Moondream vs Sakana

Moondream lists 2 models and Sakana 5. Moondream is cheaper on a typical model ($0.85 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

MoondreamSakana
Models listed25
Models with published pricing25
Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M)$0.85$3.00
Cheapest paid modelMoondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85)Sakana: Namazu ($1.71)
Longest contextMoondream: Moondream 3 Preview (32K)Sakana: Fugu Max (1M)
Free models00
Newest modelMoondream: Moondream 3 Preview (2026-10-15)Sakana: Fugu Max (2026-09-11)
Price changes in the last 90 days00

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)MoondreamSakana
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation
$72.50 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview$151 with Sakana: Namazu
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages
$61.00 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview$154 with Sakana: Namazu
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context
no suitable model$162 with Sakana: Namazu
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page
$39.00 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview$100 with Sakana: Namazu
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass
no suitable model$51.50 with Sakana: Namazu

Cheapest model for each capability

You needMoondreamSakana
Any modelMoondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85)Sakana: Namazu ($1.71)
With tool callingnone listedSakana: Namazu ($1.71)
With image inputMoondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85)Sakana: Namazu ($1.71)
With reasoning modeMoondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85)Sakana: Namazu ($1.71)
128K+ contextnone listedSakana: Namazu ($1.71)
1M+ contextnone listedSakana: Fugu Max ($3.00)

Line-up by type and price tier

Model typeMoondreamSakana
text+image+file->text04
text+image->text21
Price per 1M (3:1 blend)MoondreamSakana
Free00
Under $0.5000
$0.50 – $322
$3 – $1001
$10 and up02

Frequently asked questions

How does Moondream cost compare with Sakana cost?

Moondream is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.85 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $3.00 for Sakana. The cheapest paid models are Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview at $0.85 and Sakana: Namazu at $1.71.

Is Moondream better than Sakana?

It depends on the job: Sakana offers the broader line-up (2 models vs 5), Moondream the lower typical price, Sakana the longest context (1M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.

Which has more models, Moondream or Sakana?

Sakana: Moondream lists 2 models and Sakana lists 5.

Which provider has the longest context window?

Sakana: Moondream's longest is Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview at 32K tokens; Sakana's is Sakana: Fugu Max at 1M.

Do Moondream or Sakana offer free models?

Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.

Which provider has models that can read images?

Moondream: 2 of 2 models accept images. Sakana: 5 of 5.

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