Fastest AI APIs from Singapore
How long five AI APIs take to start answering from a server in Singapore, measured every day. Useful if your app runs there or serves users in Southeast Asia.
Mistral is the fastest AI API we measure from Singapore: 435 ms to the first word, on its default settings.
Of the APIs that use low reasoning effort, ChatGPT is fastest at 977 ms, ahead of Claude (1,205 ms) and Grok (2,656 ms).
From Singapore, ChatGPT takes 229 ms longer to start answering than from Montreal, its fastest city.
Which AI API answers fastest from Singapore?
Typical time until the first word of the reply arrives, measured from Singapore, 27 September to 10 October 2026.
MistralMistral AI · Provider default settings · Live status
435 ms typical
p95 TTFT: 652 ms
DeepSeekDeepSeek · Reasoning turned off · Live status
527 ms typical
p95 TTFT: 752 ms
ChatGPTOpenAI · Low reasoning effort · Live status
977 ms typical
p95 TTFT: 1,963 ms
ClaudeAnthropic · Low reasoning effort · Live status
1,205 ms typical
p95 TTFT: 2,072 ms
GrokxAI · Low reasoning effort
2,656 ms typical
p95 TTFT: 4,910 ms
Mistral runs on its default settings, DeepSeek runs with reasoning turned off, and ChatGPT, Claude and Grok use low reasoning effort. Typical is the middle request of the period; p95 means 95% of requests got their first word within that time.
Technical details
| API | Model | Requests in the period | Failed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistral | mistral-medium-latest | 65 | 0 of 65 |
| DeepSeek | deepseek-v4-flash | 65 | 0 of 65 |
| ChatGPT | gpt-5.6-sol | 65 | 0 of 65 |
| Claude | claude-opus-5 | 65 | 0 of 65 |
| Grok | grok-4.6 | 65 | 0 of 65 |
Compared to the fastest city
How much longer each API takes to start answering from Singapore than from its own fastest test city.
How steady each API was from Singapore
Each API's daily time from Singapore, 11 September to 10 October 2026: one point per day, the middle of that day's five requests. Each chart has its own scale.
MistralVaries a lot
9 days in 10 no more than 33% above its usual 388 ms
No failed requests · one day without a run
DeepSeekVaries
9 days in 10 no more than 24% above its usual 541 ms
No failed requests · one day without a run
ChatGPTVaries a lot
9 days in 10 no more than 55% above its usual 1,090 ms
No failed requests · one day without a run
ClaudeVaries
9 days in 10 no more than 27% above its usual 1,423 ms
No failed requests · one day without a run
GrokVaries
9 days in 10 no more than 26% above its usual 2,717 ms
No failed requests · one day without a run
What to do with this
- Base timeouts on the slower figure: from Singapore, 1 in 20 requests to Grok waited more than 4,910 ms for the first word.
- For predictable times, DeepSeek was the steadiest from Singapore: on 9 days in 10 it stayed within 24% of its usual time. ChatGPT swung the most: on 1 day in 10 it was 55% or more above its usual time.
- If your backend doesn't have to run in Singapore: ChatGPT took 748 ms from Montreal, against 977 ms here. Mistral took 214 ms from Amsterdam, against 435 ms here. Your users' trip to that server comes on top, so moving only helps when the API call is the slow part.
Good to know
- This is one server in a datacenter in Singapore, measured once a day.
- Every API gets the same one-line prompt, but the reasoning settings differ (named on each row), so compare APIs with the same setting.
- Time to first token stops at the first visible word. It doesn't measure how fast the rest of the reply arrives or how good it is.
How fast is your API from Singapore?
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