# Together AI vs Moonshot AI

> Moonshot makes Kimi K3 and sells it directly with 1M context. Together hosts Kimi K3 among thirty-plus open models, with fine-tuning and dedicated capacity.

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

## How they compare

Moonshot is the lab, Together is one of the hosts. Kimi K3 is a 2.8 trillion parameter mixture-of-experts model with native vision and 1M context, scored 93.4% on SWE-bench Verified by Vals AI, and priced at $3 in and $15 out on Moonshot's API with cached input at $0.30. Demand overran Moonshot's GPUs within days of launch and new subscriptions paused on July 19 before reopening in batches. Together lists Kimi K3 as a flagship and adds provisioned throughput with a 99% SLA and dedicated deployments, which matter when capacity is the risk.

Self-hosting K3 takes a 64+ accelerator cluster, so most teams will not run it themselves. Together sits between: reserved H100 clusters, dedicated deployments or plain serverless. Moonshot's custom license adds a commercial agreement above $20M in hosting revenue and a branding clause at large scale, which affects resellers more than typical API buyers. Go direct to Moonshot for Kimi Code in the terminal and first access to its releases, including the cheaper K2.6. Use Together when K3 is one of several models or when you need guaranteed throughput.

## What each one does

### Together AI

Together AI is the broadest open-model platform in the category. One bill covers per-token serverless inference, batch at up to 50% off, provisioned throughput with a 99% SLA, dedicated deployments, raw GPU clusters, managed fine-tuning and code sandboxes for agents. The text catalog runs past thirty open models, including DeepSeek V4, Kimi K3, GLM 5.2, Qwen 3.8 and MiniMax M3, plus image, video, speech and embedding models. Token prices sit at parity with Fireworks and Baseten.

### Moonshot AI

Moonshot AI is the Beijing lab behind the Kimi models. Its flagship Kimi K3 launched July 16, 2026 as a 2.8 trillion parameter mixture-of-experts model that activates 16 of 896 experts per token, with native vision and a 1M token context. It is the first open model in the 3T class, and full weights landed on Hugging Face on July 27. The hosted API costs $3 in and $15 out per million tokens, with cached input at $0.30, and it runs through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, Kimi Code in the terminal, OpenRouter and Cloudflare Workers AI.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Together AI for

- Provisioned Kimi K3 capacity with a 99% SLA
- Mixing Kimi K3 with DeepSeek, GLM and Qwen
- Fine-tuning open models next to production serving

### Choose Moonshot AI for

- Kimi Code for terminal coding on K3
- The cheaper Kimi K2.6 at $0.95 in
- First-party access to new Kimi releases

## At a glance

| Attribute | Together AI | Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Open weights, custom license |
| Flagship models | Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.2, Qwen 3.8 | Kimi K3, Kimi K2.6 |
| Speed | 0.99s TTFT on DeepSeek V4 Pro | ~33 tok/s on Kimi K3 |
| Price | Parity with Fireworks and Baseten | $3 in, $15 out (Kimi K3) |
| Customization | LoRA and full SFT; RL in beta | Open weights to fine-tune |
| Deployment | Serverless, dedicated, GPU clusters | API, Kimi Code, OpenRouter |
| Long context | 512K on DeepSeek V4 Pro | 1M |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Together AI and Moonshot AI?

Moonshot makes Kimi K3 and sells it directly with 1M context. Together hosts Kimi K3 among thirty-plus open models, with fine-tuning and dedicated capacity.

### When should I choose Together AI over Moonshot AI?

Provisioned Kimi K3 capacity with a 99% SLA; Mixing Kimi K3 with DeepSeek, GLM and Qwen; Fine-tuning open models next to production serving.

### When should I choose Moonshot AI over Together AI?

Kimi Code for terminal coding on K3; The cheaper Kimi K2.6 at $0.95 in; First-party access to new Kimi releases.

### Is Together AI or Moonshot AI cheaper?

Together AI: Parity with Fireworks and Baseten. Moonshot AI: $3 in, $15 out (Kimi K3). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, Together AI or Moonshot AI?

Together AI: 512K on DeepSeek V4 Pro. Moonshot AI: 1M.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs Together AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-together-ai.md), [Subconscious vs Moonshot AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-moonshot-ai.md).

Full profiles: [Together AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/together-ai.md), [Moonshot AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/moonshot-ai.md).