Price checkPer per million tokens
Free tier (Developer)FreePay-as-you-goCustomEnterpriseCustom
See all 3 plans

All Cerebras Inference API Plans & Pricing

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
View all features by plan (compare side-by-side)

Free tier (Developer)

  • 1M tokens/day free (Llama 3.3 70B)
  • Rate-limited to 30 req/min
  • World-record throughput: 2,000+ tokens/sec on WSE-3

Pay-as-you-go

  • Llama 3.3 70B: $0.85/1M input, $1.20/1M output
  • Llama 3.1 8B: $0.10/1M input, $0.10/1M output
  • Qwen 3 32B: $0.40/1M input, $0.80/1M output
  • ~20× faster than GPU-based inference on same model

Enterprise

  • Dedicated WSE capacity
  • SLAs
  • On-prem inference option
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Quick Answer
Last verified:
Medium confidence

Cerebras Inference API costs $0.10 to $6 per per million tokens as of July 2026, with 3 plans available including a free tier. Plan: Free tier (Developer) (free). Enterprise pricing is available on request. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: Yes

Cerebras Inference API offers 3 pricing tiers: Free tier (Developer), Pay-as-you-go, Enterprise. The Pay-as-you-go plan is latency-critical apps needing sub-second time-to-first-token.

Compared to other llm api providers software, Cerebras Inference API is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.

  • 5 documented hidden costs beyond list price
Last verified:

How much does Cerebras Inference API cost?

Cerebras Inference API offers 3 pricing plans, starting with a free tier and scaling to custom enterprise pricing. Plans include Free tier (Developer) (free), Pay-as-you-go (custom pricing), Enterprise (custom pricing).

Cerebras Inference API Pricing Overview

Cerebras Inference API has 3 pricing plans, including a free tier. Paid plans range from $0.10 to $6/per million tokens. The Free tier (Developer) plan is free and is best for testing cerebras's unique speed advantage. The Pay-as-you-go plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for latency-critical apps needing sub-second time-to-first-token. The Enterprise plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for latency-critical production deployments.

There are at least 5 documented hidden costs beyond Cerebras Inference API's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in May 19, 2026.

Try Cerebras Inference API Free

Cerebras Inference API offers a Free tier (Developer) plan at $0 for testing and development, with a Pay-as-you-go tier for token-based production billing. Organizations with high-volume or mission-critical requirements can access the Enterprise tier on custom-quoted terms. Cerebras differentiates on raw inference speed — its wafer-scale chip architecture delivers dramatically higher tokens-per-second than GPU-based alternatives for supported model sizes, making it a compelling option for latency-sensitive workloads.

How Cerebras Inference API Pricing Compares

Compare Cerebras Inference API pricing against top alternatives in LLM API Providers.

Groq $0-$3.0/per million tokens Compare → Together AI $0.03-$9.95/per million tokens / hour Compare → Fireworks AI $0-$9/per million tokens / hour Compare →

Usage-Based Rates

Per-unit pricing for Cerebras Inference API API usage.

Pay-as-you-go

Model Input Output Cached Per
llama-3-3-70b-cerebras 131K ctx $0.850 $1.20 — 1M tokens
llama-3-1-8b-cerebras 131K ctx $0.100 $0.100 — 1M tokens
qwen3-32b-cerebras 131K ctx $0.400 $0.800 — 1M tokens
  • Uses WSE-3 wafer-scale chips; not GPUs. Pricing reflects compute-efficiency, not headline-cheap.

Compare Cerebras Inference API vs Alternatives

Before committing to Cerebras Inference API, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

VSGroq
Free

Prototyping and evaluation

Full comparison
VSTogether AI
From $0.03/per million tokens / hour

Variable-volume API usage

Full comparison
VSFireworks AI
Free

Variable-volume API usage

Full comparison

All Cerebras Inference API alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for Cerebras Inference API

Review scores
Third-party review aggregates, as of Jul 2026
Top pricing complaints
Pricing is not clearly published, making cost comparison difficultWaitlist required before API access is grantedLimited support for very large models (400B+ parameters) without multi-wafer configurationLong-term pricing commitments are unknown — free tier may not persist

Cerebras Inference API Year 1 Total Cost by Company Size

Real deployment costs including licenses, implementation, training, and admin — not just the sticker price.

Developer Prototyping (Free Tier) $0 Year 1 total
Developer
Total $0

Individual developer or small team testing Cerebras inference capabilities using the Free tier (Developer) plan with Llama-based models at low request volumes.

Pay-as-you-go Usage — Llama 3.1 70B (as of Oct 2024) $0 Year 1 total
third-party data, October 2024
Total $0

Application using the Pay-as-you-go tier to run Llama 3.1 70B at high throughput. Per-token pricing per a third-party comparison tool citing Artificial Analysis data; verify current pricing with Cerebras before committing.

Individual Developer — Free Tier Prototyping $0 Year 1 total

A solo developer using the Free tier (Developer) plan to prototype and test LLM applications using Llama-based models, within free tier rate limits.

Small Team — Pay-as-You-Go Variable — contact Cerebras for current rates Year 1 total

A small development team running moderate inference workloads on the Pay-as-you-go plan. Actual costs depend on token volume; specific per-token rates are not publicly documented by Cerebras.

Production Application (Pay-As-You-Go) Pricing not publicly disclosed — contact Cerebras Year 1 total

A small team running a production application with moderate token volumes on the Pay-as-you-go plan. Actual cost depends on token volume and published per-token rates, which are not publicly disclosed.

Enterprise Deployment Custom — contact Cerebras sales Year 1 total

An organization requiring guaranteed throughput, SLAs, and high-volume inference at scale. Custom pricing negotiated directly with Cerebras.

Current tier data; confirmed by reddit (r/singularity, 2025-03-01): 'Right now the Cerebras API is free'

How Cerebras Inference API Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
Cerebras Inference API $0.1/per million tokens $6/per million tokens
Amazon Bedrock $0.07/per million tokens $75/per million tokens
Anyscale $0.15/per million tokens $5/per million tokens
Baidu ERNIE API $0.1/per million tokens $10/per million tokens
Claude API $0.03/per million tokens $75/per million tokens
Cloudflare Workers AI Free $4.881/per million tokens

Detailed pricing comparisons:

Browse all LLM API Providers pricing →

5 Cerebras Inference API Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, Cerebras Inference API has at least 5 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 5 hidden costs
  • Opaque Pay-as-you-go Pricing and Rate Limits 5-15% of license costs
    medium 3 sources
    Reddit "Cerebras isn't very clear on their pricing."
    Reddit "What kinda pricing is this place to use their API? I imagine its for enterprise and not small plebs."
    Reddit "It's literally more expensive than H100 services out right now."
  • Access Waitlist Delays 5-10% of license costs
    low 1 source
    Reddit "Maybe Cerebras would work for you? Took me a week to get off the waitlist."
  • Large Model Support Limitations and Cost Premium 10-25% of license costs
    medium 2 sources
    Reddit "pricing model they suggest would be radically different for a 400b param model and forget about trillion param models which are coming next."
    Reddit "If they need to hook up 30 wafers together to support 405B I wonder if that'll heavily hurt their latency and price competitiveness."
  • Large Model Memory Constraints 10-30% of license costs
    medium 2 sources
    Reddit "Cerebras like Groq lacks HBM, which comes in much higher capacity. That makes not even the entire wafer of Cerebras chips can fit a big model."
    Reddit "Because they are referencing such a small model the pricing model they suggest would be radically different for a 400b param model and forget about trillion param models which are coming next."
  • Free Tier Uncertainty — Long-Term Pricing Unknown 5-20% of license costs
    high 1 source
    Reddit "Right now the Cerebras API is free, so I'm not sure what pricing is going to look like over the long term."
Tip

Ask your Cerebras Inference API sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 1 independent sources
Reddit User discussions
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 17 source citations total.

Cerebras Inference API Contract Terms

Cerebras Inference API contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Auto-Renewal No
Mid-Term Downgrade Not allowed
Price Escalation No published schedule; pricing structure for paid tiers has not been publicly disclosed as of early 2025.

How to Negotiate Cerebras Inference API Pricing

Cerebras Inference API contracts are negotiable. These 8 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.

Negotiation Playbook 8 tactics
Use Free Tier Fully Before Committing high success

Exhaust the Free tier (Developer) plan during prototyping to validate whether Cerebras's speed advantages justify the opaque pay-as-you-go pricing before committing to the Pay-as-you-go or Enterprise plan. This also gives you real throughput data to use in Enterprise negotiations.

Current tier data + reddit community usage patterns
Contact Sales for Enterprise Volume Pricing medium success

For high-volume or production workloads, contact Cerebras sales directly for the Enterprise tier. Custom agreements may include better per-token rates, dedicated capacity, and SLA guarantees not available on the Pay-as-you-go tier. The platform's orientation toward enterprise use suggests negotiation flexibility for committed volume.

reddit (inferred from tier structure and user comments about enterprise orientation)
Start on Free Tier to Build Leverage medium success

Use the Free tier (Developer) plan to validate your use case and demonstrate usage patterns before approaching sales. Concrete throughput and volume projections strengthen your negotiating position for Enterprise pricing.

reddit (r/singularity, 2025-03-01)
Cite Speed-Adjusted Cost When Negotiating medium success

Community benchmarks show Cerebras's Llama 3.1 70B running at approximately 569 tokens/sec versus ~31 tokens/sec on GPU-based providers. When negotiating Enterprise pricing, frame discussions around cost-per-useful-output (accounting for throughput) rather than raw per-token price — this positions higher token rates as cost-justified given the speed differential.

reddit (LocalLLaMA, October 2024)
Request Enterprise SLA and Volume Commitment medium success

For production workloads, contact Cerebras directly about the Enterprise plan before scaling on Pay-as-you-go. Enterprise contracts typically include dedicated throughput, SLA guarantees, and volume discounts not available on standard tiers. Having a clear projected token volume when you approach them will strengthen your negotiating position.

Current tier data
Claim Free Tier First medium success

Start with the Free tier (Developer) plan to evaluate speed advantages before committing to paid Enterprise tiers. Use performance data gathered during free access as negotiation leverage when discussing Enterprise pricing.

Reddit community discussion (2025-03-01)
Benchmark Against Alternatives medium success

Cerebras's pricing was noted by at least one community member as 'more expensive than H100 services out right now' in 2024. Gather competing quotes from providers like Together AI, Fireworks, or DeepInfra before Enterprise negotiations to establish a pricing floor.

Reddit/LocalLLaMA (2024-08-27)
Highlight Workload Speed Requirements medium success

Cerebras's primary value proposition is throughput speed (reported 569 tokens/sec for Llama 3.1 70B vs. 31.6 tokens/sec on GPU alternatives). If your use case requires real-time or near-real-time inference, emphasize this dependency during Enterprise discussions to justify premium pricing or negotiate volume discounts.

Reddit/LocalLLaMA (2024-10-22)
High success Medium Low / difficult

Full negotiation guide →

Cerebras Inference API Pricing FAQ

01 Is Cerebras Inference API free to use?

Cerebras offers a Free tier (Developer) plan at $0, available for testing and prototyping. As of early 2025, the API was described as free for developers, though the long-term pricing structure for the Pay-as-you-go tier was noted as uncertain. Enterprise pricing requires a custom agreement.

02 How does Cerebras inference speed compare to GPU-based providers?

Cerebras uses a wafer-scale chip architecture that delivers significantly faster inference than GPU-based providers for supported model sizes. A third-party comparison from October 2024 showed Cerebras running Llama 3.1 70B at 569.2 tokens/sec versus Amazon Bedrock's 31.6 tokens/sec for the same model — approximately 18x faster.

03 Is there a waitlist for Cerebras Inference API access?

Historically, new users have needed to join a waitlist before gaining access to the Cerebras API. One developer reported waiting approximately one week before receiving access.

04 What models does Cerebras Inference support?

Cerebras Inference supports open-source models including Llama 3.1 70B and DeepSeek R1-70B. The wafer-scale architecture is optimized for models that fit within its on-chip memory. Very large models with 400B+ parameters may have limited, more costly, or no support on the platform.

05 Do I need to join a waitlist to use Cerebras?

Yes. Access to the Cerebras Inference API requires waitlist approval even for the free developer tier. Community reports indicate the wait is typically around one week.

06 Is Cerebras Inference only for enterprise customers?

No. Cerebras offers a Free tier (Developer) plan for individual developers at no cost. However, since per-token pricing for the Pay-as-you-go plan is not publicly listed in detail, some community members assumed the service was enterprise-only.

07 How long does it take to get access to the Cerebras API?

Access to the Cerebras API requires waitlist approval. At least one developer reported waiting approximately one week to get off the waitlist before gaining API access.

08 Does Cerebras support very large models like Llama 405B?

As of early 2025, community members noted that Cerebras's architecture has memory constraints that make supporting very large models (400B+ parameters) challenging, potentially requiring multiple wafers linked together. This may affect both latency and pricing for those workloads.

09 What will Cerebras API pricing look like in the long term?

Cerebras has not publicly committed to long-term pricing for its API tiers. The free tier is available now but developers should plan for the possibility that pay-as-you-go rates will apply at production scale. Enterprise pricing is negotiated directly with Cerebras.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.

1 AI answer about this product’s pricing was flagged for review against CostBench’s record. Claim this record free to see them