The best LLM inference APIs, according to hackers
12 LLM inference APIs were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 6 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended LLM inference APIs with the badge. Each figure is 10 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Extremely fast token generation
People recommend it for extremely fast token generation that makes agents and coding feel near-instant, but many report harsh rate limits, capacity shortages and a limited, outdated model lineup.
Very fast LLM inference
People recommend Groq for very fast, cheap model inference, especially open models like gpt-oss and Kimi K2. The most common caveat is inconsistent latency and reliability.
Verifiable privacy via secure enclaves
People recommend Tinfoil for verifiably private AI inference in secure enclaves, with open-source code and attestation. Critics note it has not been independently audited.
All 12 LLM inference APIs, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cerebras Inference | 109 | 51 | 68% | 13 | — | Approved |
| 2 | Groq API | 58 | 23 | 72% | 12 | — | Approved |
| 3 | Tinfoil | 21 | 10 | 68% | 10 | — | Approved |
| 4 | Darkbloom | 19 | 39 | 33% | 1 | — | — |
| 5 | Synthetic | 18 | 1 | 95% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 6 | GLM-4.7 on Cerebras | 12 | 2 | 86% | 5 | — | Approved |
| 7 | sllm | 11 | 15 | 42% | 1 | — | — |
| 8 | Venice AI | 10 | 3 | 77% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 9 | RelaxAI | 8 | 4 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| 10 | Tensorix | 6 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | — |
| Tied 11 | gpt-oss-120b on Cerebras | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 11 | Crof.ai | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same LLM inference API in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to LLM inference APIs that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
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