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Inference.net vs Relace
Relace ships fast small models for coding-agent chores. Inference.net builds custom small models from your traffic and runs cheap batch.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Inference.net vs Relace: key differences
Relace and Inference.net share a thesis: specialized small models beat frontier LLMs on narrow tasks at lower cost. Relace applies it to coding agents with ready-made tools, like relace-apply-3 merging edits at about 10,000 tokens per second, parallel agentic search, and a compaction model at 50,000 tokens per second. Inference.net applies it to whatever task a customer runs, capturing gateway traffic, fine-tuning a task-specific model, and serving it on a dedicated GPU with a 99.99% uptime target. Relace ships the models; Inference.net helps you make one.
Relace is the faster start for coding workflows, since its models already exist and plug in through REST or OpenAI compatible endpoints, with self-hosting for code kept in-house. Inference.net fits when the narrow task is yours alone, like a classification step once handled by a GPT-class model, or when bulk batch jobs dominate the bill. Relace errors past 128K tokens. Inference.net offers few independent benchmarks.
What Inference.net and Relace 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 profileRelace
Relace started out training small, fast models that act as tools for coding agents, and by October 2026 its homepage led with open-model inference instead. It says it served 30 trillion tokens in the 30 days to late October and ranks among the top providers on OpenRouter. The hosted catalog covers DeepSeek V4 Pro, V4 Flash and V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, GLM 5.3 Flash and GLM 5.2 over OpenAI and Anthropic compatible APIs, billed per token with no subscription. Prices run from $0.07 in and $0.14 out per million tokens on DeepSeek V4 Flash to $2.00 in and $14.00 out on Kimi K3, and Relace says it reprices often.
Example models: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, relace-apply-3
Full Relace profileShould you choose Inference.net or Relace?
Inference.net
Choose Inference.net for
- Replacing a narrow GPT-class task with a distilled model
- Offline batch jobs at spare-capacity prices
- Routing and logging traffic across model vendors
Relace
Choose Relace for
- Ready-made apply and search models for coding agents
- Self-hosted coding tools for in-house code
- Fast context compaction in long agent runs
Inference.net vs Relace at a glance
| Attribute | Inference.net | Relace |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open, closed and custom | Open weights, plus specialist coding models |
| Flagship models | Schematron, ClipTagger, customer fine-tunes | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, relace-apply-3 |
| Speed | Batch windows of 24h to 7 days | ~10,000 tok/s apply |
| Price | Free pay-as-you-go; Growth $250/mo; B200 $9.98/hr | $0.07 in, $0.50 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash) |
| Customization | Distill traces into custom models | Unknown |
| Deployment | Batch API, gateway, dedicated GPUs | Hosted API, OpenRouter or self-hosted |
| Long context | Varies by model | 128K on apply; varies by open model |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Inference.net and Relace?
Relace ships fast small models for coding-agent chores. Inference.net builds custom small models from your traffic and runs cheap batch.
When should I choose Inference.net over Relace?
Replacing a narrow GPT-class task with a distilled model; Offline batch jobs at spare-capacity prices; Routing and logging traffic across model vendors.
When should I choose Relace over Inference.net?
Ready-made apply and search models for coding agents; Self-hosted coding tools for in-house code; Fast context compaction in long agent runs.
Is Inference.net or Relace cheaper?
Inference.net: Free pay-as-you-go; Growth $250/mo; B200 $9.98/hr. Relace: $0.07 in, $0.50 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
Which has more context, Inference.net or Relace?
Inference.net: Varies by model. Relace: 128K on apply; varies by open model.
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.