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DeepInfra vs Restate

DeepInfra logo

DeepInfra

Cloud

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

From
$0.08/month
Free plan
No
Restate logo

Restate

Developer Tools

Durable execution engine in Rust with a free tier and low-latency workflows

From
Free
Free plan
Yes

The short version

  • Only Restate has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: DeepInfra focuses on inference hosting rather than fine-tuning or full training pipelines that competitors like Fireworks AI offer.; Restate the runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • They diverge on capability: DeepInfra covers Open model hosting, Restate covers Durable execution.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DeepInfra and Restate actually diverge.

Attributes where DeepInfra and Restate differ
AttributeDeepInfraRestate
Starting price$0.08/monthFree
Pricing modelusage-basedPer month by durable action count
Free tierNoYes
Platformsweb, apiLinux, macOS, Web
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Restate

  • Durable execution
  • Virtual objects
  • Single binary runtime
  • Multi-language SDKs
  • Workflows and sagas
  • Restate Cloud

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 Restate
  • Serving speech and image generation models via APInot Restate
  • Cost-sensitive production inference at scalenot Restate
  • Reserved GPU capacity via DeepCluster for steady workloadsnot Restate

Restate

  • Payment or order flows where a crash between two external API calls must not double-charge or lose the ordernot DeepInfra
  • AI agent loops that call tools over minutes or hours and must survive a deployment mid-runnot DeepInfra
  • Replacing hand-rolled retry, idempotency key and outbox code across a set of microservicesnot DeepInfra
  • A small team that wants durable workflows without operating a Temporal cluster and its databasenot 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.

Restate

  • The runtime is under a Business Source Licence rather than an open source licence, so building a competing managed offering on it is prohibited and some procurement functions will reject it on licence grounds alone.
  • Restate Cloud jumps from a free fifty thousand actions straight to 300 US dollars a month for twenty million, so a workload sitting at a few hundred thousand actions pays enterprise-shaped money for hobby-shaped volume.
  • It is a young project against Temporal’s established base, so hiring engineers who already know it is unrealistic and the answer to most questions is in the docs rather than on Stack Overflow.
  • The programming model requires structuring code around durable handlers and virtual objects, which is a genuine rewrite for existing services rather than a library you add.
  • The single-binary simplicity that makes small deployments cheap also means fewer operational knobs at very large scale than a system designed as separable components.

Pricing, plan by plan

DeepInfra

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

Restate

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Fifty thousand durable actions per month
    • No credit card required
    • Community support
  • Starter$300/month
    • Twenty million actions per month
    • Two hundred actions per second, bursting to one thousand
    • Twenty GB storage
  • Pro$1000/month
    • Fifty million actions per month
    • Five hundred actions per second, bursting to two thousand
    • Fifty GB storage
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated volume
    • Twenty-four seven P0 support
    • 99.99 per cent SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose DeepInfra if

  • You need open model hosting.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want pay-per-token pricing.

Choose Restate if

  • You need durable execution.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Web.
  • You also want virtual objects.

Questions people ask

Is DeepInfra or Restate better?
Neither clearly leads. DeepInfra starts at $0.08/month and Restate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DeepInfra or Restate?
Restate has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $0.08/month for DeepInfra and Free for Restate.
Does DeepInfra or Restate run on more platforms?
DeepInfra runs on web, api. Restate runs on Linux, macOS, Web.
Can I use Restate for free?
Yes. Restate 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 Restate is typically brought in for.
What can DeepInfra do that Restate cannot?
DeepInfra covers Open model hosting, Pay-per-token pricing, Long context support, DeepCluster. Restate covers Durable execution, Virtual objects, Single binary runtime, Multi-language SDKs.

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
Restate: Is Restate open source?

The SDKs are MIT. The runtime is under a Business Source Licence, which permits self-hosting but not offering it as a competing service.

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
Restate: How does it compare with Temporal?

Same problem, different shape: one Rust binary with embedded storage instead of a server plus database plus workers, and lower per-step latency.

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
Restate: Is there a free tier?

Yes, fifty thousand durable actions a month on Restate Cloud with no card required.

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
Restate: Which languages are supported?

TypeScript, Java, Kotlin, Go, Python and Rust.

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
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