# DeepInfra vs Wafer

> Wafer tunes serving stacks with agents to run open models faster on the same weights. DeepInfra runs a huge catalog at the lowest price. Speed versus cost, roughly.

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

## How they compare

Wafer and DeepInfra make different bets on the same open weights. Wafer uses AI agents as GPU performance engineers. They profile a workload, try configurations across batching, decoding, quantization, engines, kernels and hardware, and deploy the winner, then keep re-tuning on NVIDIA or AMD. Wafer reports its tuned Qwen 3.5 397B running 2.8x faster than stock SGLang, and GLM 5.1 and DeepSeek V4 Pro each 2x faster than a vLLM baseline. DeepInfra's bet is price. It serves 150+ models at or near the floor, with part of that edge coming from heavy default quantization.

The pricing models differ as much as the tech. Wafer Pass is a flat-rate subscription from $10 a week that covers every hosted model and plugs into Claude Code, Cline and OpenHands. DeepInfra bills per token with no minimums. Wafer is a very young company with a small hosted catalog, and its speedups are self-reported against stock baselines. Coding agents that want big open models at interactive speed, or teams with a strict latency SLO and no kernel engineers, lean Wafer. Bulk, cost-first jobs on a wide catalog lean DeepInfra.

## 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.

### Wafer

Wafer builds AI agents that act as GPU performance engineers, then sells inference on the stacks those agents tune. The company came out of Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch as a "Cursor for CUDA" that turned slow PyTorch into custom kernels. Founders Emilio Andere and Steven Arellano are based in San Francisco. Its agents profile a workload, generate candidate configs across batching, decoding, quantization, engines, kernels and hardware, measure each one and deploy the winner.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose DeepInfra for

- Cost-first bulk jobs on a wide open catalog
- Metered per-token billing for variable usage
- Access to many models Wafer does not host

### Choose Wafer for

- Flat-rate agentic coding in Claude Code or Cline
- Dedicated endpoints tuned to a strict latency SLO
- Hedging GPU supply across NVIDIA and AMD

## At a glance

| Attribute | DeepInfra | Wafer |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Open weights |
| Flagship models | DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 3.1 8B | Qwen 3.5 397B Turbo, GLM 5.1 Turbo |
| Speed | ~33 tok/s on DeepSeek V4 Pro (FP4) | 2–2.8x vs stock vLLM or SGLang |
| Price | From $0.02 per 1M | Wafer Pass from $10 a week |
| Customization | No managed fine-tuning | Agent-tuned dedicated deployments |
| Deployment | Shared API, no contracts | Serverless pass, dedicated |
| Long context | 66K on FP4 DeepSeek V4 Pro | Varies by model |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between DeepInfra and Wafer?

Wafer tunes serving stacks with agents to run open models faster on the same weights. DeepInfra runs a huge catalog at the lowest price. Speed versus cost, roughly.

### When should I choose DeepInfra over Wafer?

Cost-first bulk jobs on a wide open catalog; Metered per-token billing for variable usage; Access to many models Wafer does not host.

### When should I choose Wafer over DeepInfra?

Flat-rate agentic coding in Claude Code or Cline; Dedicated endpoints tuned to a strict latency SLO; Hedging GPU supply across NVIDIA and AMD.

### Is DeepInfra or Wafer cheaper?

DeepInfra: From $0.02 per 1M. Wafer: Wafer Pass from $10 a week. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, DeepInfra or Wafer?

DeepInfra: 66K on FP4 DeepSeek V4 Pro. Wafer: Varies by model.

## 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 Wafer](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-wafer.md).

Full profiles: [DeepInfra](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/deepinfra.md), [Wafer](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/wafer.md).