Hosted open-source model catalog
Access models from families including Qwen, DeepSeek, GLM, Kimi, Gemma, Mistral, and others through Chutes-hosted inference endpoints.
Chutes
Freemium
Chutes is a decentralized, serverless AI inference platform for deploying, running, and scaling open-source models. Developers can access hosted models through an API or deploy private custom workloads on confidential GPU capacity.
What is Chutes?
Chutes is a decentralized, serverless inference platform for open-source AI models. Developers can use hosted models through an API, run models from the platform catalog, or deploy custom code as a private chute on confidential GPU capacity.
The platform is designed for AI-powered products and workloads ranging from language inference to image, video, speech, music, embeddings, and content moderation. Its documented developer workflow includes SDK and CLI tools, API-key authentication, container builds, GPU selection, endpoint exposure, and deployment.
Public inference is priced by token, while private deployments are billed for GPU runtime plus a one-time deployment fee. Chutes also offers monthly plans and an enterprise contact path for organizations needing volume discounts, custom rate limits, or dedicated support.
What can Chutes do?
API and SDK access
Send inference requests through the API, including streaming chat completions, and use the Chutes SDK and CLI to create and operate deployments.
Private custom deployments
Build a container, define the required GPU class, VRAM, and count, expose endpoints through the chute definition, and deploy the workload privately.
Confidential GPU compute
Private Chutes run on isolated confidential GPU capacity. The pricing page states that featured public models also run on confidential TEE compute.
Multiple AI modalities
The platform lists support for language models as well as image, video, speech, music, embedding, and content-moderation workloads.
Usage-based and subscription billing
Public inference can be paid for by input and output tokens, while private deployments use GPU runtime billing; Plus, Pro, and enterprise options are also available.
Use Cases
“Production LLM inference”
Use always-on hosted language models behind an API for AI-powered products, chat features, reasoning, coding, or agent workloads.
“Custom model serving”
Package your own model code or a custom fine-tune into a container and deploy it as a private chute with a selected GPU configuration.
“Multimodal generation and processing”
Use catalog models for image, video, speech, music, embedding, or content-moderation tasks instead of limiting an application to text generation.
“Agent and coding workflows”
Route model calls from OpenClaw, Hermes, Claude Code, or MCP-compatible clients to Chutes-backed models for terminal, agent, and development workflows.
“Workflow automation and hosted chat”
Connect Chutes inference to n8n automations or use the Open WebUI integration for a chat interface with Chutes-specific deployment support.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can developers access Chutes models?
They can call the documented inference API with an API key, use the Chutes SDK and CLI, or connect supported developer and automation tools such as OpenClaw, Hermes, n8n, Open WebUI, MCP clients, and Claude Code.
Can I deploy my own model or code?
Yes. Chutes documents a private deployment workflow in which you build a container, define a GPU NodeSelector, expose endpoints in the chute definition, and run the deploy command.
How is Chutes inference billed?
Public inference uses per-token pricing based on input and output tokens. Private Chutes are billed by GPU runtime and include a one-time deployment fee. Monthly Plus and Pro plans and an enterprise sales option are also available.
What kinds of models and workloads are supported?
The platform focuses on open-source AI models and lists language, image, video, speech, music, embedding, and content-moderation workloads. Specific availability depends on the model catalog and deployment configuration.
Are private deployments always running?
The pricing page states that idle private instances shut down automatically, so private deployment charges apply while the instance is running.
Quick Facts
- Category
- Serverless AI inference and compute
- Primary users
- AI developers and teams building model-powered products
- Model focus
- Open-source models
- Access methods
- API, SDK, CLI, hosted platform, and integrations
- Deployment options
- Hosted public inference or private custom Chutes
- Billing models
- Per-token inference, GPU runtime, monthly plans, and enterprise billing
Chutes Alternatives
Baseten
baseten.co
Baseten is an inference platform for deploying, serving, and scaling open-source, custom, and fine-tuned AI models. It supports managed cloud, self-hosted, hybrid, and dedicated deployments for teams running production AI workloads.
Hyperbolic
hyperbolic.xyz
Hyperbolic is an open-access GPU and AI cloud for deploying on-demand H100, H200, B200, and other GPU capacity. It supports experimentation, training, fine-tuning, inference, and production workloads through on-demand instances, reserved clusters, and Private Cloud infrastructure.
SambaNova
sambanova.ai
SambaNova is an AI inference platform for developers, enterprises, and infrastructure operators running large open-source models and agentic workloads. It combines cloud services with deployable hardware and software for cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and air-gapped environments.
FriendliAI
friendli.ai
FriendliAI is an inference cloud for deploying frontier open-weight and custom AI models in production. It offers serverless Model APIs, dedicated GPU endpoints, and BYOG options for agent, multimodal, and other high-throughput workloads.
fal
fal.ai
A generative media platform for developers to call hosted models, deploy custom models, and access GPU compute.
Parasail
parasail.io
Parasail is an inference cloud for AI-native startups that provides access to open and frontier models through an OpenAI-compatible API. It offers serverless, elastic, dedicated, and batch deployment options with per-token or GPU-based pricing.