# Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs SambaCloud

> SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) to Cohere Chat's 64.7 (B) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-sambanova
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-sambanova.md (~2,800 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-sambanova.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-sambanova.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against Cohere Chat API (Command models)'s 64.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cohere Chat API (Command models) leads on agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. Both do llm inference.

- Cohere Chat API (Command models): grade B, 64.7/100, rank #342 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cohere-chat.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cohere-chat.json
- SambaCloud: grade B, 66.4/100, rank #293 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sambanova.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sambanova.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 136 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Cohere Chat API (Command models) (B)

Good for: Teams that want Command models for RAG with citations, tool use and multilingual work, and that may later move to a private deployment or Model Vault.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 67
- Transparency & trust, 74 against 63

Watch for: Production keys work like trial keys on Command A+, Reasoning, Translate and Vision. The docs send production use of those models to sales or to Model Vault

### SambaCloud (B)

Good for: Agents that want open-weight models behind an OpenAI or Anthropic client with a free start and prices an agent can read from the API.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 64
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 72

Watch for: Production models get a notice of two to three weeks, and 13 model ids were removed between 9 March and 9 June 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cohere Chat API (Command models) | SambaCloud | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 64 | 85 | SambaCloud +21 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 81 | Cohere Chat API (Command models) +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 67 | Cohere Chat API (Command models) +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 58 | SambaCloud +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | SambaCloud +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 77 | SambaCloud +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 63 | Cohere Chat API (Command models) +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **64.7 · B** | **66.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cohere Chat API (Command models) | SambaCloud |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Cohere | SambaNova Systems, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cohere.com/v2/chat` | `https://api.sambanova.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cohere's Commercial SaaS Agreement. The SDKs are MIT | Proprietary service under the SambaCloud Terms of Service. The SDKs and the OpenAPI document are Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-04-08 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-01 | 2023-05-27 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 2 stars, 76 npm/wk, 6.1k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Cohere Chat API (Command models).** A public OpenAPI file, Markdown twins of every docs page and SDKs in four languages make the Chat API easy for an agent to read. Production keys do not cover the four newest Command models, whose limits are set by sales, and the SaaS agreement lets Cohere share API data with third parties.

**SambaCloud.** Per-token prices and the model list are readable without a key at `/v1/models`, and a free tier needs no card. Production models get two to three weeks' notice before removal, 13 model ids left between March and June 2026, and the docs disagree with the live catalogue on MiniMax-M2.7.

## Before you call either

### Cohere Chat API (Command models)

1. Call `POST https://api.cohere.com/v2/chat` with `Authorization: bearer <key>`. `model` and `messages` are the only required fields
2. Use `command-a-03-2025`, `command-r-08-2024`, `command-r-plus-08-2024` or `command-r7b-12-2024` for production traffic. Newer variants stay at trial limits on a production key
3. Keep a trial key under 20 chat requests a minute and 1,000 calls a month, and do not use it for commercial work
4. Set `response_format` with a `json_schema` for structured output, and tell the model to produce JSON when using `json_object` without a schema
5. Ask the account Owner to turn off training under Data Controls in the dashboard before sending confidential prompts

### SambaCloud

1. Call `GET https://api.sambanova.ai/v1/models` at start-up and use only ids it returns. The docs name models the endpoint no longer lists
2. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining-requests` and `x-ratelimit-remaining-requests-day` on every response. The free tier allows 20 requests a day per model
3. Treat 429 `queue_full` and 503 `maintenance` as retryable after a delay, and 410 `model_deprecated` as a signal to change model
4. Validate JSON output yourself. Schema enforcement is best effort and `strict: true` changes nothing
5. Check `max_completion_tokens` per model. DeepSeek-V3.1 caps output at 7,168 tokens and Llama 3.3 70B at 3,072

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cohere Chat API (Command models) or SambaCloud?

SambaCloud scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against Cohere Chat API (Command models)'s 64.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Cohere Chat API (Command models) leads on agent ergonomics and transparency & trust.

### Do Cohere Chat API (Command models) and SambaCloud need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Cohere Chat API (Command models) and SambaCloud without installing anything?

Yes. Cohere Chat API (Command models) has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cohere.com/v2/chat and SambaCloud at https://api.sambanova.ai/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-sambanova.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-sambanova.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "cohere-chat", "b": "sambanova"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cohere-chat sambanova`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cohere-chat.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sambanova.json

## Other comparisons with Cohere Chat API (Command models) or SambaCloud

- [Claude API vs Cohere Chat API (Command models)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-cohere-chat.md)
- [Claude API vs SambaCloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-sambanova.md)
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- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs DeepSeek API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-deepseek-api.md)
- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Gemini Developer API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-gemini-api.md)
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- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Novita AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-novita-ai.md)
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- [Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs SiliconFlow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cohere-chat-vs-siliconflow.md)
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