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Baseten vs Keil MDK

Baseten logo

Baseten

Software Development

Inference is everything

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Keil MDK logo

Keil MDK

Developer Tools

Microcontroller Development Kit for Arm-based devices

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Baseten pro and Enterprise pricing not published; requires contacting sales; Keil MDK pricing for Essential and Professional subscriptions not disclosed on primary site

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Baseten and Keil MDK actually diverge.

Attributes where Baseten and Keil MDK differ
AttributeBasetenKeil MDK
Pricing modelusage-basedfreemium
CategorySoftware DevelopmentDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated).

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Baseten

  • Custom model deploymentnot Keil MDK
  • Fine-tuned LLM hostingnot Keil MDK
  • Inference API scalingnot Keil MDK

Keil MDK

  • Embedded software developmentnot Baseten
  • ARM microcontroller programmingnot Baseten
  • Professional development environmentsnot Baseten

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Baseten

  • Pro and Enterprise pricing not published; requires contacting sales
  • Pricing varies significantly by compute type and model

Keil MDK

  • Pricing for Essential and Professional subscriptions not disclosed on primary site
  • Customers must contact Arm Developer Tools store for subscription rates

Pricing, plan by plan

Baseten

Free
  • BasicFree
    • Pay-as-you-go deployments
    • Dedicated model APIs
    • SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance
  • Pro$null/month
    • Priority GPU access
    • Unlimited autoscaling
    • Volume discounts available
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Self-hosted options
    • Custom SLAs
    • Data residency control

Keil MDK

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Keil MDK review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Baseten if

  • You want to start without paying.
Baseten review

Choose Keil MDK if

  • You want to start without paying.
Keil MDK review

Questions people ask

Is Baseten or Keil MDK better?
Neither clearly leads. Baseten starts at Free and Keil MDK at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Baseten or Keil MDK?
Baseten starts at Free and Keil MDK at Free.
Does Baseten or Keil MDK run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Baseten for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Baseten best used for?
Baseten is most often used for custom model deployment, fine-tuned llm hosting, inference api scaling. Of those, custom model deployment and fine-tuned llm hosting are not what Keil MDK is typically brought in for.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Baseten: Does Baseten have a free tier?

Yes, Baseten's Basic plan is free with a pay-as-you-go model for dedicated deployments and model APIs.

Source
Keil MDK: Does Keil MDK have a free version?

Yes, Keil MDK Community Edition is free for non-commercial projects. Essential and Professional editions are available as monthly or annual subscriptions.

Source
Baseten: How are GPU instances priced on Baseten?

GPU instances are priced per minute: T4 at $0.01052/min, H100 at $0.10833/min, and B200 at $0.16633/min. CPU instances range from $0.00058 to $0.01382 per minute.

Source
Keil MDK: How much do Keil MDK paid editions cost?

Specific pricing for Essential and Professional editions is not published on the main site. Rates are available from the Arm Developer Tools store or by contacting Arm sales.

Source
Baseten: What are Model API costs on Baseten?

Model API pricing varies by model: DeepSeek V4 Flash costs $0.13 per million input tokens and $0.028 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3-Flash costs $0.15 and $0.03 respectively.

Source
Baseten: Does Baseten charge for idle compute time?

No, Baseten does not charge for idle time; billing only covers active compute usage on deployments.

Source
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