Side by side
OpenAI API vs Together AI
A fact-based comparison built only from each tool's verified directory profile — pricing summaries, plan availability, platforms, and stated strengths and limitations. No rankings, no sponsored placement.
| Criterion | OpenAI API | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
| Category | LLM APIs & Model Platforms | Inference & Model Hosting |
| In one sentence | Pay-per-token developer access to OpenAI's GPT models for building apps, agents and automations. | Cloud platform for running, fine-tuning and training open models on serverless APIs or rented GPUs. |
| Problem it solves | Adding language understanding, generation and reasoning to a product without training or hosting a model yourself. | Running open models in production without buying and operating your own GPUs. |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Developer API | Yes — docs | Yes — docs |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Web (platform dashboard), REST API | Web, REST API |
| Pricing (summary) | Usage-based billing per 1M tokens, with separate rates for input, cached input and output. GPT-6 Astra costs $10 input / $50 output, GPT-6.1 Sol $2 / $10 and GPT-6 Luna $0.10 / $0.50 per 1M tokens on the Standard tier. Batch and Flex are about half price; Fast mode costs more. Checked 2026-10-19 | Usage-based. Serverless models are billed per 1M tokens (for example gpt-oss-120B $0.15 / $0.60, Kimi K3 $3 / $15). Dedicated endpoints and GPU clusters are billed per GPU-hour, and fine-tuning per 1M training tokens with minimum charges. Checked 2026-10-19 |
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How to choose
Both profiles link to the vendors' official pricing — plan details change often, so verify there before buying. Pick based on the criterion rows above that matter to your workflow, not on rankings: we don't rank tools, because the right choice depends on your needs.