Google Vertex AI vs Dolphin

Vertex AI is an enterprise platform on Google Cloud. Dolphin is a new decentralized API with one model and uncensored roots.

By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 11, 2026

Google Vertex AI vs Dolphin: key differences

Vertex offers 200+ models, including Gemini 3.8 and Claude, plus custom training, MLOps, agent tooling and BigQuery integration, billed through Google Cloud. Dolphin's API launched in October 2026 with one model, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, at $0.01 in and $0.07 out per million tokens, served on idle consumer GPUs whose owners earn $POD tokens. It publishes no speed, context or SLA, and signup needs a crypto wallet and Telegram.

The two serve different buyers. Vertex fits enterprises that need governance, frontier models and cloud billing. Dolphin fits cheap background calls and products that want models without vendor-imposed refusals, where procurement rules are loose.

What Google Vertex AI and Dolphin do

Google Vertex AI

Vertex AI is Google Cloud's enterprise AI platform. At Google Cloud Next on April 22, 2026, Google rebranded it the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform with an agent-first structure, though the API endpoint and most docs still say Vertex. Model Garden offers 200+ models, including Google's Gemini 3.8 family, Anthropic's Claude models and open models like Gemma, alongside Imagen, Veo and Chirp for media and speech. Google's own TPUs sit underneath much of its first-party serving.

Example models: Gemini 3.8, Claude

Full Google Vertex AI profile

Dolphin

Dolphin began in 2023 as Eric Hartford's series of open-source, uncensored fine-tunes, trained to drop the refusals and baked-in guidelines of their base models so that the developer sets the rules through the system prompt. Current releases include Dolphin Llama 3.1 8B and Dolphin Mistral 24B Venice Edition, built with Venice, and the project publishes nearly 100 models on Hugging Face. It also runs a chat app, a Telegram bot and a synthetic data service that generates answers to commonly refused prompts.

Example models: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Dolphin Mistral 24B

Full Dolphin profile

Should you choose Google Vertex AI or Dolphin?

Google Vertex AI

Choose Google Vertex AI for

Enterprise governance on Google Cloud
Gemini and Claude side by side
Training and MLOps in one stack

Dolphin

Choose Dolphin for

Very cheap DeepSeek V4.1 Flash calls
Uncensored models
Requests nodes cannot log

Google Vertex AI vs Dolphin at a glance

Attribute	Google Vertex AI	Dolphin
Model access	Closed and open, 200+ models	Open weights, uncensored fine-tunes
Flagship models	Gemini 3.8 Flash, Claude, Gemma	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Dolphin Mistral 24B
Speed	Flash tier built for low latency	Unknown
Price	Gemini 3.8 Flash $0.75 in, $3.75 out until 2027, then $1.50/$7.50	$0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash)
Customization	Custom training on GPUs or TPUs	Own uncensored fine-tunes
Deployment	Managed on Google Cloud	Decentralized serverless API
Long context	1M on Gemini 3.8 Flash	Unknown

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Google Vertex AI and Dolphin?

Vertex AI is an enterprise platform on Google Cloud. Dolphin is a new decentralized API with one model and uncensored roots.

When should I choose Google Vertex AI over Dolphin?

Enterprise governance on Google Cloud; Gemini and Claude side by side; Training and MLOps in one stack.

When should I choose Dolphin over Google Vertex AI?

Very cheap DeepSeek V4.1 Flash calls; Uncensored models; Requests nodes cannot log.

Is Google Vertex AI or Dolphin cheaper?

Google Vertex AI: Gemini 3.8 Flash $0.75 in, $3.75 out until 2027, then $1.50/$7.50. Dolphin: $0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

Related comparisons

Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious. Our inference stack treats a long-horizon trace as the primary workload, so speed, cost, and accuracy hold up deep into the trace.

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