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Nebius vs Inception
Nebius is a European AI cloud serving 60+ open models plus raw GPUs. Inception sells its own closed diffusion models built for fast output.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Nebius vs Inception: key differences
Nebius Token Factory serves Llama, Qwen, DeepSeek, GLM, Kimi and GPT-OSS behind an OpenAI-compatible API from $0.06 per million input tokens, with dedicated endpoints on a 99.9% SLA, EU or US placement, uploaded fine-tunes and raw GPUs on the same account. Inception serves only its Mercury models. Mercury 2.5 is a reasoning model with tool use and 260K context at $0.20 in and $0.75 out, which Inception says runs over 1,100 tokens per second; Artificial Analysis measures about 640.
Nebius is the broader platform and the clearer choice for EU data residency, model choice and a path into training. Inception is narrower but faster per request, and fits real-time loops like autocomplete, voice and chat where its cost-optimized quality is enough. It sells through AWS Bedrock and Azure Foundry, while Nebius requires a $25 minimum first payment and has no free trial.
What Nebius and Inception do
Nebius
Nebius is an Amsterdam-headquartered AI cloud and the strongest European alternative to the US hyperscalers. It sells raw NVIDIA GPU compute, from H100s at $2.15 an hour preemptible up to GB300 NVL72 racks, and it has begun adding Vera Rubin. Hyperscale buyers back it: a Microsoft capacity deal worth about $17.4B in September 2025, then a Meta agreement worth up to about $27B in March 2026.
Example models: DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3, MiniMax M3
Full Nebius profile
Inception
Inception builds diffusion large language models (dLLMs). Every other LLM on this list generates text one token at a time; Inception's Mercury models start from a rough draft of a whole block and refine it over a few passes, producing many tokens in parallel. That ties speed less to output length and lets the models run fast on ordinary NVIDIA GPUs rather than custom chips. The company was founded by professors from Stanford, UCLA and Cornell behind core work on diffusion, Flash Attention and DPO, and is led by Stanford's Stefano Ermon. It raised a $50M seed in November 2025 led by Menlo Ventures, with Mayfield, M12, NVentures, Snowflake and Databricks, plus Andrew Ng and Andrej Karpathy as angels.
Example models: Mercury 2.5, Mercury 2
Full Inception profileShould you choose Nebius or Inception?
Nebius vs Inception at a glance
| Attribute | Nebius |  Inception |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights, 60+ models | Closed weights (Mercury dLLMs) |
| Flagship models | DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3, MiniMax M3, GLM | Mercury 2.5, Mercury 2 |
| Speed | Among top hosts on throughput | 1,100+ tok/s (vendor); ~640 measured |
| Price | From $0.06 per 1M input | $0.20 in, $0.75 out (Mercury 2.5) |
| Customization | Serve uploaded fine-tunes | Fine-tuning on request |
| Deployment | Token Factory, dedicated, raw GPUs | Serverless API, Bedrock, Azure, private |
| Long context | Varies by model | 260K |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Nebius and Inception?
Nebius is a European AI cloud serving 60+ open models plus raw GPUs. Inception sells its own closed diffusion models built for fast output.
When should I choose Nebius over Inception?
EU data residency for regulated buyers; Many open models plus raw GPUs on one account; Serving fine-tuned models on an SLA.
When should I choose Inception over Nebius?
Very fast output for real-time loops; Cheap reasoning with tool use; Buying through Bedrock or Azure.
Is Nebius or Inception cheaper?
Nebius: From $0.06 per 1M input. Inception: $0.20 in, $0.75 out (Mercury 2.5). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
Which has more context, Nebius or Inception?
Nebius: Varies by model. Inception: 260K.
Related comparisons
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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.