kitio.aiReplicate vs Carton
A side-by-side look at pricing plans, free tiers, features, pros and cons, updated for 2026. Carton is completely free, while Replicate is paid.
At a glance
Best for
Category
Pricing model
Starting price
Free plan
Made by
Based in
Rating
Key features
- Thousands of public models
- Cog model packaging
- Private deployments
- Fine-tuning
- Per-second GPU billing
- Framework-agnostic inference API
- Model packing without conversion
- Automatic runner selection
- Rust core with language bindings
- Community model registry
| Feature | Replicate | Carton |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Run and deploy open-source AI models through a simple API | Open-source library to run ML models from many programming languages |
| Category | Models & APIs | Models & APIs |
| Pricing model | Paid | Free |
| Starting price | See pricing page | Free |
| Free plan | No | Yes, fully free |
| Made by | Cloudflare | Carton |
| Based in | United States | – |
| Rating | No ratings yet | No ratings yet |
| Key features |
|
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Pricing compared
Carton is completely free, while Replicate is paid.
Free plan
Cheapest paid plan
Top plan
Free trial
5 plans
CPU
$0.36 / hour
- 4x CPU, 8 GB RAM
- Billed per second
Nvidia T4 GPU
$0.81 / hour
- 16 GB GPU RAM
- Billed per second
Nvidia L40S GPU
$3.51 / hour
- 48 GB GPU RAM
- Billed per second
Nvidia A100 (80GB)
$5.04 / hour
- 80 GB GPU RAM
- Billed per second
Nvidia H100 GPU
$5.49 / hour
- 80 GB GPU RAM
- Billed per second
Prices in USD, checked Oct 28, 2026 or later. Plans change often, so confirm on each tool's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Replicate
- Huge model catalog
- Very easy API
- Good for image and video models
- Cold starts on less-used models
- Always-on GPUs get expensive
- Pricing differs per model
Carton
- Free and open source
- No error-prone model conversion
- Same API across frameworks
- Many language bindings still in progress
- Small community compared to ONNX tooling
- Developer-only, no hosted service
Which one should you choose?
Choose Replicate if you want:
- Huge model catalog
- Very easy API
- Good for image and video models
Watch out: cold starts on less-used models.
Choose Carton if you want:
- Free and open source
- No error-prone model conversion
- Same API across frameworks
Watch out: many language bindings still in progress.
Replicate vs Carton FAQ
What is the difference between Replicate and Carton?
Replicate: Run and deploy open-source AI models through a simple API. Carton: Open-source library to run ML models from many programming languages. Both are models & apis tools.
Is Replicate or Carton cheaper?
Carton is completely free, while Replicate is paid.
Do Replicate and Carton have free plans?
Replicate: No. Carton: Yes, fully free.
Who makes Replicate?
Replicate is made by Cloudflare, based in United States.
Who makes Carton?
Carton is made by Carton.
Which should I choose, Replicate or Carton?
Choose Replicate if you value huge model catalog and very easy api. Choose Carton if you value free and open source and no error-prone model conversion.