Runars vs Wafer

Clever kernels. Known postcode.

Wafer uses AI agents to squeeze more speed out of GPUs, and it's very good at it. It doesn't publish where its data centres are. Runars does: Montreal and Calgary.

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Credit where due

Wafer is one of the most interesting inference companies of the year. It's backed by AMD, grew to millions in revenue in months, and posts impressive throughput numbers. Speed is its game.

Data residency

Zero border crossings.

Wafer doesn't publish data-centre locations, and its public endpoints are listed as US. If your security review asks where inference physically happens, you can answer in one word with Runars: Canada.

request trace
  1. 1your app🇨🇦 Canada
  2. 2runars.ca/v1🇨🇦 Canada
  3. 3inference🇨🇦 Montreal · Calgary
  4. 4logs + prompt cache🇨🇦 Canada

border crossings: 0

Billing

Priced in dollars. Canadian ones.

Your invoice is in CAD with the right GST/HST/PST for your province, so finance doesn't reconcile a USD card charge against a moving exchange rate every month.

invoice.pdf
Usage (tokens)CAD
GST/HSTby province
CurrencyCAD
FX surprise$0.00

Compatibility

Keep your code. Change one URL.

Wafer is OpenAI-compatible. Runars is OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible, so Claude Code and Anthropic-SDK agents work by changing one URL.

app.py
client = Anthropic(
  base_url="https://runars.ca",
  api_key=os.environ["RUNARS_API_KEY"],
)

# OpenAI SDK works too — same key.

Head to head.

The short version, row by row. Every Wafer claim links to a source at the bottom of the page.

Published data-centre locations
Runars
Montreal & Calgary, Canada.
Wafer
Not published; endpoints listed as US.
Canadian data residency
Runars
Inference, logs and prompt cache stay in Canada (Montreal & Calgary).
Wafer
No Canadian option found.
Billing currency
Runars
Billed in CAD with GST/HST/PST by province. No FX line on your invoice.
Wafer
USD.
Anthropic Messages API
Runars
Native /v1/messages — point the Anthropic SDK or Claude Code at runars.ca.
Wafer
Not documented.
Public pricing page
Runars
Live per-model pricing in the docs.
Wafer
Prices visible via OpenRouter listings.
Raw throughput
Runars
Solid for production agents; not our headline.
Wafer
Headline feature; strong published numbers.

Switch in one line.

Point your existing OpenAI or Anthropic SDK at Runars and keep your code. If we're not the right fit next to Wafer, we'll tell you.

base_url = "https://…"
base_url = "https://runars.ca/v1"
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Sources · checked 2026-09-25

Wafer is a trademark of its owner and is referenced here for comparison only. Competitor details change; check Wafer's site for current terms. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.