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CloudGPU vs DigitalOcean Gradient AI: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of CloudGPU and DigitalOcean Gradient AI — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.

CloudGPU

API gateway / reseller — 33 text models at CloudGPU customer rates

CloudGPU is an API gateway and reseller offering access to frontier and mid-tier text models including Claude, GPT, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, DeepSeek, and MiniMax. Prices shown are CloudGPU customer rates — not official lab prices. CloudGPU does not disclose all routing; upstreams are not the seller.

Multi-model accessCost comparisonChinese frontier models
Open-weight host

DigitalOcean Gradient AI

Serverless inference on Gradient AI — Claude, GPT-5, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, Qwen 3.5, Llama 4

DigitalOcean Gradient AI is the serverless LLM inference platform from DigitalOcean, offering access to frontier and open-weight models including Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Haiku 4.5, Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.4 mini, GPT-5, GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, gpt-oss-120b, gpt-oss-20b, DeepSeek V4 Pro/Flash, Kimi K2.6, GLM-5.1, Qwen 3.5 397B A17B, Llama 4 Maverick, and MiMo V2.5 Pro. Pricing is published at docs.digitalocean.com/products/gradient-ai-platform/details/pricing.

ChatCodingReasoningOpen-sourceCost-efficiencyAgents
Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Key metric comparison

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

CloudGPU

Access to frontier models including Claude Fable 5.1, Kimi K3, and GPT-6 Astra
Competitive customer rates on Chinese frontier models (GLM, Kimi, Qwen, MiniMax)
OpenAI-compatible API base at cloudgpu.app/v1
API gateway/reseller — routing not fully disclosed
Prices are CloudGPU customer rates, not official lab prices
Per-model context window and capability facts are not publicly documented

DigitalOcean Gradient AI

Frontier model access: Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, GPT-5 via serverless inference
Broad catalog: Claude, GPT, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, Qwen 3.5, Llama 4 Maverick
DigitalOcean's developer-friendly platform and billing
OpenAI-compatible API
Competitive pricing on open-weight models
Resells frontier models — no proprietary models
Pricing may be higher than direct provider APIs for frontier models
Newer inference platform — less mature than dedicated inference providers

Key differentiators

CloudGPU

An API gateway offering CloudGPU customer rates on 33 text models — prices differ from official lab rates; routing is not fully disclosed.

DigitalOcean Gradient AI

DigitalOcean's developer-friendly platform extended to LLM inference — frontier models (Claude, GPT-5) alongside open-weight models (DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, Llama 4) under one billing account.

Frequently asked questions

CloudGPU FAQs

Are CloudGPU prices the same as official provider prices?

No. CloudGPU is an API gateway/reseller. The prices shown are CloudGPU customer rates, which may differ from official lab prices. CloudGPU does not disclose all routing details.

What models does CloudGPU offer?

CloudGPU offers 33 text models including Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5-5, Kimi K3, GLM-5.3, Qwen 3.8 Max, DeepSeek V4 Pro, GPT-6 Astra, and MiniMax M3. See the model table for current rates.

What is the CloudGPU API base URL?

The CloudGPU API base is https://cloudgpu.app/v1 with OpenAI-compatible endpoints. See https://cloudgpu.app/api/docs for full documentation.

DigitalOcean Gradient AI FAQs

What is DigitalOcean Gradient AI?

DigitalOcean Gradient AI is DigitalOcean's serverless LLM inference platform, offering frontier and open-weight models including Claude, GPT-5, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, and Llama 4 Maverick. See docs.digitalocean.com/products/gradient-ai-platform/details/pricing for current rates.

What models does DigitalOcean Gradient AI offer?

The catalog includes Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Haiku 4.5, Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.4 mini, GPT-5, GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, gpt-oss-120b, gpt-oss-20b, DeepSeek V4 Pro/Flash, Kimi K2.6, GLM-5.1, Qwen 3.5 397B A17B, Llama 4 Maverick, and MiMo V2.5 Pro.

How much does DigitalOcean Gradient AI cost?

As of October 2026: Claude Sonnet 4.6 $3/$15, Claude Haiku 4.5 $1/$5, Claude Opus 4.7 $5/$25, GPT-5.4 $2.50/$15, GPT-5.4 mini $0.75/$4.50, GPT-5 $1.25/$10, GPT-4.1 $2/$8, GPT-4o $2.50/$10. See docs.digitalocean.com/products/gradient-ai-platform/details/pricing for current rates.

Provider resources

CloudGPU — API gateway / reseller — 33 text models at CloudGPU customer rates

CloudGPU is an API gateway and reseller offering access to frontier and mid-tier text models including Claude, GPT, Kimi, GLM, Qwen, DeepSeek, and MiniMax. Prices shown are CloudGPU customer rates — not official lab prices. CloudGPU does not disclose all routing; upstreams are not the seller.

An API gateway offering CloudGPU customer rates on 33 text models — prices differ from official lab rates; routing is not fully disclosed.

DigitalOcean Gradient AI — Serverless inference on Gradient AI — Claude, GPT-5, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, Qwen 3.5, Llama 4

DigitalOcean Gradient AI is the serverless LLM inference platform from DigitalOcean, offering access to frontier and open-weight models including Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Haiku 4.5, Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.4 mini, GPT-5, GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, gpt-oss-120b, gpt-oss-20b, DeepSeek V4 Pro/Flash, Kimi K2.6, GLM-5.1, Qwen 3.5 397B A17B, Llama 4 Maverick, and MiMo V2.5 Pro. Pricing is published at docs.digitalocean.com/products/gradient-ai-platform/details/pricing.

DigitalOcean's developer-friendly platform extended to LLM inference — frontier models (Claude, GPT-5) alongside open-weight models (DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, Llama 4) under one billing account.

Key strengths compared

CloudGPU

  • Access to frontier models including Claude Fable 5.1, Kimi K3, and GPT-6 Astra
  • Competitive customer rates on Chinese frontier models (GLM, Kimi, Qwen, MiniMax)
  • OpenAI-compatible API base at cloudgpu.app/v1
  • API gateway/reseller — routing not fully disclosed
  • Prices are CloudGPU customer rates, not official lab prices

DigitalOcean Gradient AI

  • Frontier model access: Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.4, GPT-5 via serverless inference
  • Broad catalog: Claude, GPT, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K2.6, Qwen 3.5, Llama 4 Maverick
  • DigitalOcean's developer-friendly platform and billing
  • Resells frontier models — no proprietary models
  • Pricing may be higher than direct provider APIs for frontier models

Key weaknesses compared

CloudGPU

  • API gateway/reseller — routing not fully disclosed
  • Prices are CloudGPU customer rates, not official lab prices
  • Per-model context window and capability facts are not publicly documented

DigitalOcean Gradient AI

  • Resells frontier models — no proprietary models
  • Pricing may be higher than direct provider APIs for frontier models
  • Newer inference platform — less mature than dedicated inference providers

Provider category context

CloudGPU is a inference api. DigitalOcean Gradient AI is a cloud, founded in 2012. 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 CloudGPU if you need access to frontier models including claude fable 5.1, kimi k3, and gpt-6 astra. Choose DigitalOcean Gradient AI if you need frontier model access: claude opus 4.7, gpt-5.4, gpt-5 via serverless inference. 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.