# SambaNova vs Particle.AI

> SambaNova sells speed on large open models. Particle.AI sells low prices and 1M context on small Flash-class models through Vercel AI Gateway. Premium decode versus cheap volume.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/sambanova-vs-particle-ai · By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

## How they compare

Particle.AI is an early startup whose product is visible mainly through Vercel AI Gateway. It lists GLM 5.3 Flash at $0.10 in and $0.40 out and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at $0.25 in and $1 out, all with 1M context and cache reads at $0.03 per million. SambaNova is a hardware company. It serves large open models like MiniMax M2.7, DeepSeek and GPT-OSS 120B on its own RDU chip and markets premium inference, meaning fast decode for interactive work. One competes on the price of a token, the other on how fast it arrives.

Their weak spots point the same direction. Particle's latency trails faster hosts, with about 3.5 seconds on some DeepSeek V4.1 Flash listings, which is fine for cheap background calls and poor for interactive agents. SambaNova's gap is catalog size and a business that leans on hardware sales rather than self-serve. Use Particle as a price-optimized route or fallback in a gateway. Use SambaNova when an interactive agent on a large model needs tokens to arrive fast.

## What each one does

### SambaNova

SambaNova designs its own inference chip, the Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit, and sells fast tokens on large open models through SambaCloud. The RDU maps the model graph onto the chip to cut trips to off-chip memory. A three-tier memory design of SRAM, HBM and bulk DRAM lets one system host very large models and hot swap between several of them in milliseconds. SambaCloud serves models like MiniMax M2.7, DeepSeek, Gemma 4 31B and GPT-OSS 120B, with speeds reported by Artificial Analysis.

### Particle.AI

Particle AI is an early San Francisco infrastructure startup with a mission to make intelligence as cheap and abundant as electricity. The team works on post-training, inference optimization and distributed systems, all aimed at pushing down cost per unit of intelligence. It is still hiring its founding team and works fully in person. Public detail about funding and founders is thin as of this writing.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose SambaNova for

- Interactive agents on large open models.
- Fast decode where generation is the wait.
- Hot swapping between models in one agent.

### Choose Particle.AI for

- Cheap high-volume Flash-model calls.
- 1M context on small DeepSeek and GLM models.
- A fallback route in Vercel AI Gateway.

## At a glance

| Attribute | SambaNova | Particle.AI |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Open weights |
| Flagship models | MiniMax M2.7, GPT-OSS 120B, DeepSeek | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Speed | ~820 tok/s on MiniMax M2.7 (SN50) | ~157 tok/s on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
| Price | $0.22 in, $0.59 out (GPT-OSS 120B) | $0.10 in, $0.40 out (GLM 5.3 Flash) |
| Customization | - | - |
| Deployment | SambaCloud, racks for neoclouds | Via Vercel AI Gateway |
| Long context | Up to 192K (MiniMax M2.7) | 1M |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between SambaNova and Particle.AI?

SambaNova sells speed on large open models. Particle.AI sells low prices and 1M context on small Flash-class models through Vercel AI Gateway. Premium decode versus cheap volume.

### When should I choose SambaNova over Particle.AI?

Interactive agents on large open models; Fast decode where generation is the wait; Hot swapping between models in one agent.

### When should I choose Particle.AI over SambaNova?

Cheap high-volume Flash-model calls; 1M context on small DeepSeek and GLM models; A fallback route in Vercel AI Gateway.

### Is SambaNova or Particle.AI cheaper?

SambaNova: $0.22 in, $0.59 out (GPT-OSS 120B). Particle.AI: $0.10 in, $0.40 out (GLM 5.3 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, SambaNova or Particle.AI?

SambaNova: Up to 192K (MiniMax M2.7). Particle.AI: 1M.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs SambaNova](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-sambanova.md), [Subconscious vs Particle.AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-particle-ai.md).

Full profiles: [SambaNova](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/sambanova.md), [Particle.AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/particle-ai.md).