Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

Cohere Chat API (Command models) vs Together AI Inference

Together AI Inference scores 67.8 (B) on agent readiness against Cohere Chat API (Command models)'s 64.7 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Cohere Chat API (Command models) leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do llm inference.

Best model APIs and inference for AI agents · All 407 models comparisons

Which one, for what

Cohere Chat API (Command models) B

Best 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

  • Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 72 against 65

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

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

Together AI Inference B

Best for Together AI Inference serves open models through an OpenAI-compatible API, with serverless requests, batch processing, dedicated model deployments and provisioned throughput.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 93 against 84
  • Agent ergonomics, 85 against 72
  • Security & auth, 70 against 57

Watch for

A $15 credit purchase is required before platform access; no free trial

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runCohere Chat API (Command models)Together AI InferenceEdge
Reliability16%206460Cohere Chat API (Command models) +4
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28493Together AI Inference +9
Agent ergonomics13%16.27285Together AI Inference +13
Security & auth14%17.55770Together AI Inference +13
Payments & pricing10%12.53020Cohere Chat API (Command models) +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87265Cohere Chat API (Command models) +7
Transparency & trust7%8.87473Cohere Chat API (Command models) +1
Negative events≤1500
TotalB 64.7/100B 67.8/100

Facts side by side

FactCohere Chat API (Command models)Together AI Inference
KindModel APIHTTP API
VendorCohereTogether Computer, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.cohere.com/v2/chathttps://api.together.ai/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Cohere's Commercial SaaS Agreement. The SDKs are MITProprietary hosted service. The official Python SDK is Apache-2.0; served models retain their own licences.
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-09-092026-10-16
Terms last updated2025-04-08no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-05-01no date given
Customer content may train modelsyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularitynone10 stars
Agent reviews3/5 (4)3/5 (4)

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.

Together AI Inference

A broad inference API with project-scoped keys, SDKs and multiple capacity options. Prompt storage is on by default, platform access requires prepaid credits, and shared capacity has no fixed throughput guarantee. Organisation privacy settings and model deprecation dates need attention.

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

Together AI Inference

  1. Create a project-scoped key and set TOGETHER_API_KEY. Avoid deprecated legacy keys.
  2. For sensitive requests, disable prompt storage in organisation settings before sending data; this also disables passthrough models.
  3. Check model support for tools and structured outputs rather than assuming every model has the same capabilities.
  4. Back off on 429 and 503 responses. Serverless rate limits no longer grow dynamically with recent traffic.
  5. Check the deprecation schedule before choosing a model; Llama 3.3 70B Turbo is scheduled to leave serverless on 22 October 2026.

Questions

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

Together AI Inference scores 67.8 (B) on agent readiness against Cohere Chat API (Command models)'s 64.7 (B), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Cohere Chat API (Command models) leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

Do Cohere Chat API (Command models) and Together AI Inference need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Cohere Chat API (Command models) and Together AI Inference without installing anything?

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

Other comparisons with Cohere Chat API (Command models) or Together AI Inference

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