# Together AI vs Parasail

> Parasail aggregates third-party GPUs and shines on cheap batch for any Hugging Face model. Together owns a fuller platform with training, clusters and rollout controls.

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

## How they compare

Parasail does not run its own data centers. It pools GPUs from many hardware providers behind one OpenAI-compatible API and sells serverless, elastic, dedicated and batch capacity. Batch is its standout: any Hugging Face model, private repos included, at half of serverless pricing, with cached tokens another 50% off and rates keyed to parameter count and precision. A 4B to 8B model at FP4 costs $0.03 in and $0.06 out. Together also discounts batch by up to 50%, but on its own catalog of thirty-plus open text models rather than anything on Hugging Face.

Consistency and scope tip the other way. Because Parasail runs on aggregated hardware, performance depends on the underlying providers, and reserved GPU pricing is quote-only. Together publishes H100 cluster rates from $3.19 reserved, offers provisioned throughput with a 99% SLA, and runs managed LoRA, full SFT and an RL beta. Parasail's commit-to-spend model lets one commitment draw down across any model or hardware, which avoids idle reservations. Use Parasail for evals, embeddings and offline processing on unusual models. Use Together when you need to train, then serve with rollout safety.

## 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.

### Parasail

Parasail calls itself the inference cloud for AI-native startups. Instead of owning data centers, it aggregates GPUs from many hardware providers and sells them through one OpenAI-compatible API. Customers choose serverless per-token endpoints, Elastic Endpoints that scale with traffic and bill only for tokens used, dedicated deployments with negotiated latency SLAs, or batch. Its commit-to-spend model lets one commitment draw down across any model or hardware.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Together AI for

- Managed fine-tuning with checkpoints that deploy to inference
- Published reserved GPU pricing without a sales call
- Canary and blue-green rollouts in production

### Choose Parasail for

- Batch runs on private or niche Hugging Face models
- Commit-to-spend budgets that float across models and hardware
- Moving from a closed vendor under ZDR and SLA terms

## At a glance

| Attribute | Together AI | Parasail |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Any Hugging Face model |
| Flagship models | Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.2, Qwen 3.8 | GTE-Qwen2, Qwen3-VL-8B-Instruct |
| Speed | 0.99s TTFT on DeepSeek V4 Pro | 600ms p99 real-time budget |
| Price | Parity with Fireworks and Baseten | Per-parameter rates; batch 50% off |
| Customization | LoRA and full SFT; RL in beta | Private Hugging Face repos |
| Deployment | Serverless, dedicated, GPU clusters | Serverless, elastic, dedicated, batch |
| Long context | 512K on DeepSeek V4 Pro | Varies by model |

## FAQ

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

Parasail aggregates third-party GPUs and shines on cheap batch for any Hugging Face model. Together owns a fuller platform with training, clusters and rollout controls.

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

Managed fine-tuning with checkpoints that deploy to inference; Published reserved GPU pricing without a sales call; Canary and blue-green rollouts in production.

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

Batch runs on private or niche Hugging Face models; Commit-to-spend budgets that float across models and hardware; Moving from a closed vendor under ZDR and SLA terms.

### Is Together AI or Parasail cheaper?

Together AI: Parity with Fireworks and Baseten. Parasail: Per-parameter rates; batch 50% off. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

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

Together AI: 512K on DeepSeek V4 Pro. Parasail: Varies by model.

## 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 Parasail](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-parasail.md).

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