# DeepInfra vs Moonshot AI

> Moonshot sells Kimi K3, the most capable open-weight model, at near-frontier prices. DeepInfra sells a wide open catalog at the price floor.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepinfra-vs-moonshot-ai · By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

## How they compare

Moonshot is a model lab with one flagship worth paying for. Kimi K3 scored 93.4% on SWE-bench Verified in Vals AI's neutral harness, fourth overall behind closed frontier models, and it reads 1M tokens with native vision. That costs $3 in and $15 out per million, with cached input at $0.30. DeepInfra plays a different game: 150+ open models, none its own, with prices like $0.14 in and $0.28 out on DeepSeek V4 Flash and $0.02 on Llama 3.1 8B. With Moonshot you are buying capability on hard tasks. With DeepInfra you are buying volume on routine ones.

The trade-offs follow that split. K3 runs around 33 tokens per second, always thinks, and demand overran Moonshot's GPUs within days of launch, pausing new API subscriptions for a time. DeepInfra's risks sit elsewhere, in heavy default quantization that can cut quality and context, such as the 66K cap on its FP4 DeepSeek V4 Pro. Long-horizon coding on huge repositories belongs on Kimi K3. Bulk tagging, extraction and budget chat belong on DeepInfra, where a slow, verbose frontier model would burn money for no gain.

## What each one does

### DeepInfra

DeepInfra is the price floor for open-model inference. Developers treat it as the reference point for what a token should cost, with small models like Llama 3.1 8B at $0.02 per million and DeepSeek V4 Flash at $0.14 in and $0.28 out. The catalog covers 150+ open models across text, image and speech behind a fully OpenAI-compatible API. There are no minimums, setup fees or contracts on the shared API.

### Moonshot AI

Moonshot AI is the Beijing lab behind the Kimi models. Its flagship Kimi K3 launched July 16, 2026 as a 2.8 trillion parameter mixture-of-experts model that activates 16 of 896 experts per token, with native vision and a 1M token context. It is the first open model in the 3T class, and full weights landed on Hugging Face on July 27. The hosted API costs $3 in and $15 out per million tokens, with cached input at $0.30, and it runs through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, Kimi Code in the terminal, OpenRouter and Cloudflare Workers AI.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose DeepInfra for

- Routine bulk work where a frontier-class model is overkill
- Consumer chat backends that need the lowest cost per reply
- Broad catalog access without a single-lab dependency

### Choose Moonshot AI for

- Repo-scale coding agents that need near-frontier scores
- Document-heavy research and visual agents that use 1M context
- Teams that want the strongest open weights straight from the lab

## At a glance

| Attribute | DeepInfra | Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Open weights, custom license |
| Flagship models | DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 3.1 8B | Kimi K3, Kimi K2.6 |
| Speed | ~33 tok/s on DeepSeek V4 Pro (FP4) | ~33 tok/s on Kimi K3 |
| Price | From $0.02 per 1M | $3 in, $15 out (Kimi K3) |
| Customization | No managed fine-tuning | Open weights to fine-tune |
| Deployment | Shared API, no contracts | API, Kimi Code, OpenRouter |
| Long context | 66K on FP4 DeepSeek V4 Pro | 1M |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between DeepInfra and Moonshot AI?

Moonshot sells Kimi K3, the most capable open-weight model, at near-frontier prices. DeepInfra sells a wide open catalog at the price floor.

### When should I choose DeepInfra over Moonshot AI?

Routine bulk work where a frontier-class model is overkill; Consumer chat backends that need the lowest cost per reply; Broad catalog access without a single-lab dependency.

### When should I choose Moonshot AI over DeepInfra?

Repo-scale coding agents that need near-frontier scores; Document-heavy research and visual agents that use 1M context; Teams that want the strongest open weights straight from the lab.

### Is DeepInfra or Moonshot AI cheaper?

DeepInfra: From $0.02 per 1M. Moonshot AI: $3 in, $15 out (Kimi K3). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, DeepInfra or Moonshot AI?

DeepInfra: 66K on FP4 DeepSeek V4 Pro. Moonshot AI: 1M.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs DeepInfra](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-deepinfra.md), [Subconscious vs Moonshot AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-moonshot-ai.md).

Full profiles: [DeepInfra](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/deepinfra.md), [Moonshot AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/moonshot-ai.md).