Fireworks AI vs Cerebras

Cerebras is the fastest public host on a two-model shared catalog. Fireworks offers 400+ models, fine-tuning and compliance at GPU speeds.

By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

Fireworks AI vs Cerebras: key differences

Cerebras serves models on a wafer-scale chip and lists GPT-OSS 120B near 3,000 tokens per second, the fastest published figure of any public host. Fireworks, a GPU-based host with a custom serving stack, measures 167 to 174 tokens per second on DeepSeek V4 Pro. The speed gap is real, and so is the catalog gap. The Cerebras shared API held just GPT-OSS 120B and Gemma 4 31B as of August 2026, and most other models mean a sales conversation, a dedicated endpoint or a partner like OpenRouter. Fireworks exposes 400+ models self-serve, including DeepSeek V4 Pro at its full 1M context.

Cerebras has one unusual path. OpenAI previewed an Ultrafast tier of GPT-5.6 Sol running on Cerebras, the only wafer-scale route to a closed frontier model. Fireworks answers with training: SFT, DPO and RL fine-tuning, with tuned models served at base price, plus SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO. Cerebras' own caveat is that its speed does little when an agent mostly waits on tools or hidden reasoning. Pick Cerebras when generation time is the user's wait, as in voice, live autocomplete or long streamed outputs. Pick Fireworks when the job needs model choice or a custom model.

What Fireworks AI and Cerebras do

Fireworks AI

Fireworks AI was founded in 2022 by former Meta PyTorch engineers led by CEO Lin Qiao, and it sells speed on open models. Its custom serving stack has posted 167 to 174 tokens per second on DeepSeek V4 Pro in third-party measurements, several times what most GPU peers hit on the same model. The catalog holds 400+ models across text, vision, audio and embeddings, served through an OpenAI-compatible API. In July 2026 it raised a $1.505B Series D at a $17.5B valuation, with a reported $1B+ run rate and 40T+ tokens a day.

Example models: DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3

Full Fireworks AI profile

Cerebras

Cerebras builds a single chip the size of a silicon wafer, and its inference cloud is the fastest public host on the models it serves. Its developer table lists GPT-OSS 120B near 3,000 tokens per second, about six times Groq on the same weights, at $0.35 in and $0.75 out per million. The public shared catalog is thin, just GPT-OSS 120B and Gemma 4 31B as of August 2026. More model families live on dedicated endpoints and through partners like OpenRouter, Hugging Face, Vercel and AWS Marketplace.

Example models: GPT-OSS 120B, Gemma 4 31B

Full Cerebras profile

Should you choose Fireworks AI or Cerebras?

Fireworks AI

Choose Fireworks AI for

Self-serve access to 400+ open models
RL or SFT fine-tunes served at base price
Regulated workloads needing SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO

Cerebras

Choose Cerebras for

Voice and live code autocomplete where output speed is the wait
Long generated outputs on GPT-OSS 120B
Teams following OpenAI's Ultrafast GPT-5.6 Sol preview

Fireworks AI vs Cerebras at a glance

Attribute	Fireworks AI	Cerebras
Model access	Open weights	Open weights
Flagship models	DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3	GPT-OSS 120B, Gemma 4 31B
Speed	167–174 tok/s on DeepSeek V4 Pro	~3,000 tok/s on GPT-OSS 120B
Price	Fine-tunes served at base price	$0.35 in, $0.75 out (GPT-OSS 120B)
Customization	SFT, DPO, RFT; Training API	Unknown
Deployment	Serverless, dedicated GPUs	Shared API, dedicated, partners
Long context	Full 1M on DeepSeek V4 Pro	Unknown

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Fireworks AI and Cerebras?

Cerebras is the fastest public host on a two-model shared catalog. Fireworks offers 400+ models, fine-tuning and compliance at GPU speeds.

When should I choose Fireworks AI over Cerebras?

Self-serve access to 400+ open models; RL or SFT fine-tunes served at base price; Regulated workloads needing SOC 2, HIPAA or ISO.

When should I choose Cerebras over Fireworks AI?

Voice and live code autocomplete where output speed is the wait; Long generated outputs on GPT-OSS 120B; Teams following OpenAI's Ultrafast GPT-5.6 Sol preview.

Is Fireworks AI or Cerebras cheaper?

Fireworks AI: Fine-tunes served at base price. Cerebras: $0.35 in, $0.75 out (GPT-OSS 120B). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

Related comparisons

Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious. Our inference stack treats a long-horizon trace as the primary workload, so speed, cost, and accuracy hold up deep into the trace.

Subconscious vs Fireworks AI Subconscious vs Cerebras