# Meta vs Cohere

> Meta's Muse Spark is a mid-priced agentic model on a preview API with a near-free data-sharing tier. Cohere is a mature enterprise vendor built around retrieval and private deployment.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/meta-vs-cohere · By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

## How they compare

Meta's Muse Spark 1.3 has a 1M context window at $1.25 in and $4.25 out, with cached input at $0.15, and its endpoint speaks OpenAI, Anthropic and a stateful agentic format. Meta reports around 145 to 233 tokens per second. Cohere's Command A lists at $2.50 in and $10 out with 256K context, and Command A+ runs 128K, with Cohere claiming 375 tokens per second in 4-bit form. On list price and context, Meta leads. The Contributor tier cuts Meta's price about 95% if Meta may train on your traffic, which rules it out for most business data.

Maturity and control favor Cohere. Meta's API is still in public preview with a short track record, and it runs only on Meta's service, though Muse Glimmer ships as open weights for self-hosting. Cohere's open Command A+ is the flagship itself, under Apache 2.0, and Cohere supports VPC and on-prem installs with fine-tuning plus availability on Bedrock, Azure AI Foundry and OCI. Meta bundles Muse Image and Muse Voice Transcribe on one key. Cohere bundles Embed 4 and Rerank 4. Pick Meta for cheap agentic prototypes, Cohere for governed production search.

## What each one does

### Meta

Meta has moved from open Llama releases toward its own closed API. Meta Superintelligence Labs builds the Muse family, and in July 2026 Meta opened a public preview of the Meta Model API with Muse Spark 1.1, a multimodal reasoning model aimed at agentic coding, tool use and computer use. The current lineup runs through Muse Spark 1.3 with a 1M token context. Standard pricing is $1.25 in and $4.25 out per million tokens, with cached input at $0.15, and the endpoint speaks OpenAI Chat Completions, Anthropic Messages and a stateful agentic format.

### Cohere

Cohere is a Toronto-based lab that sells models and platforms to banks, governments and large enterprises rather than consumers. Its generative line is the Command family. Command A+, released May 20, 2026, is a 218B-parameter mixture-of-experts model with 25B active, published under Apache 2.0 with a 128K context window, and it combines reasoning, vision, translation and tool use in one set of weights. Command A has a 256K window and lists at $2.50 in and $10 out per million tokens, while Command R7B costs $0.0375 in. June 2026 added North Mini Code, a 30B Apache 2.0 coding model, and the lineup also includes Aya multilingual models and Transcribe for speech.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Meta for

- Cost-sensitive coding agents with 1M context
- Prototyping on the near-free Contributor tier
- Image generation and transcription on one key

### Choose Cohere for

- Production enterprise search with a track record
- Flagship open weights for on-prem use
- Fine-tuning inside a private network

## At a glance

| Attribute | Meta | Cohere |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Closed API; open Muse Glimmer | Closed, plus open Command A+ |
| Flagship models | Muse Spark 1.3, Muse Glimmer | Command A+, Command A, Embed 4, Rerank 4 |
| Speed | ~145–233 tok/s on Muse Spark 1.3 | 375 tok/s on Command A+ W4A4, per Cohere |
| Price | $1.25 in, $4.25 out; Contributor tier cheaper | $0.0375–$2.50 in, $0.15–$10 out per 1M |
| Customization | Open Muse Glimmer weights to fine-tune | Enterprise fine-tuning, incl. private |
| Deployment | Meta Model API (preview) | API, Bedrock, Azure, OCI, VPC, on-prem |
| Long context | 1M | 256K on Command A; 128K on A+ |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Meta and Cohere?

Meta's Muse Spark is a mid-priced agentic model on a preview API with a near-free data-sharing tier. Cohere is a mature enterprise vendor built around retrieval and private deployment.

### When should I choose Meta over Cohere?

Cost-sensitive coding agents with 1M context; Prototyping on the near-free Contributor tier; Image generation and transcription on one key.

### When should I choose Cohere over Meta?

Production enterprise search with a track record; Flagship open weights for on-prem use; Fine-tuning inside a private network.

### Is Meta or Cohere cheaper?

Meta: $1.25 in, $4.25 out; Contributor tier cheaper. Cohere: $0.0375–$2.50 in, $0.15–$10 out per 1M. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, Meta or Cohere?

Meta: 1M. Cohere: 256K on Command A; 128K on A+.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs Meta](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-meta.md), [Subconscious vs Cohere](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-cohere.md).

Full profiles: [Meta](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/meta.md), [Cohere](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/cohere.md).