Replicate vs SambaNova Cloud: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of Replicate and SambaNova Cloud — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.
Replicate
Run any open-source AI model via API — FLUX 1.1 Pro, Llama 4, video, audio, and custom models
Replicate is a platform for running open-source AI models via a simple API. It hosts thousands of community models including FLUX 1.1 Pro, Llama 4, Stable Diffusion, Whisper, and video generation models. Pay per prediction with no infrastructure to manage. The 2026 catalog has expanded significantly with FLUX 1.1 Pro Ultra, Kling v2.1, and Llama 4 Scout/Maverick. Custom model deployment via Cog remains a core differentiator.
SambaNova Cloud
High-throughput inference on SambaNova RDU chips — gpt-oss-120b, GLM-5.3, Llama
SambaNova Cloud runs inference on SambaNova's proprietary Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU) chips, delivering very high throughput (800+ tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b). The catalog covers gpt-oss-120b, GLM-5.3, MiniMax-M3, DeepSeek-V3.2, Meta-Llama-3.3-70B, and Gemma 4 31B. Pricing is PAYG with prompt caching on select models.
Key metric comparison
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Live token pricing
Strengths and weaknesses
Replicate
SambaNova Cloud
Key differentiators
A broad catalog of community AI models — if a model exists on Hugging Face, it's likely on Replicate. Strong coverage for image, video, and audio model access, plus custom model deployment via Cog.
Proprietary RDU chips deliver industry-leading throughput on open-weight models at competitive per-token rates.
Frequently asked questions
Replicate FAQs
What new models did Replicate add in 2026?
Replicate added FLUX 1.1 Pro Ultra, Kling v2.1 (video generation), Llama 4 Scout and Maverick, and many other models in 2026. The catalog is continuously updated as new community models are released.
How does Replicate pricing work?
Replicate charges per prediction based on compute time used. Pricing varies by model and GPU type. Text models are billed per token; image models per image; video models per second of output. Some models are free with rate limits.
Can I deploy my own model on Replicate?
Yes. Replicate lets you package and deploy custom models using Cog, their open-source model packaging tool. Once deployed, your model gets a public API endpoint with automatic scaling.
SambaNova Cloud FAQs
What makes SambaNova Cloud different?
SambaNova runs inference on its own Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU) chips rather than NVIDIA GPUs. This delivers very high throughput — over 800 tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b — at competitive per-token rates.
What models does SambaNova Cloud offer?
As of October 2026: gpt-oss-120b ($0.22/$0.59), GLM-5.3 ($1.40/$4.40, cached $0.14), MiniMax-M3 ($0.60/$2.40, cached $0.06), DeepSeek-V3.2 ($3.00/$4.50), Meta-Llama-3.3-70B ($0.60/$1.20), and Gemma 4 31B ($0.38/$1.15). See cloud.sambanova.ai/plans/pricing for current rates.
Does SambaNova offer prompt caching?
Yes, on GLM-5.3 (cached input $0.14/1M vs $1.40/1M standard) and MiniMax-M3 (cached input $0.06/1M vs $0.60/1M standard).
Provider resources
Replicate — Run any open-source AI model via API — FLUX 1.1 Pro, Llama 4, video, audio, and custom models
Replicate is a platform for running open-source AI models via a simple API. It hosts thousands of community models including FLUX 1.1 Pro, Llama 4, Stable Diffusion, Whisper, and video generation models. Pay per prediction with no infrastructure to manage. The 2026 catalog has expanded significantly with FLUX 1.1 Pro Ultra, Kling v2.1, and Llama 4 Scout/Maverick. Custom model deployment via Cog remains a core differentiator.
A broad catalog of community AI models — if a model exists on Hugging Face, it's likely on Replicate. Strong coverage for image, video, and audio model access, plus custom model deployment via Cog.
SambaNova Cloud — High-throughput inference on SambaNova RDU chips — gpt-oss-120b, GLM-5.3, Llama
SambaNova Cloud runs inference on SambaNova's proprietary Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU) chips, delivering very high throughput (800+ tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b). The catalog covers gpt-oss-120b, GLM-5.3, MiniMax-M3, DeepSeek-V3.2, Meta-Llama-3.3-70B, and Gemma 4 31B. Pricing is PAYG with prompt caching on select models.
Proprietary RDU chips deliver industry-leading throughput on open-weight models at competitive per-token rates.
Key strengths compared
Replicate
- Broad catalog of community AI models — text, image, video, audio
- FLUX 1.1 Pro Ultra and Kling v2.1 in the 2026 catalog
- Llama 4 Scout and Maverick available
- Higher per-token cost than dedicated text inference APIs
- Cold start latency on less popular models
SambaNova Cloud
- Proprietary RDU chips deliver very high throughput — 800+ tokens/sec on gpt-oss-120b
- Competitive pricing on gpt-oss-120b ($0.22/$0.59 per 1M)
- Prompt caching on GLM-5.3 (cached input at $0.14/1M)
- Smaller model catalog vs OpenRouter or Together AI
- No proprietary frontier models — inference-only platform
Key weaknesses compared
Replicate
- Higher per-token cost than dedicated text inference APIs
- Cold start latency on less popular models
- Less suitable for high-throughput text inference
SambaNova Cloud
- Smaller model catalog vs OpenRouter or Together AI
- No proprietary frontier models — inference-only platform
- RDU architecture may behave differently from GPU inference for some workloads
Provider category context
Replicate is a inference api, founded in 2021. SambaNova Cloud is a inference api, founded in 2017. Both are inference api providers — the comparison is primarily about pricing, model selection, and feature differentiation within the same tier.
How to choose between them
Both Replicate and SambaNova Cloud host open-weight models. The key differentiators are latency, throughput, and which specific model versions each provider offers. Check the speed metrics above — inference API providers often differ significantly on tokens-per-second for the same model. Pricing is typically competitive between them; availability of specific model versions (e.g., Llama 3.1 405B, DeepSeek V3) may be the deciding factor.