Fireworks AI vs Together AI 2026: Self-Serve RL vs Dedicated GPU Endpoints
Quick verdict: Together AI is our overall pick for Fireworks AI vs Together AI.
- Best overall: Together AI (3.9/5)
- Best free: Together AI
- Best for teams: Fireworks AI
- Pricing last checked: 2026-09-11
Together AI holds the slight edge on rating (4.1 vs 4.0) and on free-credit depth ($5 vs $1 for new accounts). Fireworks AI wins on training breadth: the only provider with a full self-serve SFT/LoRA/RL stack under one inference API, plus a published 99.9% uptime SLA.
| Tool | Rating | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fireworks AI Best for teams | 4.0/5 | $0.10/1M tokens | Fireworks AI runs 200+ open-source LLMs with a self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL… |
| Together AI Best overall Best free | 3.9/5 | $0.05/1M tokens | Together AI is an open-model inference platform with 100+ open-source models, fine-tuning … |
Bottom line: Together AI for high-volume, predictable LLM inference — per-token pricing from $0.10/1M, dedicated GPU endpoints from $0.80/GPU/hr, and native fine-tuning from $3/M tokens with a $5 new-account credit. Fireworks AI when the post-training loop is the product: SFT/LoRA/RL self-serve, 200+ open models across five modalities, and a 99.9% uptime SLA that Together does not publish. Free-credit gap: Together's $5 lets you run a real evaluation; Fireworks' $1 does not — add a payment method early to lift the default $50/month usage limit.
Pricing and details
Fireworks AI · 4.0/5
$1 free credit for new accounts · $0.10/1M tokens
Pay-per-token for serverless; new accounts get only $1 in free credits (less than Together AI's $5 and Cerebras' 1M tokens/day); Serverless from $0.10/1M tokens for text & vision under 4B; On-Demand dedicated from $7.00/hr H100 (billed per second, no cold-boot cost); LoRA fine-tuning from $0.50/1M training tokens; Usage limit tier 1 = $50/month by default, hard-blocks requests when exceeded even with remaining credits
Fireworks AI runs 200+ open-source LLMs with a self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL) and 99.9% uptime SLA — pay-per-token serverless, no GPU provisioning, Day-0 support for new open weights.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Core features at 5/5 — only provider with full self-serve post-training stack (SFT/LoRA/RL pipelines) under one inference API; 200+ open models across five modalities; Day-0 support for new open-source weights.
- Stability at 4/5 — 99.9% uptime SLA with 15T tokens/day operational scale; no cold boots on Serverless.
- Ease of use at 4/5 — OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible API; one-line migration for chat completion and embedding calls.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token serverless from $0.10/1M; On-Demand from $7.00/hr H100 billed per second; LoRA fine-tuning from $0.50/1M tokens
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Value for money at 3/5 — not always the cheapest per-token option; On-Demand GPU $7.00/hr adds up quickly for always-on deployments.
- Free credit only $1 for new accounts — far less than Together AI ($5) or Cerebras (1M tokens/day); limits free-tier evaluation depth.
- Weigh value and free-credit depth before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-11
Together AI · 3.9/5
$5 free signup credit · $0.05/1M tokens
Pay-per-token, no monthly minimums; $5 free signup credit (no credit card required for trial); cheapest: GPT-OSS 20B $0.05/$0.20 per 1M; Llama 3.3 70B $0.88 flat per 1M; DeepSeek V3.1 $0.60/$1.70; DeepSeek V4 Pro $2.10/$4.40; fine-tuning LoRA extra; Batch API 50% off; dedicated GPU hours separate
Together AI is an open-model inference platform with 100+ open-source models, fine-tuning support, and dedicated GPU capacity — built for production AI teams.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Best dimension: Core features at 4/5 — backed by verification against the official site & pricing.
- Second strong point: Stability at 4/5.
- Pricing: Pay-per-token, no monthly minimums
- Positioning: Together AI is an open-model inference platform with 100+ open-source models, fine-tuning support, and dedicated GPU capacity — built for production AI teams.
Cons
- Weakest dimension: Localization at 2/5.
- Weigh localization before committing.
Pricing verified 2026-09-07
Frequently asked questions
Which is better overall, Fireworks AI or Together AI?
Together AI is our overall pick (3.9/5 vs 4.0/5). Together AI holds the slight edge on rating (4.1 vs 4.0) and on free-credit depth ($5 vs $1 for new accounts). Fireworks AI wins on training breadth: the only provider with a full self-serve SFT/LoRA/RL stack under one inference API, plus a published 99.9% uptime SLA.
Do Fireworks AI and Together AI offer free plans?
Neither advertises a free plan; check current trial terms before committing.
What does Together AI cost?
$0.05/1M tokens — Pay-per-token, no monthly minimums; $5 free signup credit (no credit card required for trial); cheapest: GPT-OSS 20B $0.05/$0.20 per 1M; Llama 3.3 70B $0.88 flat per 1M; DeepSeek V3.1 $0.60/$1.70; DeepSeek V4 Pro $2.10/$4.40; fine-tuning LoRA extra; Batch API 50% off; dedicated GPU hours separate. Prices were last verified on 2026-09-11.