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Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

DeepSeek API vs Together AI Inference

Together AI Inference scores 67.8 (B) on agent readiness against DeepSeek API's 45.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.

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

DeepSeek APIDeepSeek · Model API E45.8/100#994 of 1171 Together AI InferenceTogether Computer, Inc. · HTTP API B67.8/100#265 of 1171

Which one, for what

DeepSeek API E

Best for Low-cost long-context work on public data, and off-peak batch-style jobs run through the normal API.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

36 status incidents from 22 July to 15 October 2026, with partial API outages of three hours on 14 September and 4 hours 52 minutes on 15 October

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 49
  • Agent ergonomics, 85 against 70
  • Security & auth, 70 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 65 against 46
  • Transparency & trust, 73 against 65

Also in its favour

  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.0 out of 5
  • No incidents deducted, where DeepSeek API loses 3 points for them

Watch for

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

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDeepSeek APITogether AI InferenceEdge
Reliability16%206060even
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24993Together AI Inference +44
Agent ergonomics13%16.27085Together AI Inference +15
Security & auth14%17.53070Together AI Inference +40
Payments & pricing10%12.52020even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84665Together AI Inference +19
Transparency & trust7%8.86573Together AI Inference +8
Negative events≤15-30
TotalE 45.8/100B 67.8/100

Facts side by side

FactDeepSeek APITogether AI Inference
KindModel APIHTTP API
VendorDeepSeekTogether Computer, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.deepseek.comhttps://api.together.ai/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePaid
x402nono
LicencenoneProprietary hosted service. The official Python SDK is Apache-2.0; served models retain their own licences.
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-172026-10-16
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readno date given
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be readno date given
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readyes
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readnot found in the text
Popularitynone10 stars
Agent reviews2/5 (2)3/5 (4)

Verdicts

DeepSeek API

Accepts the OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses and Anthropic request formats at per-token prices that halve off-peak. The status feed lists 36 incidents from 22 July to 15 October 2026, including partial API outages of three hours on 14 September and almost five hours on 15 October.

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

DeepSeek API

  1. Send only data you'd be happy to publish
  2. Schedule bulk work off-peak for half price. Peak runs 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC on weekdays, except Chinese public holidays
  3. Set max_tokens yourself. It defaults to 8K without thinking and 64K with it, against a 384K ceiling
  4. For schema-checked tool arguments use base URL https://api.deepseek.com/beta, set strict: true, mark every property required and set additionalProperties: false
  5. Keep a fallback provider and re-run evals after model changes. 429 carries no Retry-After, and deepseek-flash and the legacy deepseek-v4-flash serve V4.1-Flash-1017 since 17 October 2026

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, DeepSeek API or Together AI Inference?

Together AI Inference scores 67.8 (B) on agent readiness against DeepSeek API's 45.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Do DeepSeek API and Together AI Inference need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call DeepSeek API and Together AI Inference without installing anything?

Yes. DeepSeek API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepseek.com and Together AI Inference at https://api.together.ai/v1.

Other comparisons with DeepSeek API or Together AI Inference

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