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Anthropic vs DeepInfra

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Anthropic and DeepInfra built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Updated 11 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Anthropic if…

Teams that want the full 1M-token window at the standard per-token rate rather than a long-context surcharge, and that can use caching and batch to cut a frontier-model bill roughly in half.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose DeepInfra if…

Running open-weight models at the lowest published per-token rates here — DeepSeek-V4-Flash at $0.06 per million input is a fraction of what the lab itself charges — with dedicated H100s at $2.20 an hour if throughput demands it.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • Anthropic: Its cheapest model is $1 per million input tokens, several times what the budget tiers at Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek charge, so high-volume simple work is priced against you.
  • DeepInfra: Only some models carry per-token pricing; the rest bill for inference execution time, which is a different and harder thing to forecast.

5 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Anthropic documentationVisit DeepInfra documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionAnthropicDeepInfra
Pricing
Pricing modelPer million tokens, priced separately for input and output and per model, with multipliers stacked on top: prompt caching, a 50% batch discount, a 1.1x uplift for US-only inference on Claude 4.6 and later, and a fast-mode premium.Two products on one bill: per-token serverless inference with a separate cached-input rate for each model, and dedicated GPUs billed per minute and invoiced weekly. Models without per-token pricing are billed for inference execution time instead.
Inference
Input price, top model
$10 per million input tokens for Claude Fable 5.1, the most capable model. Claude Opus 5 is $5 and Claude Sonnet 5 is $2.
$1.30 per million input tokens for DeepSeek-V4-Pro, the most expensive model in its catalogue. Cached input is $0.10.
Output price, top model
$50 per million output tokens for Claude Fable 5.1. Claude Opus 5 is $25 and Claude Sonnet 5 is $10.
$2.60 per million output tokens for DeepSeek-V4-Pro.
Input price, cheapest model
$1 per million input tokens for Claude Haiku 4.5, the cheapest current model, with output at $5.
$0.06 per million input tokens for DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731, with cached input at $0.015 and output at $0.18. DeepSeek itself charges $0.44 at peak for the same checkpoint and Fireworks $0.22.
Context window
1M tokens on Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5 and Claude Sonnet 5; 200K on Claude Haiku 4.5. Anthropic states the full 1M window is billed at standard per-token rates.
1024k tokens on the DeepSeek V4 models it serves; 160k on the V3 generation. The window is the model's rather than a platform limit.
Prompt cachingSupportedSupported

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Pricing model

Anthropic
Per million tokens, priced separately for input and output and per model, with multipliers stacked on top: prompt caching, a 50% batch discount, a 1.1x uplift for US-only inference on Claude 4.6 and later, and a fast-mode premium.
DeepInfra
Two products on one bill: per-token serverless inference with a separate cached-input rate for each model, and dedicated GPUs billed per minute and invoiced weekly. Models without per-token pricing are billed for inference execution time instead.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Claude Docs ↗

    “This page provides detailed pricing information for Anthropic's models and features. All prices are in USD. [...] These multipliers stack with other pricing modifiers, including the Batch API discount and data residency. [...] specifying US-only inference through the inference_geo parameter incurs a 1.1x multiplier on all token pricing categories”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

  • Pricing — DeepInfra ↗

    “Some of our langauge models offer per token pricing. Most other models are billed for inference execution time. [...] Billed in minute granularity Invoiced weekly”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

Input price, top model

Anthropic
$10 per million input tokens for Claude Fable 5.1, the most capable model. Claude Opus 5 is $5 and Claude Sonnet 5 is $2.
DeepInfra
$1.30 per million input tokens for DeepSeek-V4-Pro, the most expensive model in its catalogue. Cached input is $0.10.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Claude Docs ↗

    “Claude Fable 5.1 | $10 / MTok | $12.50 / MTok | $20 / MTok | $0.25 / MTok | $50 / MTok [...] Claude Opus 5 | $5 / MTok [...] Claude Sonnet 5 | $2 / MTok”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

  • Pricing — DeepInfra ↗

    “DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1024k $1.30 / $0.10 cached $2.60”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

Output price, top model

Anthropic
$50 per million output tokens for Claude Fable 5.1. Claude Opus 5 is $25 and Claude Sonnet 5 is $10.
DeepInfra
$2.60 per million output tokens for DeepSeek-V4-Pro.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Claude Docs ↗

    “Claude Fable 5.1 | $10 / MTok | [...] | $50 / MTok [...] Claude Opus 5 | [...] $25 / MTok [...] Claude Sonnet 5 | [...] $10 / MTok”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

  • Pricing — DeepInfra ↗

    “DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1024k $1.30 / $0.10 cached $2.60”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

Input price, cheapest model

Anthropic
$1 per million input tokens for Claude Haiku 4.5, the cheapest current model, with output at $5.
DeepInfra
$0.06 per million input tokens for DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731, with cached input at $0.015 and output at $0.18. DeepSeek itself charges $0.44 at peak for the same checkpoint and Fireworks $0.22.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Claude Docs ↗

    “Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1 / MTok | $1.25 / MTok | $2 / MTok | $0.10 / MTok | $5 / MTok”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

  • Pricing — DeepInfra ↗

    “DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731 1024k $0.06 / $0.015 cached $0.18”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing

Context window

Anthropic

1M tokens on Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5 and Claude Sonnet 5; 200K on Claude Haiku 4.5. Anthropic states the full 1M window is billed at standard per-token rates.

DeepInfra

1024k tokens on the DeepSeek V4 models it serves; 160k on the V3 generation. The window is the model's rather than a platform limit.

Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.

Startup credit programAnthropic: Claude for Startups: free credits and priority rate limits, amount undisclosed until application. Open to any early-stage founder with or without VC backing per the FAQ, though the main eligibility list also requires equity funding, founding within the last 4 years, and no prior Anthropic startup credits.
Max output tokensAnthropic: 128K tokens on the top three models, 64K on Claude Haiku 4.5. The Batch API supports up to 300K output tokens on several models behind a beta header.
Batch discountAnthropic: 50% off both input and output tokens through the Batch API, for asynchronous processing.
H100 SXM, per GPU-hourDeepInfra: $2.20 per GPU-hour for a dedicated H100 80GB — below every dedicated cloud in this dataset. A100 80GB is $0.89, H200 $2.69, B200 $3.69. Billed in minute granularity, invoiced weekly.
Largest GPU offeredDeepInfra: 270GB per GPU on a B300, at $4.89 per GPU-hour.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Should I choose Anthropic or DeepInfra?

Pick Anthropic if Teams that want the full 1M-token window at the standard per-token rate rather than a long-context surcharge, and that can use caching and batch to cut a frontier-model bill roughly in half.

Pick DeepInfra if Running open-weight models at the lowest published per-token rates here — DeepSeek-V4-Flash at $0.06 per million input is a fraction of what the lab itself charges — with dedicated H100s at $2.20 an hour if throughput demands it.

Provider pages

AnthropicHosted inference for the Claude model family, sold per million tokens with prompt caching and a batch tier.DeepInfraServerless inference for open-weight models with published cached-input rates, plus dedicated GPUs billed by the minute.

Related comparisons

Anthropic vs DeepSeekAnthropic vs Fireworks AIAnthropic vs Google Gemini APIAnthropic vs Novita AIAnthropic vs OpenAIBaseten vs AnthropicDeepInfra vs BasetenDeepInfra vs DeepSeek

Every page here is sourced and dated.