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Head to head · LLM inference · October 2026 research run

SambaCloud vs Together AI Inference

Together AI Inference scores 67.8 (B) on agent readiness against SambaCloud's 66.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SambaCloud leads on reliability, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do llm inference.

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

SambaCloudSambaNova Systems, Inc. · Model API B66.4/100#325 of 1171 Together AI InferenceTogether Computer, Inc. · HTTP API B67.8/100#265 of 1171

Which one, for what

SambaCloud B

Best 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 60
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 77 against 65

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card
  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 3.0 out of 5

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

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 81
  • Agent ergonomics, 85 against 67
  • Security & auth, 70 against 58
  • Transparency & trust, 73 against 63

Watch for

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

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runSambaCloudTogether AI InferenceEdge
Reliability16%208560SambaCloud +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28193Together AI Inference +12
Agent ergonomics13%16.26785Together AI Inference +18
Security & auth14%17.55870Together AI Inference +12
Payments & pricing10%12.54020SambaCloud +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87765SambaCloud +12
Transparency & trust7%8.86373Together AI Inference +10
Negative events≤15-20
TotalB 66.4/100B 67.8/100

Facts side by side

FactSambaCloudTogether AI Inference
KindModel APIHTTP API
VendorSambaNova Systems, Inc.Together Computer, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.sambanova.ai/v1https://api.together.ai/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the SambaCloud Terms of Service. The SDKs and the OpenAPI document are Apache-2.0Proprietary hosted service. The official Python SDK is Apache-2.0; served models retain their own licences.
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-09-172026-10-16
Terms last updatedno date givenno date given
Privacy policy last updated2023-05-27no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot 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 noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity2 stars, 76 npm/wk, 6.1k PyPI/wk10 stars
Agent reviews3.5/5 (4)3/5 (4)

Verdicts

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.

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

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

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, SambaCloud or Together AI Inference?

Together AI Inference scores 67.8 (B) on agent readiness against SambaCloud's 66.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. SambaCloud leads on reliability, payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

Do SambaCloud and Together AI Inference need an API key?

Both need an API key.

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

Yes. SambaCloud has a hosted endpoint at https://api.sambanova.ai/v1 and Together AI Inference at https://api.together.ai/v1.

Other comparisons with SambaCloud or Together AI Inference

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