Cerebras vs Hyperbolic: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of Cerebras and Hyperbolic — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Updated July 2026.

Cerebras

Wafer-scale AI chips — 4,500 tokens/sec, the fastest inference on earth

Cerebras uses wafer-scale silicon (the CS-3 chip covers an entire silicon wafer) to deliver extraordinary inference throughput. Llama 3.1 8B runs at 4,500+ tokens/second — roughly 10× faster than GPU-based providers. This makes Cerebras uniquely suited for real-time applications, voice AI, and interactive coding assistants.

Voice AIReal-time chatSpeedInteractive codingStreaming

Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Hyperbolic

Open-source inference marketplace — Llama, DeepSeek R1, and more

Hyperbolic provides a marketplace for open-source model inference, hosting Llama 3.3, DeepSeek R1, and other popular models at competitive prices. Their platform emphasises accessibility and affordability, making frontier open-weight models available to developers and researchers at low cost.

Cost-efficiencyResearchOpen-sourceExperimentationBudget workloads

Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Key metrics

Cheapest input ($/1M)

—

Cheapest output ($/1M)

—

Peak throughput

—

Best latency (TTFT)

—

Intelligence score

—

Context window

—

Live token pricing

Strengths & weaknesses

Cerebras

4,500+ tokens/sec on Llama 3.1 8B — fastest inference available

Sub-50ms time-to-first-token for real-time applications

Wafer-scale chip architecture eliminates GPU memory bottlenecks

Competitive pricing for the throughput delivered

OpenAI-compatible API

Very limited model selection — only a few Llama variants

No vision or multimodal support

No fine-tuning capability

Hyperbolic

Among the lowest prices for open-weight model inference

DeepSeek R1 and Llama 3.3 available at competitive rates

Marketplace model — broad model selection

OpenAI-compatible API

Good for research and experimentation

Less established reliability than larger providers

Throughput lower than Groq/Cerebras for speed-critical apps

No fine-tuning support

Key differentiators

Cerebras

Cerebras delivers 4,500+ tokens/sec on Llama 3.1 8B — 10× faster than any GPU provider, enabling genuinely real-time AI applications.

Hyperbolic

One of the most affordable inference marketplaces for open-weight models — ideal for researchers and cost-sensitive workloads.

Frequently asked questions

Cerebras FAQs

How fast is Cerebras inference?

Cerebras delivers 4,500+ tokens/second on Llama 3.1 8B — roughly 10× faster than GPU-based providers like Groq (1,200 t/s) or Together AI (350 t/s). This makes it the fastest inference option available.

What is a Cerebras wafer-scale chip?

The Cerebras CS-3 chip is fabricated on a single silicon wafer rather than individual dies. This gives it 900,000 AI cores and 44GB of on-chip SRAM, eliminating the memory bandwidth bottleneck that limits GPU inference speed.

What models does Cerebras support?

Cerebras currently supports Llama 3.1 8B and 70B, and Llama 3.3 70B. The model selection is intentionally limited — Cerebras focuses on delivering extreme speed on a curated set of models rather than broad catalog coverage.

Hyperbolic FAQs

What models does Hyperbolic offer?

Hyperbolic hosts Llama 3.3 70B, DeepSeek R1, and other popular open-weight models. Their marketplace approach means the catalog evolves frequently.

How does Hyperbolic pricing compare to competitors?

Hyperbolic is among the most affordable options for open-weight model inference, often undercutting Together AI and Fireworks AI on price. This makes it attractive for high-volume or cost-sensitive workloads.

Is Hyperbolic reliable for production use?

Hyperbolic is newer and less established than providers like Together AI or Fireworks AI. It's well-suited for research, prototyping, and cost-sensitive workloads, but for mission-critical production use, a more established provider may be preferable.

Provider resources

Cerebras

Provider page Website Pricing Docs

Hyperbolic

Provider page Website Pricing Docs

Cerebras — Wafer-scale AI chips — 4,500 tokens/sec, the fastest inference on earth

Cerebras delivers 4,500+ tokens/sec on Llama 3.1 8B — 10× faster than any GPU provider, enabling genuinely real-time AI applications.

Hyperbolic — Open-source inference marketplace — Llama, DeepSeek R1, and more

One of the most affordable inference marketplaces for open-weight models — ideal for researchers and cost-sensitive workloads.

Key strengths compared

Cerebras

▸4,500+ tokens/sec on Llama 3.1 8B — fastest inference available
▸Sub-50ms time-to-first-token for real-time applications
▸Wafer-scale chip architecture eliminates GPU memory bottlenecks

Hyperbolic

▸Among the lowest prices for open-weight model inference
▸DeepSeek R1 and Llama 3.3 available at competitive rates
▸Marketplace model — broad model selection

Provider category context

Cerebras is a inference api, founded in 2016. Hyperbolic is a inference api, founded in 2023. Both are inference api providers — the comparison is primarily about pricing, model selection, and feature differentiation within the same tier.

How to choose between them

Both Cerebras and Hyperbolic host open-weight models. The key differentiators are latency, throughput, and which specific model versions each provider offers. Check the speed metrics above — inference API providers often differ significantly on tokens-per-second for the same model. Pricing is typically competitive between them; availability of specific model versions (e.g., Llama 3.1 405B, DeepSeek V3) may be the deciding factor.