IBM Granite lists 3 models and Inference.net 2. IBM Granite is cheaper on a typical model ($0.06 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| IBM Granite | Inference.net | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 3 | 2 |
| Models with published pricing | 3 | 2 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.06 | $0.08 |
| Cheapest paid model | IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro ($0.04) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06) |
| Longest context | IBM: Granite 4.1 8B (131K) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small (128K) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B (2026-08-31) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small (2026-09-12) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 4 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | IBM Granite | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $3.52 with IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro | $5.25 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $3.16 with IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro | $5.10 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $7.20 with IBM: Granite 4.1 8B | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $2.03 with IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro | $3.30 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $0.96 with IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro | $1.65 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo |
| You need | IBM Granite | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro ($0.04) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06) |
| With tool calling | IBM: Granite 4.1 8B ($0.06) | none listed |
| With image input | none listed | none listed |
| With reasoning mode | IBM: Granite 4.2 8B ($0.11) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro ($0.04) | Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06) |
| 1M+ context | none listed | none listed |
| Model type | IBM Granite | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| text->text | 3 | 2 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | IBM Granite | Inference.net |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 3 | 2 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 0 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
IBM Granite is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.06 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.08 for Inference.net. The cheapest paid models are IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro at $0.04 and Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo at $0.06.
It depends on the job: IBM Granite offers the broader line-up (3 models vs 2), IBM Granite the lower typical price, IBM Granite the longest context (131K tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
IBM Granite: IBM Granite lists 3 models and Inference.net lists 2.
IBM Granite: IBM Granite's longest is IBM: Granite 4.1 8B at 131K tokens; Inference.net's is Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small at 128K.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
IBM Granite: 0 of 3 models accept images. Inference.net: 0 of 2.