DeepInfra vs Chutes for Ultra-budget open-model inference (Oct 2026)
Depot Pick for this job: DeepInfra. Chutes is the provider with the cheapest sourced SKU in this job's unit. Both have a sourced price in usd_per_million_input_tokens, so this comparison is like for like on price. Prices are each provider's lowest sourced SKU in that unit only (no blending across units, input/output or context tiers), not quality-adjusted.
Scores as of 2026-09-14 / 2026-09-14 (43 / 43 days; stale after 30). Prices carry their own dates.
| DeepInfra (Depot Pick) | Chutes | |
|---|---|---|
| Job-weighted overall | 7.95 | 7.29 |
| Capability fit | 8 | 7.4 |
| Price / performance | 9.4 | 9.2 |
| Latency / reliability | 7.5 | 6.8 |
| Developer & agent DX | 8.5 | 7.6 |
| Privacy / data retention | 6.5 | 5.8 |
| Lock-in risk (higher = worse) | 3 | 4 |
| Maturity / track record | 7.2 | 6.2 |
| Lowest sourced SKU (usd_per_million_input_tokens) | $0.1 (Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct-Turbo) source · as of 2026-10-03 · re-checked 2026-10-27 | $0.039 (Qwen3.8-27B (Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B-TEE)) source · as of 2026-10-27 · re-checked 2026-10-27 |
| Free option for this job | none listed | none listed |
| Score kind / confidence | curated_estimate / high | curated_estimate / high |
When not to use DeepInfra
Need Fireworks-level production features/tool calling reliability, or compliance blocks smaller hosts.
Lock-in
Stored lock-in risk (0–10, higher = more lock-in): DeepInfra 3, Chutes 4. Self-host fallback for this job: Qwen3-0.6B-Base, DeepSeek-V3.2 weights, Ollama.
Agents: GET /api/compare?providers=deepinfra,chutes&jtbd=budget-open-inference · full job page · methodology