Fireworks AI vs Particle.AI

Particle.AI is an early startup selling cheap Flash-class models through Vercel AI Gateway. Fireworks is a mature host with 400+ models and fine-tuning.

By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 29, 2026

Fireworks AI vs Particle.AI: key differences

Particle.AI is a very early San Francisco startup that launched its own API in October 2026 and also sells through Vercel AI Gateway. Its own API serves a few Flash-class open models with 1M context: Particle-1, its own V4.1 Flash tune, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at $0.25 in and $1 out, and GLM 5.3 Flash at $0.15 in and $0.50 out, all with cache reads at $0.03 per million. Fireworks is a large, established host, with 400+ models, a July 2026 Series D, and 167 to 174 tokens per second on DeepSeek V4 Pro in third-party tests.

The two can coexist in a gateway. Particle works as a price-optimized route or fallback for cheap Flash calls, and teams can try it with no new contract. Fireworks covers the larger models Particle does not carry, like V4 Pro and Kimi K3, and adds fine-tuning plus SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO. Vercel AI Gateway shows about 1.9 seconds to first token on Particle-1, which trails faster hosts, and the company has little public track record. Keep critical traffic on Fireworks and test Particle on high-volume, low-stakes calls.

What Fireworks AI and Particle.AI 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 OpenAI and Anthropic compatible APIs. 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 V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3, Kimi K3

Full Fireworks AI profile

Particle.AI

Particle AI is an early San Francisco infrastructure startup with a mission to make intelligence as cheap and abundant as electricity. The team works on post-training, inference optimization and distributed systems, all aimed at pushing down cost per unit of intelligence. It is still hiring its founding team and works fully in person. Mixpanel founder Suhail Doshi started it, with backing from Y Combinator, 8VC, Caffeinated Capital and angels including Patrick Collison, Adam D'Angelo and Aaron Levie.

Example models: Particle-1, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3 Flash

Full Particle.AI profile

Should you choose Fireworks AI or Particle.AI?

Fireworks AI

Choose Fireworks AI for

Larger models like DeepSeek V4 Pro and Kimi K3
Fine-tuning and serving custom models
Critical traffic that needs certifications and a track record

Particle.AI

Choose Particle.AI for

Cheap high-volume calls on DeepSeek and GLM Flash models
A price-optimized fallback inside Vercel AI Gateway
Cache-heavy Flash workloads with $0.03 cache reads

Fireworks AI vs Particle.AI at a glance

Attribute	Fireworks AI	Particle.AI
Model access	Open weights	Open weights plus its own Particle-1 tune
Flagship models	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3, Kimi K3	Particle-1, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3 Flash
Speed	167–174 tok/s on DeepSeek V4 Pro	~110 tok/s on Particle-1 (Vercel AI Gateway)
Price	Fine-tunes served at base price	$0.15 in, $0.50 out (GLM 5.3 Flash); $0.25 in, $1 out (Particle-1)
Customization	SFT, DPO; RL via Training API	Unknown
Deployment	Serverless, dedicated GPUs	Serverless API, Vercel AI Gateway
Long context	Full 1M on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3	1M

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Fireworks AI and Particle.AI?

Particle.AI is an early startup selling cheap Flash-class models through Vercel AI Gateway. Fireworks is a mature host with 400+ models and fine-tuning.

When should I choose Fireworks AI over Particle.AI?

Larger models like DeepSeek V4 Pro and Kimi K3; Fine-tuning and serving custom models; Critical traffic that needs certifications and a track record.

When should I choose Particle.AI over Fireworks AI?

Cheap high-volume calls on DeepSeek and GLM Flash models; A price-optimized fallback inside Vercel AI Gateway; Cache-heavy Flash workloads with $0.03 cache reads.

Is Fireworks AI or Particle.AI cheaper?

Fireworks AI: Fine-tunes served at base price. Particle.AI: $0.15 in, $0.50 out (GLM 5.3 Flash); $0.25 in, $1 out (Particle-1). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

Which has more context, Fireworks AI or Particle.AI?

Fireworks AI: Full 1M on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3. Particle.AI: 1M.

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.

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