{"id":"budget-open-inference","slug":"budget-open-inference","name":"Ultra-budget open-model inference","shortName":"Ultra-budget open-model inference","problemStatement":"Need the cheapest OpenAI-compatible host for high-volume open weights without caring about brand prestige.","whenNotTopPick":"Need Fireworks-level production features/tool calling reliability, or compliance blocks smaller hosts.","categoryIds":["cat-inference-apis","cat-gpu-cloud"],"depotPickProviderId":"deepinfra","depotPickRationale":"Overweight pricePerf. DeepInfra wins catalog+price; Novita/SiliconFlow/Hyperbolic as pure price peers.","runnersUpIds":["novita","siliconflow","hyperbolic","zai","chutes","minimax"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.25,"pricePerformance":0.18,"latencyReliability":0.15,"developerDx":0.15,"privacyPosture":0.1,"lockInRisk":0.07,"maturity":0.1},"methodologyNotes":"Overweight pricePerf. DeepInfra wins catalog+price; Novita/SiliconFlow/Hyperbolic as pure price peers.","tags":["budget"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Need Fireworks-level production features/tool calling reliability, or compliance blocks smaller hosts.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"novita","name":"Novita AI","overallForJob":7.42,"pickOverallForJob":7.95,"beatsPickOn":["privacyPosture"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":3,"runnerUpLockInRisk":3.5,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":["serves open-weight models (provider tag `open-models`)","OpenAI-compatible API (provider tag `openai-compat`)"],"runnerUpExitSignals":["serves open-weight models (provider tag `open-model`)","OpenAI-compatible API (provider tag `openai-compat`)"],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[{"id":"qwen3-0.6b-base","name":"Qwen3-0.6B-Base","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B-Base/raw/main/LICENSE"},{"id":"deepseek-v3.2-weights","name":"DeepSeek-V3.2 weights","license":"MIT","sourceUrl":"https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3.2/raw/main/LICENSE"},{"id":"ollama","name":"Ollama","license":"MIT","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/ollama/ollama/blob/main/LICENSE"}],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up Novita AI (3 vs 3.5). Pick exit signals: serves open-weight models (provider tag `open-models`); OpenAI-compatible API (provider tag `openai-compat`). Self-host fallback listed for this job: Qwen3-0.6B-Base, DeepSeek-V3.2 weights, Ollama.","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":3,"sourcesReachable":3,"pricingRows":8,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":8,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}},"depotPick":{"id":"deepinfra","slug":"deepinfra","name":"DeepInfra","tagline":"Budget open-model workhorse and one of the cheapest large-catalog hosts. Great for evals and high-volume…","overall":7.95},"runnersUp":[{"id":"novita","slug":"novita","name":"Novita AI","tagline":"Budget open-model host with a pinned official matrix — strong DeepInfra/SiliconFlow peer. Prefer…","overall":7.42},{"id":"siliconflow","slug":"siliconflow","name":"SiliconFlow","tagline":"Price/catalog monster for open models. Confirm data-residency/compliance before production.","overall":7.34},{"id":"hyperbolic","slug":"hyperbolic","name":"Hyperbolic","tagline":"Cheap open-model inference peer to Novita/DeepInfra. Good for evals and non-critical volume.","overall":7.29},{"id":"zai","slug":"zai","name":"Z.AI (Zhipu GLM)","tagline":"International GLM via z.ai — catalog zai, not a second Zhipu mainland-only SKU. Strong cheap/coding runner…","overall":7.79},{"id":"chutes","slug":"chutes","name":"Chutes","tagline":"Budget open-model overflow with a now-pinned public TEE matrix. Depot open-model production pick stays…","overall":7.29},{"id":"minimax","slug":"minimax","name":"MiniMax","tagline":"Primary indie-usable Chinese multimodal API alongside Moonshot. Prefer Anthropic/OpenAI for coding agents…","overall":7.83}]}