Inference.net vs NVIDIA

Inference.net lists 2 models and NVIDIA 22. Inference.net is cheaper on a typical model ($0.08 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.

At a glance

Inference.netNVIDIA
Models listed222
Models with published pricing222
Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M)$0.08$0.24
Cheapest paid modelInference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06)NVIDIA: Switchyard ($-1000000.0000)
Longest contextInference.net: Schematron V2 Small (128K)NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (1.0M)
Free models09
Newest modelInference.net: Schematron V2 Small (2026-09-12)NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (2026-10-15)
Price changes in the last 90 days037
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What each costs for real workloads

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)Inference.netNVIDIA
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation
$5.25 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo$-95000000.0000 with NVIDIA: Switchyard
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages
$5.10 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo$-130000000.0000 with NVIDIA: Switchyard
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context
no suitable model$6.72 with NVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 9B V2
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page
$3.30 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo$-86000000.0000 with NVIDIA: Switchyard
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass
$1.65 with Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo$-51000000.0000 with NVIDIA: Switchyard

Cheapest model for each capability

You needInference.netNVIDIA
Any modelInference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06)NVIDIA: Switchyard ($-1000000.0000)
With tool callingnone listedNVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 9B V2 ($0.07)
With image inputnone listedNVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety ($0.20)
With reasoning modenone listedNVIDIA: Nemotron Nano 9B V2 ($0.07)
128K+ contextInference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo ($0.06)NVIDIA: Switchyard ($-1000000.0000)
1M+ contextnone listedNVIDIA: Switchyard ($-1000000.0000)

Line-up by type and price tier

Model typeInference.netNVIDIA
text+image+audio+video->text01
text+image+video->text04
text+image->text02
text->text215
Price per 1M (3:1 blend)Inference.netNVIDIA
Free09
Under $0.5027
$0.50 – $305
$3 – $1000
$10 and up00

Frequently asked questions

How does Inference.net cost compare with NVIDIA cost?

Inference.net is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.08 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.24 for NVIDIA. The cheapest paid models are Inference.net: Schematron V2 Turbo at $0.06 and NVIDIA: Switchyard at $-1000000.0000.

Is Inference.net better than NVIDIA?

It depends on the job: NVIDIA offers the broader line-up (2 models vs 22), Inference.net the lower typical price, NVIDIA the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.

Which has more models, Inference.net or NVIDIA?

NVIDIA: Inference.net lists 2 models and NVIDIA lists 22.

Which provider has the longest context window?

NVIDIA: Inference.net's longest is Inference.net: Schematron V2 Small at 128K tokens; NVIDIA's is NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL at 1.0M.

Do Inference.net or NVIDIA offer free models?

Inference.net: none. NVIDIA: 9 free models (e.g. NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B (free)).

Which provider has models that can read images?

Inference.net: 0 of 2 models accept images. NVIDIA: 7 of 22.

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