Gonka vs io.net: Inference vs GPU Marketplace

io.net is a GPU aggregator from various sources: data centers, cloud providers, individual owners. Essentially, it's a marketplace for computing power: you rent GPU-hours for your tasks — model training, inference, rendering. io.net does not perform computations itself — it provides infrastructure and connects buyers with sellers of GPU resources.

io.net is an intermediary between GPU owners and consumers. You rent a cluster, configure it for your tasks, and are responsible for the result yourself. Gonka is a network with its own blockchain consensus Sprint, where AI inference is part of the protocol. You don't “rent a GPU” — you send a request via API, and the network processes it automatically, verifies the result via PoC V2, and distributes rewards to hosts.

io.net gives you control: you rent specific GPUs, set up the environment, run arbitrary code. This is flexible but requires expertise. Gonka offers simplicity: OpenAI-compatible API, automatic routing, built-in verification. The cost of inference via Gonka is about $0.0009/1M tokens. For AI inference, Gonka is easier and cheaper. For tasks requiring full control over the environment (training custom models, specific software), io.net is more flexible.