Inference comparison
Fireworks AI vs Together AI
Managed inference API against managed inference api. Editorial fit scores help shortlist; live pricing stays on the provider sites.
Fireworks AI product facts checked October 2, 2026Fireworks AI editorial scores reviewed September 3, 2026Together AI product facts checked October 2, 2026Together AI editorial scores reviewed September 3, 2026
Managed inference API
Fireworks AI
Serverless: model/tier-specific tokens. Reserved Throughput: prepaid dollar-per-minute reservation plus overage. Dedicated: per-GPU-second.
Managed inference API
Together AI
Serverless per-token; dedicated inference per GPU-minute for ready replicas; GPU clusters and provisioned throughput have separate contracts.
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| Dimension | Fireworks AI | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
| Category | ||
| Category | Managed inference API | Managed inference API |
| Billing | ||
| Billing | Serverless: model/tier-specific tokens. Reserved Throughput: prepaid dollar-per-minute reservation plus overage. Dedicated: per-GPU-second. | Serverless per-token; dedicated inference per GPU-minute for ready replicas; GPU clusters and provisioned throughput have separate contracts. |
| GPU choice | ||
| GPU choice | Managed serving stack plus on-demand GPU-hour SKUs | Managed serverless; dedicated deployment profiles with selected hardware; separate GPU clusters for infrastructure control. |
| Cold start | ||
| Cold start | Shared Serverless is documented as warm. A dedicated deployment at zero replicas initiates scale-up on a request but immediately returns 503 DEPLOYMENT_SCALING_UP; requests are not queued. Retry with backoff or keep a minimum replica running. | Dedicated replicas need provisioning/model loading after restart or zero replicas; ready warm replicas continue billing while idle. No universal startup latency is established. |
| Model access | ||
| Model access | Shared serverless catalog of hosted base models; dedicated deployments support custom model uploads and trained LoRA, with a broader selection. Model availability depends on deployment mode. | Serverless catalog plus supported dedicated models, fine-tunes and uploaded LoRA adapters. Custom deployment profiles must meet Together's supported-runtime requirements. |
| Best for | ||
| Best for | Production chat and agent backends that need snappy open-model inference | Serving open-weight models without operating your own GPU fleet |
| Watch out | ||
| Watch out | Standard shared Serverless has no uptime/latency SLA. Reserved Throughput provides a throughput SLA within the purchased dollar-per-minute reservation; unused reservation does not roll over and overage has no SLA. On-demand dedicated rates checked October 2: H100/H200 $8, B200 $13, B300 $15 and GB300 $20 per GPU-hour, billed per second; regional restriction premium 1.5x. | Serverless token APIs, dedicated GPU hours and provisioned throughput have different cost models. Each PTU represents reserved capacity; tokens per minute depend on the model and token type. Together announced $800M in Series C funding on July 1, 2026; this does not guarantee endpoint availability or service levels. |
| GPU choice (1–10) | ||
| GPU choice (1–10) | 3/10 | 3/10 |
| Time-to-serving (editorial) (1–10) | ||
| Time-to-serving (editorial) (1–10) | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Price clarity (1–10) | ||
| Price clarity (1–10) | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Production ops (1–10) | ||
| Production ops (1–10) | 8/10 | 8/10 |
| Open-model breadth (1–10) | ||
| Open-model breadth (1–10) | 8/10 | Winner: 9/10 |
Chart
Fit scores on the decision axes
Editorial 1–10 ratings for this pair only — not live pricing or latency benchmarks.
GPU choice
Pick exact GPUs
Time-to-serving (editorial)
Warm-path fit
Price clarity
Easy to forecast
Production ops
Less DIY ops
Open-model breadth
Catalog depth
Scores are editorial planning ratings (1–10) for product shape — not published $/hour quotes or vendor SLAs. Verify current pricing on each provider site.
How to decide
Prefer Fireworks AI when production chat and agent backends that need snappy open-model inference. Prefer Together AI when serving open-weight models without operating your own gpu fleet. If those statements both feel true, rent a GPU for control and keep a managed API for peak traffic — do not force one product to do both jobs.
Common questions
Fireworks AI vs Together AI
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.