# DeepSeek vs Inference.net

> Both sell cheap open-model inference, from opposite angles: DeepSeek through a first-party API with off-peak rates, Inference.net through spare GPU capacity, big batch windows and custom distillation.

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

## How they compare

DeepSeek makes its models cheap at the source. V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 in and $1.20 out at peak, V4 Pro $1.32 in and $3.96 out, and every off-peak hour is half. Inference.net makes compute cheap by buying idle GPU time across data centers and passing the discount on. Its OpenAI-compatible Batch API takes up to 1M requests per file with completion windows from 24 hours to 7 days. It does not publish its own model family. Instead it serves catalog models and customer fine-tunes, and it routes open, closed or custom models through one gateway.

Inference.net's distinct offer is the loop from traces to a custom model: capture production traffic, turn it into eval and training data, fine-tune a task-specific model and deploy it on a dedicated GPU with a 99.99% uptime target. DeepSeek's MIT weights are a reasonable base for that kind of fine-tune. For real-time agents, DeepSeek's API is the more direct fit, since Inference.net's spare capacity suits batch over strict real-time SLAs. For huge offline jobs or distilling a narrow task, Inference.net is worth testing, though independent benchmarks are scarce.

## What each one does

### DeepSeek

DeepSeek is the Chinese lab whose open-weight models reset price expectations for the whole market. Its API now serves two models, both with 1M context and 384K max output. V4.1 Flash shipped September 10, 2026 with built-in image understanding at $0.30 in and $1.20 out at peak. V4 Pro, generally available since August 13, costs $1.32 in and $3.96 out at peak. Cache hits cost a few cents per million or less, and the weights ship on Hugging Face under an MIT license.

### 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 DeepSeek for

- Real-time agents on cheap first-party pricing
- Workloads that fit within off-peak windows
- Very long outputs up to 384K tokens

### Choose Inference.net for

- Offline jobs of up to 1M requests per file
- Distilling production traces into a custom model
- Routing open and closed models behind one key

## At a glance

| Attribute | DeepSeek | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights (MIT) | Open, closed and custom |
| Flagship models | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, V4 Pro | Customer fine-tunes |
| Speed | ~35 tok/s on V4 Pro | Batch windows of 24h to 7 days |
| Price | Off-peak hours at half price | Discounted spare GPU capacity |
| Customization | Open weights to fine-tune | Distill traces into custom models |
| Deployment | First-party API, Hugging Face weights | Batch API, gateway, dedicated GPUs |
| Long context | 1M, 384K max output | Varies by model |

## FAQ

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

Both sell cheap open-model inference, from opposite angles: DeepSeek through a first-party API with off-peak rates, Inference.net through spare GPU capacity, big batch windows and custom distillation.

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

Real-time agents on cheap first-party pricing; Workloads that fit within off-peak windows; Very long outputs up to 384K tokens.

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

Offline jobs of up to 1M requests per file; Distilling production traces into a custom model; Routing open and closed models behind one key.

### Is DeepSeek or Inference.net cheaper?

DeepSeek: Off-peak hours at half price. Inference.net: Discounted spare GPU capacity. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

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

DeepSeek: 1M, 384K max output. Inference.net: Varies by model.

## Running long-horizon agents?

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

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