L4.

European complianceFrench data sovereigntyGDPROpen-sourceGPU computeDedicated inference
Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Key metric comparison

AI21 Labs
Scaleway
Cheapest input ($/1M)

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Cheapest output ($/1M)

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Peak throughput

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Best latency (TTFT)

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Intelligence score

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Context window

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Live token pricing

Strengths and weaknesses

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
Strong performance on long-document tasks due to SSM efficiency
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

Scaleway

1M free tokens for all new customers — best free tier in Europe
B300-SXM GPU instances — latest NVIDIA Blackwell hardware in Europe
Live model catalog: GLM-5.2, Mistral Medium 3.5, Qwen3.8-27B, DeepSeek V4 Flash, gpt-oss-120B
French cloud — strongest EU data sovereignty credentials
Serverless and dedicated deployment options
Low latency (<200ms TTFT) for European end-users
Smaller model catalog than US-based inference providers
Lower throughput than speed-optimised providers
Less developer tooling than OpenAI or Anthropic

Key differentiators

AI21 Labs

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.

Scaleway

The strongest European data sovereignty credentials — French company, French data centres, 1M free tokens for new customers, B300-SXM GPU instances, and <200ms TTFT for European users.

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.

Scaleway FAQs

What models does Scaleway Generative APIs offer?

Scaleway's Generative APIs catalog includes GLM-5.2 (€1.80/€5.50), Mistral Medium 3.5 (€1.50/€7.50), Qwen3.8-27B (€0.60/€3.30), DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (€0.40/€0.80), gpt-oss-120B (€0.15/€0.60), Llama 3.3 70B (€0.90/€0.90), and more. All prices per 1M tokens.

Does Scaleway offer free tokens?

Yes. Every new Scaleway customer gets 1,000,000 free tokens to use across any Generative APIs model. Billing starts from the 1,000,001st token.

What GPU hardware does Scaleway offer in 2026?

Scaleway offers B300-SXM GPU instances (latest NVIDIA Blackwell), H100 SXM and PCIe, L40S, and L4 GPU instances. B300-SXM is one of the first Blackwell deployments available in Europe.

Provider resources

AI21 Labs

Provider page
Website
PricingDocs

Scaleway

Provider page
Website
PricingDocs

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.

Scaleway — B300-SXM GPU instances — French sovereign cloud, Generative APIs with 1M free tokens

Scaleway is a French cloud provider offering GPU compute and LLM inference with the strongest EU data sovereignty credentials. The Generative APIs catalog includes GLM-5.2 (€1.80/€5.50), Mistral Medium 3.5 (€1.50/€7.50), Qwen3.8-27B (€0.60/€3.30), DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (€0.40/€0.80), gpt-oss-120B (€0.15/€0.60), and Llama 3.3 70B (€0.90/€0.90). All new customers get 1M free tokens. GPU instances include B300-SXM, H100, L40S, and L4.

The strongest European data sovereignty credentials — French company, French data centres, 1M free tokens for new customers, B300-SXM GPU instances, and <200ms TTFT for European users.

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

Scaleway

  • 1M free tokens for all new customers — best free tier in Europe
  • B300-SXM GPU instances — latest NVIDIA Blackwell hardware in Europe
  • Live model catalog: GLM-5.2, Mistral Medium 3.5, Qwen3.8-27B, DeepSeek V4 Flash, gpt-oss-120B
  • Smaller model catalog than US-based inference providers
  • Lower throughput than speed-optimised 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

Scaleway

  • Smaller model catalog than US-based inference providers
  • Lower throughput than speed-optimised providers
  • Less developer tooling than OpenAI or Anthropic

Provider category context

AI21 Labs is a frontier lab, founded in 2017. Scaleway is a cloud, founded in 1999. The category difference means these providers serve partially overlapping use cases — compare the model lists and pricing tables above to find the best fit for your specific workload.

How to choose between them

Choose AI21 Labs if you need Long-context tasks. Choose Scaleway if you need 1m free tokens for all new customers — best free tier in europe. 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.