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DeepInfra vs Envoy

DeepInfra logo

DeepInfra

Cloud

Low-cost cloud API for running open-source AI models

From
$0.08/month
Free plan
No
Visit DeepInfraFull review
Envoy logo

Envoy

Developer Tools

A high-performance L7 proxy written in C++ that is configured by an API rather than a config file, and is usually deployed under a control plane.

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit EnvoyFull review

The short version

  • Envoy is free; DeepInfra starts at $0.08/mo.
  • Only DeepInfra lists open model hosting; only Envoy lists xDS dynamic configuration.
  • Where DeepInfra falls short: focuses on inference hosting rather than fine-tuning or full training pipelines that competitors like Fireworks AI offer.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DeepInfra and Envoy actually diverge.

Attributes where DeepInfra and Envoy differ
AttributeDeepInfraEnvoy
Starting price$0.08/monthFree
Pricing modelUsage-basedOpen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in DeepInfra

  • Open model hosting
  • Pay-per-token pricing
  • Long context support
  • DeepCluster
  • Zero retention policy
  • Real-time metrics

Only in Envoy

  • xDS dynamic configuration
  • Protocol breadth
  • Filter chain architecture
  • Observability by default
  • Outlier detection
  • Traffic shaping
  • mTLS termination and origination
  • Hot restart

What people use each for

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

DeepInfra

  • Running open-source LLM inference without managing GPUsnot Envoy
  • Serving speech and image generation models via APInot Envoy
  • Cost-sensitive production inference at scalenot Envoy
  • Reserved GPU capacity via DeepCluster for steady workloadsnot Envoy

Envoy

  • Acting as the data plane under a service mesh or Gateway API implementation, which is how the overwhelming majority of deployments use itnot DeepInfra
  • An edge or API gateway that needs per-route retry budgets, circuit breaking and outlier detection rather than round-robin proxyingnot DeepInfra
  • Migrating traffic between service versions or between a monolith and its replacement, using weighted splits and shadow trafficnot DeepInfra
  • Standardising observability across a polyglot estate, so that latency, error rates and tracing look the same regardless of the language a service is written innot DeepInfra

Where each one falls short

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

DeepInfra

  • Focuses on inference hosting rather than fine-tuning or full training pipelines that competitors like Fireworks AI offer
  • Model selection is limited to what DeepInfra chooses to host, unlike self-managed platforms
  • No published free tier; usage is billed from the first token

Envoy

  • The configuration surface is very large and hand-written bootstrap YAML runs to hundreds of lines for routing that Nginx expresses in twenty, which is why nearly every production deployment sits under a control plane and inherits that control plane's constraints as well
  • xDS is the real API and it is not stable in the comfortable sense; the v2 API set was removed outright, resource types continue to be deprecated, and your control plane and Envoy binaries have to be upgraded roughly in step or the proxies stop accepting configuration
  • Extending it properly means writing a C++ filter and building and maintaining your own Envoy binary; the alternatives are Lua, which adds per-request overhead, and proxy-wasm, whose ABI has remained effectively experimental for years with a real performance cost
  • At sidecar density the per-proxy memory and CPU footprint is a measurable share of cluster capacity, since thousands of workloads each carry a full proxy, and this is precisely the cost that has pushed mesh projects towards node-level or ambient architectures
  • There is no single vendor selling support for Envoy itself; you get the community plus control-plane vendors such as Solo.io and Tetrate, so an Envoy-level production bug is your own engineers in a C++ codebase unless a support contract happens to cover it
  • Diagnosing why a request got a particular response involves reading config dumps, the stats endpoint and the RESPONSE_FLAGS codes in access logs rather than a readable error, which is a specific skill you must hire or spend months growing

Pricing, plan by plan

DeepInfra

$0.08/month
  • Pay-as-you-goOn request
    • Per-model token pricing from $0.08 to $2.85 per million input tokens
    • No long-term contract
  • DeepCluster$1.98/mo
    • Dedicated NVIDIA B300 GPU clusters at $1.98/GPU-hour

Envoy

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Envoy review.

Which should you pick?

Choose DeepInfra if

  • You need open model hosting.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pay-per-token pricing.
DeepInfra review

Choose Envoy if

  • You need xds dynamic configuration.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want protocol breadth.
Envoy review

Questions people ask

Is DeepInfra or Envoy better?
Neither clearly leads. DeepInfra starts at $0.08/month and Envoy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DeepInfra or Envoy?
Envoy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $0.08/month for DeepInfra and Free for Envoy.
Does DeepInfra or Envoy run on more platforms?
DeepInfra runs on Web, API. Envoy runs on Web.
Can I use Envoy for free?
Yes. Envoy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. DeepInfra starts at $0.08/month.
What is DeepInfra best used for?
DeepInfra is most often used for running open-source llm inference without managing gpus, serving speech and image generation models via api, cost-sensitive production inference at scale, reserved gpu capacity via deepcluster for steady workloads. Of those, running open-source llm inference without managing gpus and serving speech and image generation models via api are not what Envoy is typically brought in for.
What can DeepInfra do that Envoy cannot?
DeepInfra covers Open model hosting, Pay-per-token pricing, Long context support, DeepCluster. Envoy covers xDS dynamic configuration, Protocol breadth, Filter chain architecture, Observability by default.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DeepInfra: Is there a free tier on DeepInfra?

No free tier is published; usage is billed pay-as-you-go from the first token, though a credit card or pre-payment is required before you can send requests.

Source
Envoy: Should I run Envoy on its own, or under a control plane?

Almost always under one. Directly authoring xDS or static bootstrap configuration is viable for a handful of routes and becomes unmanageable beyond that. Envoy Gateway, Istio, Contour, Gloo and Consul all exist to generate that configuration for you.

DeepInfra: How is usage priced?

Language models are billed per million input/output tokens, other models by inference execution time, and audio models per minute of audio processed, with no minimum commitment.

Source
Envoy: How does it compare with Nginx or HAProxy?

Envoy is dynamically configured over an API and instrumented far more heavily; Nginx and HAProxy are faster to configure and lighter for straightforward reverse proxying. If you never need to change routing without a reload, Envoy is more machinery than the problem requires.

DeepInfra: What are the Standard, Priority, and Flex tiers?

Standard is default best-effort pricing at 1x, Priority costs 1.5x for faster time-to-first-token during peak demand, and Flex costs 0.8x for non-production or asynchronous workloads.

Source
Envoy: What does it cost?

Nothing to licence; it is Apache 2.0 and there is no paid edition. The cost is engineering time and, for most organisations, a commercial control plane or cloud service that packages it.

DeepInfra: How does billing scale with spend?

Accounts advance through usage tiers as cumulative payments cross $20, $100, $500, $2,000, and $10,000 thresholds, with invoices generated monthly or at each threshold.

Source
Envoy: Can I write extensions without C++?

You can write Lua filters or proxy-wasm modules in Rust, Go, C++ or AssemblyScript. Both carry per-request overhead compared with a native filter, and the Wasm path has been slower to stabilise than the project originally projected.

DeepInfra: Is there a limit on concurrent requests?

Yes, accounts are limited to 200 concurrent requests by default, though spending limits can also be configured to prevent unexpected charges.

Source
Envoy: Is it a CNCF project?

Yes, it is a graduated CNCF project licensed under Apache 2.0, which means the trademark and governance sit with the foundation rather than with Lyft or any vendor.

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