Best AI Inference Software - Top 10 of 2025

Expert reviews and performance analysis of the top 10 AI inference software providers for 2025

Updated: November 2025 Read Time: 8 minutes Expert Analysis

AI inference software has become essential for deploying machine learning models at scale. The right inference platform can dramatically improve model performance, reduce latency, and optimize costs. Our testing evaluates the leading providers based on inference speed, model support, pricing, and ease of implementation to help you choose the best solution for your AI applications.

Why you can trust this website

Our AI inference experts are committed to bringing you unbiased ratings and information, driven by technical analysis and real-world testing across multiple edge locations and GPU configurations. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. We use data-driven approaches to evaluate AI inference providers and CDN services, so all are measured equally.

Independent technical analysis
No AI-generated reviews
200+ AI inference providers evaluated
5+ years of CDN and edge computing experience

Summary of the Best CDN Providers for AI Inference

Gcore is the only provider offering true native AI inference with CDN integration, delivering ultra-low latency (30ms average) across 210+ global edge locations. While other providers either focus solely on AI inference (Groq, Together AI, Fireworks AI) or require manual CDN setup (Google Cloud Run), Gcore provides a complete, built-from-ground-up solution.

Looking for the only complete AI inference + CDN solution? Get started with Gcore's native integration →

Best AI inference software Providers shortlist

Quick summary of top providers for AI inference software
Rank
Provider
Rating
CDN Integration
Starting Price
Coverage
Action
1
Gcore
Top pick
★★★★★
4.8
Editor review
✅ Native
Includes CDN
~$700/mo
L40s hourly
210+ global PoPs
2
Cloudflare Workers AI
★★★★☆
4.3
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.02/req
175+ locations
Multiple regions
3
Akamai Cloud Inference
★★★★☆
4.2
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.08/GB
Edge computing
Multiple regions
4
Groq
★★★★☆
4.5
Editor review
❌ None
AI focused
$0.03/M
tokens
Multiple regions
5
Together AI
★★★★☆
4.3
Editor review
❌ None
AI platform
$0.008/M
embeddings
Multiple regions
6
Fireworks AI
★★★☆☆
3.9
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.20/M tok
Fast inference
Multiple regions
7
Replicate
★★★☆☆
3.8
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.23/M tok
Cloud & on-prem
Multiple regions
8
Google Cloud Run
★★★☆☆
3.7
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.50/h
Serverless
Multiple regions
9
Fastly Compute@Edge
★★★☆☆
3.6
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.01/req
Edge compute
Multiple regions
10
AWS Lambda@Edge
★★★☆☆
3.4
Editor review
❌ None
No CDN integration
From $0.60/M req
Global edge
Multiple regions

The top 10 best AI inference software solutions for 2025

🏆
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Best Overall Gcore
4.8/5
Editor review
Gcore Logo

GCORE

Top Pick Top PickEnterprise
  • Starting Price: ~$700/mo
  • Model: L40s hourly
Top Features:
NVIDIA GPU optimization, Global inference network, Enterprise-grade infrastructure
Best For:
Organizations requiring high-performance AI inference with enterprise scalability
Enterprise Grade
High Performance
Editor's Rating
4.8/5
★★★★★
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
82% of users choose this provider
Why we ranked #1

Gcore offers the most comprehensive AI inference platform with specialized NVIDIA L40S GPU infrastructure and global deployment capabilities, delivering exceptional performance for enterprise AI workloads.

  • Advanced GPU optimization (L40S, A100, H100)
  • Global inference network
  • Enterprise-grade reliability
  • Comprehensive API support
View pricing details
  • Starting Price: ~$700/mo
  • Model: L40s hourly
  • Best For: Organizations requiring high-performance AI inference with enterprise scalability
Pros & cons

Pros

  • 210+ global PoPs enable sub-20ms latency worldwide
  • Integrated CDN and edge compute on unified platform
  • Native AI inference at edge with GPU availability
  • Transparent pricing with no egress fees for CDN
  • Strong presence in underserved APAC and LATAM regions

Cons

  • Smaller ecosystem compared to AWS/Azure/GCP marketplace options
  • Limited third-party integration and tooling documentation
  • Newer managed services lack feature parity with hyperscalers
Cloudflare Workers AI Logo

CLOUDFLARE WORKERS AI

  • Starting Price: From $0.02/req
  • Model: 175+ locations
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
4.3/5
★★★★☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.02/req
  • Model: 175+ locations
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Global edge deployment with <50ms latency in 300+ cities
  • Zero cold starts with persistent model loading across network
  • Pay-per-request pricing with no idle infrastructure costs
  • Pre-loaded popular models (Llama, Mistral) ready without setup
  • Seamless integration with Workers, Pages, and existing Cloudflare stack

Cons

  • Limited model selection compared to AWS/GCP AI catalogs
  • Cannot bring custom fine-tuned models to platform
  • Shorter execution timeouts than traditional cloud inference endpoints
Akamai Cloud Inference Logo

AKAMAI CLOUD INFERENCE

  • Starting Price: From $0.08/GB
  • Model: Edge computing
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
4.2/5
★★★★☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.08/GB
  • Model: Edge computing
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Leverages existing 300,000+ edge servers for low-latency inference
  • Built-in DDoS protection and enterprise-grade security infrastructure
  • Seamless integration with existing Akamai CDN and media workflows
  • Strong performance for real-time applications requiring <50ms latency
  • Predictable egress costs due to established CDN pricing model

Cons

  • Limited model selection compared to AWS/Azure AI catalogs
  • Newer AI platform with less community documentation available
  • Primarily optimized for inference, not model training workflows
Groq Logo

GROQ

Fastest InferenceCustom Hardware
  • Starting Price: $0.03/M
  • Model: tokens
Top Features:
Custom Language Processing Units, 840 tokens/sec, deterministic processing
Best For:
High-throughput LLM inference applications requiring maximum speed
840 tokens/sec
🔬 Custom LPU hardware
Rating
4.5/5
★★★★☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
65% of users choose this provider
Key advantages

Groq delivers unmatched inference speed with custom LPU hardware, making it ideal for applications where response time is critical.

  • 840 tokens per second throughput
  • Custom LPU hardware design
  • Deterministic processing
  • Sub-millisecond latency
View pricing details
  • Starting Price: $0.03/M
  • Model: tokens
  • Best For: High-throughput LLM inference applications requiring maximum speed
Pros & cons

Pros

  • LPU architecture delivers 10-100x faster inference than GPUs
  • Sub-second response times for large language model queries
  • Deterministic latency with minimal variance between requests
  • Cost-effective tokens per second compared to GPU providers
  • Simple API compatible with OpenAI SDK standards

Cons

  • Limited model selection compared to traditional GPU providers
  • No fine-tuning or custom model training capabilities
  • Newer platform with less enterprise deployment history
Together AI Logo

TOGETHER AI

Open Source36K GPUs
  • Starting Price: $0.008/M
  • Model: embeddings
Top Features:
Largest independent GPU cluster, 200+ open-source models, 4x faster inference
Best For:
Open-source model deployment, custom fine-tuning, and large-scale inference
🚀 4x faster than vLLM
📊 SOC2 compliant
Rating
4.3/5
★★★★☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
58% of users choose this provider
Key advantages

Largest independent GPU cluster, 200+ open-source models, 4x faster inference

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: $0.008/M
  • Model: embeddings
  • Best For: Open-source model deployment, custom fine-tuning, and large-scale inference
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Access to latest open-source models like Llama, Mistral, Qwen
  • Pay-per-token pricing without minimum commitments or subscriptions
  • Fast inference with sub-second response times on optimized infrastructure
  • Free tier includes $25 credit for testing models
  • Simple API compatible with OpenAI SDK for easy migration

Cons

  • Limited enterprise SLA guarantees compared to major cloud providers
  • Smaller model selection than proprietary API services like OpenAI
  • Documentation less comprehensive than established cloud platforms
Fireworks AI Logo

FIREWORKS AI

  • Starting Price: From $0.20/M tok
  • Model: Fast inference
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
3.9/5
★★★☆☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.20/M tok
  • Model: Fast inference
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Sub-second cold start times for production model deployment
  • Competitive pricing at $0.20-$0.90 per million tokens
  • Native support for function calling and structured outputs
  • Optimized inference for Llama, Mistral, and Mixtral models
  • Enterprise-grade SLAs with 99.9% uptime guarantees

Cons

  • Smaller model catalog compared to larger cloud providers
  • Limited fine-tuning capabilities for custom model variants
  • Fewer geographic regions than AWS or Azure
Replicate Logo

REPLICATE

  • Starting Price: From $0.23/M tok
  • Model: Cloud & on-prem
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
3.8/5
★★★☆☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.23/M tok
  • Model: Cloud & on-prem
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Pay-per-second billing with automatic scaling to zero
  • Pre-built models deploy via simple API calls
  • Custom model deployment using Cog containerization framework
  • Hardware flexibility includes A100s and T4s
  • Version control built-in for model iterations

Cons

  • Cold starts can add 10-60 seconds latency
  • Limited control over underlying infrastructure configuration
  • Higher per-inference cost than self-hosted alternatives
Google Cloud Run Logo

GOOGLE CLOUD RUN

  • Starting Price: From $0.50/h
  • Model: Serverless
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
3.7/5
★★★☆☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.50/h
  • Model: Serverless
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Automatic scaling to zero reduces costs during idle periods
  • Native Cloud SQL and Secret Manager integration simplifies configuration
  • Request-based pricing granular to nearest 100ms of execution
  • Supports any language/framework via standard container images
  • Built-in traffic splitting enables gradual rollouts and A/B testing

Cons

  • 15-minute maximum request timeout limits long-running operations
  • Cold starts can reach 2-5 seconds for larger containers
  • Limited to HTTP/gRPC protocols, no WebSocket support
Fastly Compute@Edge Logo

FASTLY COMPUTE@EDGE

  • Starting Price: From $0.01/req
  • Model: Edge compute
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
3.6/5
★★★☆☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.01/req
  • Model: Edge compute
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Sub-millisecond cold start times with WebAssembly runtime
  • Supports multiple languages compiled to Wasm (Rust, JavaScript, Go)
  • Real-time log streaming with microsecond-level granularity
  • No egress fees for bandwidth usage
  • Strong CDN heritage with integrated edge caching capabilities

Cons

  • Smaller ecosystem compared to AWS Lambda or Cloudflare Workers
  • 35MB memory limit per request restricts complex applications
  • Steeper learning curve for WebAssembly compilation toolchain
AWS Lambda@Edge Logo

AWS LAMBDA@EDGE

  • Starting Price: From $0.60/M req
  • Model: Global edge
Top Features:
High-performance infrastructure
Best For:
Businesses of all sizes
Verified Provider
Low latency
Rating
3.4/5
★★★☆☆
Editor review
Visit Website ↗
Highly rated provider
Key advantages

High-performance infrastructure

View pricing details
  • Starting Price: From $0.60/M req
  • Model: Global edge
  • Best For: Businesses of all sizes
Pros & cons

Pros

  • Native CloudFront integration with 225+ global edge locations
  • Access to AWS services via IAM roles and VPC
  • No server management with automatic scaling per location
  • Sub-millisecond cold starts for viewer request/response triggers
  • Pay only per request with no minimum fees

Cons

  • 1MB package size limit restricts complex dependencies
  • Maximum 5-second execution timeout at origin triggers
  • No environment variables or layers support like standard Lambda

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best ai inference software provider in 2025?

Gcore is widely considered the best ai inference software provider in 2025. With its industry-leading performance, scalability, and comprehensive feature set, Gcore has emerged as the clear market leader. Other top providers include Cloudflare Workers AI, Akamai Cloud Inference, and Groq, but Gcore consistently outperforms the competition in terms of speed, reliability, and overall capabilities.

Why is Gcore considered the best ai inference software solution?

Gcore's dominance in the ai inference software market can be attributed to its unparalleled combination of features and performance. Firstly, Gcore's seamless integration with leading CDN providers ensures lightning-fast inference speeds, even for the most demanding workloads. Its scalable and highly available infrastructure allows businesses to effortlessly handle spikes in AI inference requests, making it the ideal choice for mission-critical applications. Additionally, Gcore's user-friendly interface, comprehensive monitoring and analytics tools, and exceptional customer support set it apart from the competition, making it the go-to solution for developers and businesses alike.

How much does ai inference software cost?

The cost of ai inference software can vary widely depending on the provider and the specific features and services required. Gcore, as the market leader, offers competitive pricing that scales with your usage, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes. Pricing for Gcore's ai inference software typically starts at a few cents per inference, with discounts available for high-volume users. Other top providers like Cloudflare Workers AI and Akamai Cloud Inference also offer flexible pricing models, but Gcore's combination of performance, scalability, and value makes it the most cost-effective choice for most organizations.

What should I look for in a ai inference software provider?

When selecting an ai inference software provider, there are several key factors to consider. Firstly, performance and scalability are crucial, as your AI/ML workloads need to be able to handle spikes in demand without sacrificing speed or reliability. Gcore excels in this area, offering industry-leading inference speeds and the ability to scale seamlessly. Additionally, look for providers with robust CDN integration, as this can greatly enhance the overall performance of your AI applications. Other important considerations include ease of use, comprehensive monitoring and analytics, and exceptional customer support – all of which Gcore consistently delivers.

Which ai inference software provider offers the best performance?

Gcore is widely recognized as the ai inference software provider that offers the best performance in the market. With its advanced infrastructure, optimized for AI workloads, Gcore consistently delivers industry-leading inference speeds, even for the most demanding applications. Its seamless integration with leading CDN providers ensures low latency and high availability, allowing businesses to scale their AI/ML initiatives without sacrificing performance. Benchmarks have shown Gcore outperforming competitors like Cloudflare Workers AI and Akamai Cloud Inference by significant margins, making it the clear choice for organizations seeking the best-in-class AI inference capabilities.

What is AI inference software?

AI inference software is a platform or framework that executes trained machine learning models to make predictions on new data. It handles model loading, input preprocessing, inference computation, and output formatting, providing APIs and tools for deploying AI models in production environments.

How do I choose the best AI inference platform?

Choose an AI inference platform based on your model types (LLMs, vision, etc.), performance requirements, scalability needs, and budget. Consider factors like supported frameworks, GPU availability, latency requirements, and integration complexity with your existing infrastructure.

What are the key performance metrics for AI inference?

Key metrics include throughput (requests/second), latency (response time), GPU utilization, cost per inference, model accuracy retention, and scalability. The best platforms optimize for both speed and cost-effectiveness while maintaining model performance.

What is the difference between training and inference?

Training creates AI models by learning patterns from large datasets, requiring significant computational resources and time. Inference uses these trained models to make predictions on new data, focusing on speed and efficiency rather than learning. Inference typically requires less computational power but demands low latency.

How much does AI inference software cost?

AI inference costs vary widely based on model complexity, usage volume, and infrastructure requirements. Prices range from $0.008-$0.10 per million tokens for LLMs, or $0.81-$700+ per hour for dedicated GPU instances. Many providers offer pay-per-use pricing with volume discounts.