# Inference.net vs GMI Cloud

> Inference.net runs cheap batch on spare GPUs and distills custom models. GMI Cloud owns its GPUs and serves 100+ text and media models with APAC residency.

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

## How they compare

Both sell GPU capacity, from opposite ownership models. Inference.net aggregates small unused chunks of capacity across data centers and passes the discounts on, mainly through a Batch API that takes up to 1M requests per file with 24-hour to 7-day windows. GMI Cloud owns its NVIDIA hardware in Tier-4 data centers in the US, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia, and serves 100+ models, text plus video, image and audio, with a path from shared endpoints to reserved H100 or H200 capacity. Inference.net is cheapest when you can wait. GMI offers owned capacity you can reserve.

Their extras differ. Inference.net's gateway captures production traffic, builds eval and training sets, fine-tunes a task-specific model and deploys it on a dedicated GPU with a 99.99% uptime target. GMI's extras are APAC data residency and media models like Google Veo and Kling. Each has thin third-party benchmarking, so buyers should test claims. Offline extraction and custom distillation fit Inference.net. In-region Asian workloads and apps mixing LLMs and video fit GMI.

## What each one does

### 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.

### GMI Cloud

GMI Cloud is a vertically integrated GPU cloud and inference platform that owns its NVIDIA hardware. It runs Tier-4 data centers in Silicon Valley, Colorado, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia, and as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner it gets priority access to H100, H200 and B200 supply. The company pivoted from crypto mining into AI, which gave it experience standing up high-density power and cooling fast. An $82M Series A came from Headline, Wistron and Thai energy group Banpu.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Inference.net for

- Huge offline batches at spare-capacity prices
- Distilling production traffic into a custom model
- One gateway for open, closed and custom models

### Choose GMI Cloud for

- APAC companies needing in-country inference
- Apps mixing LLMs with video and image generation
- Reserved H100 or H200 capacity on owned hardware

## At a glance

| Attribute | Inference.net | GMI Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open, closed and custom | Open and third-party models |
| Flagship models | Customer fine-tunes | GLM-4.7-Flash, Google Veo |
| Speed | Batch windows of 24h to 7 days | Near bare-metal performance |
| Price | Discounted spare GPU capacity | $0.07 in, $0.40 out (GLM-4.7-Flash) |
| Customization | Distill traces into custom models | - |
| Deployment | Batch API, gateway, dedicated GPUs | Shared, autoscaling, reserved GPUs |
| Long context | Varies by model | Varies by model |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Inference.net and GMI Cloud?

Inference.net runs cheap batch on spare GPUs and distills custom models. GMI Cloud owns its GPUs and serves 100+ text and media models with APAC residency.

### When should I choose Inference.net over GMI Cloud?

Huge offline batches at spare-capacity prices; Distilling production traffic into a custom model; One gateway for open, closed and custom models.

### When should I choose GMI Cloud over Inference.net?

APAC companies needing in-country inference; Apps mixing LLMs with video and image generation; Reserved H100 or H200 capacity on owned hardware.

### Is Inference.net or GMI Cloud cheaper?

Inference.net: Discounted spare GPU capacity. GMI Cloud: $0.07 in, $0.40 out (GLM-4.7-Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, Inference.net or GMI Cloud?

Inference.net: Varies by model. GMI Cloud: Varies by model.

## Running long-horizon agents?

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

Full profiles: [Inference.net](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/inference-net.md), [GMI Cloud](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/gmi-cloud.md).