Y-API vs DeepInfra
DeepInfra is another gateway reselling the same vendors’ models, so this is not two labs competing — it is one question. For the 2 models both of us sell, does going through Y-API cost less? Both columns below are cash per 1M input tokens, and DeepInfra’s side is the cheapest tier we could find on its own price list, which makes every multiple a floor rather than a headline.
| Dimension | Y-API | DeepInfra |
|---|---|---|
| API protocol | Y-APIOpenAI Chat Completions. Point base_url at https://api.y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/v1, swap the key, leave the rest of your code alone. | DeepInfraAn OpenAI-compatible endpoint of its own, on a different base URL and with different model strings — see the row for each model below. |
| Models on one key | Y-API10 model IDs from 6 vendors, one balance, one key. | DeepInfraIts own published catalog. Of the 10 models we compare against it, 2 are priced there. |
| qwen/qwen3.8-max — input / 1M tokens | Y-API$0.10 in cash | DeepInfra$1.65 as Qwen/Qwen3.8-Max — 16.5× ours (standard tier; priority and flex tiers differ) |
| deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash — input / 1M tokens | Y-API$0.0075 in cash | DeepInfra$0.09 as deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4-Flash — 12× ours (standard tier; priority and flex tiers differ) |
| What a top-up converts to | Y-APILimited time: $1 becomes $20 of account credit, then credit is deducted at each model’s own rate. Reverts to 1:10 afterwards. | DeepInfraYou pay the list price in cash. There is no credit multiplier, and nothing to expire. |
| How the rate is structured | Y-APIOne rate per model — every hour, every region, every request. | DeepInfraThe figures above sit inside tiers: standard tier; priority and flex tiers differ. We quoted the cheapest of them. |
| Cache-hit pricing | Y-APINo cache discount. A repeated prompt is billed exactly like a new one. | DeepInfraNo cached-input rate published for the rows above, so both columns assume every request is a cache miss. If DeepInfra discounts cache hits off the rate card, the gap narrows. |
| Models it does not price | Y-APIAll 10 are callable on the same key. | DeepInfraOne model we looked for and could not find (xiaomi/mimo-v2.5); 7 models we have not checked against it yet. |
Against us
Where DeepInfra costs less
A comparison that only runs one way is an advertisement. Everything below comes from the same price list as the figures above.
We have no cache discount at all
Every request is billed at the full rate whether or not the prompt is identical to the last one. Long fixed system prompts and repeated document context are exactly where that hurts.
Most of the gap is the top-up rate, not the model price
Our catalog rates, read as credit, sit close to what DeepInfra charges in cash. Almost the whole gap above comes from $1 converting to $20 of credit. At 1:10 the same comparison becomes 8.25× on qwen/qwen3.8-max and 6× on deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash.
DeepInfra sells far more models than we do
Its catalog spans vendors and open-weight models we do not carry at all, and it can route around a provider that is down. Our 10 are a deliberate shortlist; if the model you need is not on it, our price for the others is irrelevant to you.
Fit
Which one to call
Call it through Y-API if
- Your input is mostly fresh, where the gap is 16.5× on qwen/qwen3.8-max and 12× on deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash at the current top-up rate.
- You want one balance and one key across 10 models from 6 vendors instead of an account per vendor.
- You would rather not track which tier, region or hour you are being billed under. We have one rate per model.
Go to DeepInfra if
- You need a model outside our 10, or you want automatic fallback across providers when one is down.
- You want a price that does not depend on a promotion. Ours is $1 → $20 of credit today and 1:10 afterwards; theirs is cash at list price either way.
- You want the billing relationship, the SLA and the support to be with DeepInfra rather than with a reseller.
FAQ
Questions people ask before switching
- Is Y-API cheaper than DeepInfra?
- On fresh input, yes: qwen/qwen3.8-max runs $0.10 against their $1.65 and deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash runs $0.0075 against their $0.09. Two things bound that. Their side is always the cheapest tier they publish, so each multiple is a floor rather than a peak; and the gap depends on the limited-time 1:20 top-up rate, which roughly halves it when it reverts to 1:10.
- Why is it cheaper — are you buying below their price?
- No, and the honest answer matters here. Our catalog rates, read as credit, sit close to DeepInfra’s cash list prices. Almost the whole gap is the top-up conversion: $1 buys $20 of credit while the promotion runs. Treat it as a promotional rate with an announced revert to 1:10, not as a structural discount.
- Which models does DeepInfra price against ours?
- It prices 2 of our 10, with the name each one carries there: qwen/qwen3.8-max (Qwen/Qwen3.8-Max there) and deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash (deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4-Flash there). Those are the only rows in the table above — a row with a published price on one side only is not a comparison.
- What about the models it does not price?
- One model we looked for and could not find (xiaomi/mimo-v2.5); 7 models we have not checked against it yet. We keep “we did not look” and “they do not sell it” apart on purpose: they are different claims, and only the first one is ours to make.
- How much of my code has to change?
- base_url, the key, and the model string. Both sides speak OpenAI Chat Completions, so nothing else in the request body changes — ours are prefixed, for example qwen/qwen3.8-max.
Provenance
Sources
Every DeepInfra figure on this page was read from the page below on 2026-08-26, at the cheapest tier it publishes. Our own figures are on our pricing and terms pages.
Point one call at it
Change base_url, the key, and the model string on a single call you already make. The request log will tell you what it costs before you move anything else.