A Cheaper Inference alternative with a budget on every key
Cheaper Inference says it lists 569 models, never charges above direct list price, and discounts some below it. Hopscotch bills at list price with 0% fee, and adds a budget, fallbacks and guardrails on every key.
Company claims, cheaperinference.com, Nov 6, 2026. Cheaper Inference may price some models below list. Hopscotch does not.
0% fee on every top-up.
Credit from $5, and every token at the provider's list price. Or pick a Pass: each seat gets twice its price in model use every month.
A budget, fallbacks and guardrails on every key.
Refused and blocked requests cost $0.
A 99.9% availability target, with service credits.
On every account, not only an enterprise tier.
- Anthropic
- OpenAI
- DeepSeek
- Qwen
- Meta
- Mistral AI
- Moonshot AI
- MiniMax
- Z.ai
- Cohere
Hopscotch vs Cheaper Inference
Hopscotch is an LLM gateway: one API key for 500+ models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and DeepSeek, with spend limits, fallbacks and request logs built in. It is a Cheaper Inference alternative for teams that want control over spend and safety at list price, with no surcharge.
Budgets on every key, at list price
Every key, teammate and workspace gets its own cap. A request over it is refused before it reaches the provider, so it costs $0. Cheaper Inference competes on discounts; Hopscotch adds guardrails at list price.
Passes: 2x what you pay in model use
Each seat gets twice its price in model use, on every model, frontier included, at provider rates with no markup. Cheaper Inference says it discounts some models. A Pass doubles your model use on every model.
Monthly, per seat.
Hopscotch vs Cheaper Inference: where the routes split
| Feature | Hopscotch | Cheaper Inference |
|---|---|---|
| Token price | Provider list price | Company says list price or lower, with discounts on listed models |
| Platform fee | 0% on credit purchases | "No separate routing surcharge" |
| Spend controls | Budget on every key, refused requests cost $0 | Monthly budget and daily quota per key, per its docs |
| Guardrails | Free, blocked requests cost $0 | No content guardrails described in its docs |
| Fallbacks | Up to five models per routing profile, tried in the order you set, changed in the dashboard without a deploy | Automatic failover across upstream providers |
| Uptime commitment | 99.9% monthly availability target with service credits, on every account | Aims for 99.99%, no SLA stated |
Three questions that decide it
If it is, compare the models you use on both. If an agent can run up a bill, a budget on every key can matter more than the token price.
See pricingEvery Hopscotch key carries its own budget, and a request over the limit is refused before it reaches the provider. The loop stops, and the refused requests cost nothing. Teammates and the whole workspace get ceilings too.
See spend controlsOn Hopscotch, requests on your own OpenAI, Anthropic or Google key are billed by that provider, with no Hopscotch fee at any volume.
See bring your own keyHow to switch from Cheaper Inference in four steps
- 01
Sign up, add credit from $5, and copy the key from the dashboard.
- 02
In the OpenAI SDK you already use, set base_url to https://api.hopscotchlabs.ai/v1 and api_key to your Hopscotch key. Nothing else in your client changes.
- 03
Model IDs take the form provider/model, such as anthropic/claude-sonnet-5. A bare ID is refused with a 400 so nothing silently routes to a provider you did not pick. Pull the list from GET /v1/models or the models catalog.
- 04
Put backups in a routing profile and call it as profile/your-name. Set a routing profile as your default and it calls that profile in the order you set; until you do, it answers from Hopscotch's balanced shortlist for your workspace.
Your coding agent moves the same way. Setup guides exist for OpenCode, Cline, Codex CLI, Cursor, Aider, Continue and Zed. The quickstart walks through your first request.
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.hopscotchlabs.ai/v1", # was: your Cheaper Inference base URL
api_key="YOUR_HOPSCOTCH_KEY", # was: your Cheaper Inference key
)
# model ids gain a provider: anthropic/claude-sonnet-5
client.chat.completions.create(model="anthropic/claude-sonnet-5", messages=[...])How Hopscotch compares with other Cheaper Inference alternatives
Here is what each gateway costs you, in fees or in work.
More comparisons: OpenRouter alternative, Portkey alternative, LiteLLM alternative, Vercel AI Gateway alternative and OrcaRouter alternative.
| Gateway | What it is | What you take on |
|---|---|---|
| Hopscotch | Managed gateway: one key, provider list price, budgets and guardrails on every key | Nothing on top: 0% fee on credit |
| Cheaper Inference | Inference marketplace and GPU rentals, company description Nov 6, 2026 | At least $25 in the wallet to start |
| OpenRouter | Managed gateway with public usage rankings and a large app ecosystem | A 5.5% to 8% fee on every top-up |
| Vercel AI Gateway | Managed gateway that works from any server, with no markup or platform fee on tokens | A Vercel team account, and card processing fees where they apply |
| LiteLLM | Open-source proxy on your own provider keys | Hosting, scaling and patching the proxy yourself |
| Prisma AIRS AI Gateway (formerly Portkey) | Gateway built around enterprise governance and observability | A governance platform to set up before the first request |
| Direct provider APIs | Each provider's own API and key | No failover, and a key and bill per provider |
Cheaper Inference alternatives: questions people ask before switching
Is there a Cheaper Inference alternative with a 0% fee?
Yes. Hopscotch charges 0% on credit and bills at provider list price. Cheaper Inference says it adds no routing surcharge.
Does Hopscotch have monthly plans?
Yes, and they are optional. Hopscotch Passes are per-seat monthly plans where each seat gets twice its price in model use, on every model, frontier included, at provider rates with no markup: Starter is $20 a month for $40 of model use, Growth $50 for $100 and Pro $200 for $400. Limited time offer. Credit from $5 still works with no pass.
Is Cheaper Inference cheaper than Hopscotch?
Hopscotch bills at list price. On some models Cheaper Inference may be cheaper: the company says it discounts some models.
Do I need a cheap LLM API or a controlled one?
Hopscotch bills at list price and caps what each key can spend. Pick the lowest price if you need no content checks, and guardrails if you do.
Can I move from Cheaper Inference to Hopscotch?
Yes. Set the base URL to https://api.hopscotchlabs.ai/v1, paste your key, and use provider/model names.
Same models, one base URL change, a budget on every key
Connect your SDK to Hopscotch, add credit and send a request.