{"uid":"cap_LEnfZoPui0gJ75-r8T-YL","slug":"compute-state-api-cheapest-inference-provider-lookup-29f0b785","name":"Compute State API — Cheapest Inference Provider Lookup","description":"Tell it the job — tokens or GPU hours — and it returns the cheapest compute that can actually run it, priced from official vendor pages. 0.005 USDC per call, no key, free sample response.\n\nThis capability is scoped to work=inference.","url":"https://compute-state-api.replit.app/v1/cheapest?work=inference&utm_source=zero.xyz","method":"GET","headers":{},"bodySchema":null,"responseSchema":{"type":"object","required":["as_of","work","unit","recommendation","alternatives","disqualified","payment"],"properties":{"unit":{"type":"string"},"work":{"enum":["inference","gpu"],"type":"string"},"as_of":{"type":"string"},"payment":{"type":"object","required":["network","amount_atomic","settled"],"properties":{"tx_ref":{"type":["string","null"]},"network":{"type":"string"},"settled":{"type":"boolean"},"amount_atomic":{"type":"string"}}},"alternatives":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","required":["provider","sku","est_cost_usd","components","why","stale_after_s","source_url","as_of"],"properties":{"sku":{"type":"string"},"why":{"type":"string"},"as_of":{"type":"string"},"provider":{"type":"string"},"components":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","required":["name","tag","usd","rate_usd","unit"],"properties":{"tag":{"enum":["list","effective","unknown"],"type":"string","description":"list — the vendor's published list price.\neffective — a published rate that already reflects the billable\ndiscount for this component (for example a published batch rate).\nunknown — the component exists for this SKU but no official number\ncould be read. A SKU with any unknown component on the path the query\nneeds cannot be rank 1.\n"},"usd":{"type":"number","description":"What this component contributes to est_cost_usd for this job."},"name":{"type":"string","description":"input | output | cached_input | gpu_hour, optionally composed with the vendor's published batch, peak/off-peak and long-context variants (batch_input, input_offpeak, cached_input_long), or cached_input_at_input_rate where the vendor publishes no cheaper cache-hit rate"},"unit":{"type":"string","description":"usd_per_1m_tokens | usd_per_gpu_hour"},"rate_usd":{"type":"number","description":"The vendor's published rate the contribution was computed from."}}}},"source_url":{"type":"string"},"est_cost_usd":{"type":"number"},"stale_after_s":{"type":"integer"}}}},"disqualified":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","required":["provider","sku","reason"],"properties":{"sku":{"type":"string"},"reason":{"type":"string"},"provider":{"type":"string"}}}},"recommendation":{"type":"object","required":["provider","sku","est_cost_usd","components","why","stale_after_s","source_url","as_of"],"properties":{"sku":{"type":"string"},"why":{"type":"string"},"as_of":{"type":"string"},"provider":{"type":"string"},"components":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object","required":["name","tag","usd","rate_usd","unit"],"properties":{"tag":{"enum":["list","effective","unknown"],"type":"string","description":"list — the vendor's published list price.\neffective — a published rate that already reflects the billable\ndiscount for this component (for example a published batch rate).\nunknown — the component exists for this SKU but no official number\ncould be read. A SKU with any unknown component on the path the query\nneeds cannot be rank 1.\n"},"usd":{"type":"number","description":"What this component contributes to est_cost_usd for this job."},"name":{"type":"string","description":"input | output | cached_input | gpu_hour, optionally composed with the vendor's published batch, peak/off-peak and long-context variants (batch_input, input_offpeak, cached_input_long), or cached_input_at_input_rate where the vendor publishes no cheaper cache-hit rate"},"unit":{"type":"string","description":"usd_per_1m_tokens | usd_per_gpu_hour"},"rate_usd":{"type":"number","description":"The vendor's published rate the contribution was computed from."}}}},"source_url":{"type":"string"},"est_cost_usd":{"type":"number"},"stale_after_s":{"type":"integer"}}}}},"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.005","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"probe","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.005/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.005","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.005","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_kL5THq6P-c5S0RenxoRkN","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.005","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":"0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913","unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Returns the cheapest compute provider currently able to run an inference job, priced from official vendor pages, with cost breakdown per token.","exampleAgentPrompt":"What's the cheapest provider that can actually run my inference job right now — give me official list prices, the top recommendation, and any alternatives ranked by cost.","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Minimize LLM API spend before launch","prompt":"Before I start routing production traffic, which inference provider has the lowest official price per token right now? Show me the top recommendation and a couple of alternatives with their cost breakdowns."},{"title":"Budget check for high-volume inference pipeline","prompt":"I'm about to run a large batch of inference calls — which cloud provider is currently the cheapest and confirmed able to handle it, based on their published pricing?"},{"title":"Daily cost monitoring for AI infrastructure","prompt":"Pull today's cheapest inference compute option with official vendor pricing so I can track whether my current provider is still competitive."}],"resultDescription":"A JSON object containing: the recommended cheapest provider with SKU, estimated cost in USD, and itemized cost components (input tokens, output tokens, cached input) tagged as list/effective/unknown pricing; a ranked list of alternative providers with the same breakdown; a list of disqualified providers with reasons; the data freshness timestamp and staleness window; and payment settlement confirmation.","failureModes":["Payment not settled — 402 returned if USDC microtransaction has not cleared","All providers have unknown pricing components — no rank-1 recommendation can be made","Stale data — pricing data may be outdated if stale_after_s window has elapsed","Provider temporarily unavailable — disqualified list may grow if vendors are unresponsive","Malformed response if upstream vendor pages change structure"],"whenToPreferThis":"Use this endpoint when you need to programmatically identify the cheapest available inference compute based on officially published vendor pricing, rather than relying on manual research or static price lists. Prefer it over GPU-hour endpoints (work=gpu) when your job is token-based inference rather than raw GPU reservation. It is especially useful for cost-optimization agents, dynamic routing systems, and budget-aware orchestration pipelines that need to select a provider at runtime.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-10-12T00:34:41.159Z","isFirstParty":false,"canonicalSlug":"compute-state-api-cheapest-inference-provider-lookup-29f0b785"}