# Baseten vs Inference.net

> Inference.net turns spare GPU time into cheap batch jobs and distills custom models from traces. Baseten serves real-time traffic with the lowest measured first token.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/baseten-vs-inference-net · By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

## How they compare

Speed requirements split these two cleanly. Inference.net started by buying idle GPU time and still runs an OpenAI-compatible Batch API that takes up to 1M requests per file with completion windows from 24 hours to 7 days. Its own downside says fragmented spare capacity fits batch better than strict real-time SLAs. Baseten sits at the opposite end, with 0.49 seconds to first token on the Artificial Analysis board and KV cache-aware routing for agent loops. A nightly classification run over millions of records belongs on Inference.net. A coding agent waiting on every turn belongs on Baseten.

Both offer a path to custom models, from different directions. Inference.net's gateway captures production traffic, turns it into datasets, fine-tunes a task-specific model and deploys it on a dedicated GPU with a 99.99% uptime target. Baseten expects you to bring the model, then serves it through Truss with per-minute billing, HIPAA and data residency. Buyers should note that Inference.net has few independent benchmarks, while Baseten's latency lead comes from a third-party board.

## What each one does

### Baseten

Baseten runs two products. Model APIs serve a curated set of 13 open models, including DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.2, Kimi K3 and gpt-oss 120B, over endpoints that speak both the OpenAI Chat Completions shape and the Anthropic Messages shape. That dual compatibility means an existing OpenAI or Claude SDK, or a coding agent, points at Baseten with a base URL change. Dedicated deployments take any model you package with the open-source Truss CLI and bill per GPU minute, with an H100 at about $6.50 an hour.

### Inference.net

Inference.net started as a buyer of last resort for idle GPU time. Its scheduler aggregates small unused chunks of capacity across data centers and runs models on them, and it passes the steep discounts it gets from those data centers on to customers. That origin still shows in its OpenAI-compatible Batch API, which takes up to 1M requests per file with completion windows from 24 hours to 7 days and far higher headroom than synchronous limits.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Baseten for

- Interactive agents with tight latency targets
- Serving a model you already trained, with HIPAA options
- Hosted access to DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.2 and Kimi K3

### Choose Inference.net for

- Million-request batch jobs with multi-day windows
- Distilling a narrow GPT-class task into a small model
- Routing open, closed and custom models under one key

## At a glance

| Attribute | Baseten | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights, 13 curated | Open, closed and custom |
| Flagship models | GLM 5.2, DeepSeek V4, Kimi K3, gpt-oss 120B | Customer fine-tunes |
| Speed | 0.49s TTFT, lowest measured | Batch windows of 24h to 7 days |
| Price | H100 about $6.50/hr dedicated | Discounted spare GPU capacity |
| Customization | Deploy any model with Truss | Distill traces into custom models |
| Deployment | Model APIs, dedicated, self-host | Batch API, gateway, dedicated GPUs |
| Long context | Varies by model | Varies by model |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Baseten and Inference.net?

Inference.net turns spare GPU time into cheap batch jobs and distills custom models from traces. Baseten serves real-time traffic with the lowest measured first token.

### When should I choose Baseten over Inference.net?

Interactive agents with tight latency targets; Serving a model you already trained, with HIPAA options; Hosted access to DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.2 and Kimi K3.

### When should I choose Inference.net over Baseten?

Million-request batch jobs with multi-day windows; Distilling a narrow GPT-class task into a small model; Routing open, closed and custom models under one key.

### Is Baseten or Inference.net cheaper?

Baseten: H100 about $6.50/hr dedicated. Inference.net: Discounted spare GPU capacity. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, Baseten or Inference.net?

Baseten: Varies by model. Inference.net: Varies by model.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs Baseten](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-baseten.md), [Subconscious vs Inference.net](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-inference-net.md).

Full profiles: [Baseten](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/baseten.md), [Inference.net](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/inference-net.md).