Cerebras

Fast inference API served from wafer-scale AI hardware

AI Models & PlatformsFree planOverseasβ˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜† 4.0

What is Cerebras?

Cerebras builds wafer-scale chips and sells access to them as an inference service. The pitch is throughput: by keeping model weights on a very large piece of silicon, the hardware avoids much of the memory movement that slows conventional GPU serving, which shows up as high tokens per second and low latency on open-weight models. Developers reach it through an OpenAI-compatible API, so existing clients often need only a base URL and key change, and a free tier exists for prototyping. The model catalogue is narrower than a general cloud provider's.

Last updated: 2026-09-20. This site only provides an index; for exact features, pricing, and licensing, see the official website.

Key features

  • Inference API serving open-weight models at high token throughput
  • Wafer-scale hardware that keeps model weights on the chip
  • OpenAI-compatible endpoints so existing client code still runs
  • Free developer tier for prototyping, evaluation and benchmarks
  • Low latency aimed at interactive chat and agent loops
  • Cloud and on-premise deployments for larger customers

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Throughput and latency are the clear reason to choose it
  • Compatible API surface keeps migration work small
  • Free tier is enough to benchmark your own prompts

Watch out for

  • Model catalogue is narrower than the big cloud platforms
  • Free tier is rate-limited and shares capacity
  • Some advanced API features lag the larger providers

Best for & use cases

high throughput inference, latency sensitive chat, agent workloads and benchmark testing

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FAQ

What makes it faster than a GPU service?

The chip keeps model weights on a very large wafer, so inference avoids shuttling data between memory and processors as often. That shows up as high throughput and low latency on supported models, though it does not change model quality.

Which models can I call?

The catalogue focuses on popular open-weight models rather than every model on the market, and it grows as new releases are optimised for the hardware. Check the current list before assuming a specific family is available.

Is the free tier usable?

It is aimed at evaluation and light development, with rate limits and shared capacity. It is enough to benchmark latency with your own prompts, but production traffic needs a paid arrangement with committed capacity.