Fireworks AI vs SambaNova

SambaNova sells fast decode on its own dataflow chip. Fireworks sells fast GPU serving with a far larger catalog and managed fine-tuning.

By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

Fireworks AI vs SambaNova: key differences

Each company chases speed on large open models, from opposite directions. SambaNova designs its own chip, the RDU, and its three-tier memory lets one system host big models and hot swap between them in milliseconds. Its August 2026 pitch splits prefill onto GPUs and decode onto RDUs, and SambaNova says a SambaRack SN50 runs MiniMax M2.7 near 820 tokens per second in its fastest configuration. Fireworks gets its speed from a custom serving stack on GPUs, posting 167 to 174 tokens per second on DeepSeek V4 Pro in third-party tests. Many of SambaNova's headline numbers are vendor benchmarks on hardware still ramping.

The developer platform is where Fireworks leads. It offers 400+ models self-serve, SFT, DPO and RL fine-tuning with tuned models at base price, and SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO. SambaCloud's public catalog is smaller, and much of SambaNova's value arrives through hardware sales and partnerships, including racks for neoclouds that want a fast tier. For interactive coding agents that bounce between big open models, SambaNova's hot swapping and input caching are a real fit. For a team that wants one API, broad choice and custom models, Fireworks is simpler.

What Fireworks AI and SambaNova 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

SambaNova

SambaNova designs its own inference chip, the Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit, and sells fast tokens on large open models through SambaCloud. The RDU maps the model graph onto the chip to cut trips to off-chip memory. A three-tier memory design of SRAM, HBM and bulk DRAM lets one system host very large models and hot swap between several of them in milliseconds. SambaCloud serves models like MiniMax M2.7, DeepSeek, Gemma 4 31B and GPT-OSS 120B, with speeds reported by Artificial Analysis.

Example models: MiniMax M2.7, GPT-OSS 120B

Full SambaNova profile

Should you choose Fireworks AI or SambaNova?

Fireworks AI

Choose Fireworks AI for

A broad self-serve catalog of 400+ models
Managed fine-tuning with no serving markup
Compliance-bound production with SOC 2 and HIPAA

SambaNova

Choose SambaNova for

Fast decode on large models like MiniMax M2.7
Agents that switch between several big models
Neoclouds adding a premium speed tier with racks

Fireworks AI vs SambaNova at a glance

Attribute	Fireworks AI	SambaNova
Model access	Open weights	Open weights
Flagship models	DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3	MiniMax M2.7, GPT-OSS 120B, DeepSeek
Speed	167–174 tok/s on DeepSeek V4 Pro	~820 tok/s on MiniMax M2.7 (SN50)
Price	Fine-tunes served at base price	$0.22 in, $0.59 out (GPT-OSS 120B)
Customization	SFT, DPO, RFT; Training API	Unknown
Deployment	Serverless, dedicated GPUs	SambaCloud, racks for neoclouds
Long context	Full 1M on DeepSeek V4 Pro	Up to 192K (MiniMax M2.7)

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Fireworks AI and SambaNova?

SambaNova sells fast decode on its own dataflow chip. Fireworks sells fast GPU serving with a far larger catalog and managed fine-tuning.

When should I choose Fireworks AI over SambaNova?

A broad self-serve catalog of 400+ models; Managed fine-tuning with no serving markup; Compliance-bound production with SOC 2 and HIPAA.

When should I choose SambaNova over Fireworks AI?

Fast decode on large models like MiniMax M2.7; Agents that switch between several big models; Neoclouds adding a premium speed tier with racks.

Is Fireworks AI or SambaNova cheaper?

Fireworks AI: Fine-tunes served at base price. SambaNova: $0.22 in, $0.59 out (GPT-OSS 120B). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

Which has more context, Fireworks AI or SambaNova?

Fireworks AI: Full 1M on DeepSeek V4 Pro. SambaNova: Up to 192K (MiniMax M2.7).

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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