Deep Infra vs OpenAI: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of Deep Infra and OpenAI — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Updated July 2026.
Deep Infra
The cheapest inference API for open-weight models — Llama, Mistral, and more
Deep Infra is an inference-focused API provider specialising in open-weight models at extremely competitive prices. Consistently among the cheapest providers for Llama 3, Mistral, and DeepSeek models, making it the go-to choice for cost-sensitive production inference.
OpenAI
GPT-4o, o3, and the world's most widely-used AI API
OpenAI is the creator of the GPT model family and the ChatGPT product. Their API provides access to frontier models including GPT-4o, the o-series reasoning models, and the GPT-4.1 long-context family. Pricing is competitive for frontier-tier capability, with prompt caching available on most models.
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Live token pricing
Strengths & weaknesses
Deep Infra
OpenAI
Key differentiators
The most price-competitive inference API for open-weight models — often 30–50% cheaper than comparable providers for the same Llama or Mistral model.
The most widely-integrated LLM API — virtually every AI framework and tool supports OpenAI natively.
Frequently asked questions
Deep Infra FAQs
How cheap is Deep Infra compared to other providers?
Deep Infra is consistently among the cheapest providers for open-weight models. For example, Llama 3.1 8B is available at $0.02–0.05/1M tokens, and Llama 3.3 70B at around $0.10/1M tokens — often 30–50% below comparable providers.
What models does Deep Infra support?
Deep Infra hosts a wide range of open-weight models including the full Llama 3.x family, Mistral, Mixtral, DeepSeek V3 and R1, Qwen, and many others. The catalog is updated frequently as new models are released.
Is Deep Infra OpenAI-compatible?
Yes. Deep Infra provides an OpenAI-compatible API, so you can use the OpenAI SDK by pointing it at the Deep Infra endpoint. This makes migration straightforward.
OpenAI FAQs
How much does the OpenAI API cost?
GPT-4o costs $2.50/1M input tokens and $10/1M output tokens. GPT-4o-mini is $0.15/$0.60 per 1M tokens. Prompt caching cuts input costs by 50% on eligible requests.
What is the difference between GPT-4o and o3?
GPT-4o is a fast, multimodal model optimised for chat, vision, and coding. o3 is a reasoning model that uses chain-of-thought to solve complex problems — it is slower and more expensive but significantly more capable on math, science, and hard coding tasks.
Does OpenAI support prompt caching?
Yes. Prompt caching is available on GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, o3, and o4-mini. Cached input tokens are billed at 50% of the standard input price, making long-context and repeated-system-prompt workloads significantly cheaper.
Provider resources
Deep Infra — The cheapest inference API for open-weight models — Llama, Mistral, and more
Deep Infra is an inference-focused API provider specialising in open-weight models at extremely competitive prices. Consistently among the cheapest providers for Llama 3, Mistral, and DeepSeek models, making it the go-to choice for cost-sensitive production inference.
The most price-competitive inference API for open-weight models — often 30–50% cheaper than comparable providers for the same Llama or Mistral model.
OpenAI — GPT-4o, o3, and the world's most widely-used AI API
OpenAI is the creator of the GPT model family and the ChatGPT product. Their API provides access to frontier models including GPT-4o, the o-series reasoning models, and the GPT-4.1 long-context family. Pricing is competitive for frontier-tier capability, with prompt caching available on most models.
The most widely-integrated LLM API — virtually every AI framework and tool supports OpenAI natively.
Key strengths compared
Deep Infra
- ▸Consistently lowest prices for open-weight models
- ▸Wide model catalog including Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek
- ▸OpenAI-compatible API
OpenAI
- ▸Largest ecosystem & third-party integrations
- ▸Best-in-class function calling & structured outputs
- ▸Prompt caching on all major models
Provider category context
Deep Infra is a inference api, founded in 2023. OpenAI is a frontier lab, founded in 2015. Deep Infra as an inference API provider hosts open-weight models — typically offering lower prices for equivalent capability tiers. OpenAI as a frontier lab trains and serves proprietary models with capabilities not available elsewhere.
How to choose between them
Choose Deep Infra if you need consistently lowest prices for open-weight models. Choose OpenAI if you need largest ecosystem & third-party integrations. 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.