Inference.net vs Dolphin

Both run on spare GPU capacity. Inference.net aggregates it from data centers. Dolphin pulls it from gamers' idle consumer cards.

By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 11, 2026

Inference.net vs Dolphin: key differences

Inference.net buys unused chunks of data center GPU time and passes the discount on through a Batch API with 24-hour to 7-day windows, plus a gateway, fine-tuning and dedicated GPUs with a 99.99% uptime target. Dolphin's network pays GPU owners in $POD tokens and checks their outputs with validators. Its API launched in October 2026 with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at $0.01 in and $0.07 out per million tokens and no published speed, context or SLA.

Inference.net is the more complete option for business batch work, with a path to custom models and conventional signup. Dolphin fits teams that want uncensored models or the lowest price on its one model, and that are comfortable signing up with a crypto wallet and Telegram.

What Inference.net and Dolphin do

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.

Example models: GLM-5.2, Kimi K2.6, Schematron, customer fine-tunes

Full Inference.net 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 Inference.net or Dolphin?

Inference.net

Choose Inference.net for

Large batch jobs with long windows
Custom models from production traces
Dedicated GPUs with an uptime target

Dolphin

Choose Dolphin for

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

Inference.net vs Dolphin at a glance

Attribute	Inference.net	Dolphin
Model access	Open, closed and custom	Open weights, uncensored fine-tunes
Flagship models	Schematron, ClipTagger, customer fine-tunes	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Dolphin Mistral 24B
Speed	Batch windows of 24h to 7 days	Unknown
Price	Free pay-as-you-go; Growth $250/mo; B200 $9.98/hr	$0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash)
Customization	Distill traces into custom models	Own uncensored fine-tunes
Deployment	Batch API, gateway, dedicated GPUs	Decentralized serverless API
Long context	Varies by model	Unknown

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Inference.net and Dolphin?

Both run on spare GPU capacity. Inference.net aggregates it from data centers. Dolphin pulls it from gamers' idle consumer cards.

When should I choose Inference.net over Dolphin?

Large batch jobs with long windows; Custom models from production traces; Dedicated GPUs with an uptime target.

When should I choose Dolphin over Inference.net?

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

Is Inference.net or Dolphin cheaper?

Inference.net: Free pay-as-you-go; Growth $250/mo; B200 $9.98/hr. 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.

Subconscious vs Inference.net Subconscious vs Dolphin