Hugging Face is a comprehensive open-source ML platform with 1M+ pre-trained models and strong community features, while Together AI specializes in efficient inference and fine-tuning through its optimized cloud API with lower latency. Hugging Face excels for model discovery and development, whereas Together AI prioritizes production deployment speed.
Hugging Face vs Together AI — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Open-source platform with 1.2M+ pre-trained models, transformers library, and inference APIs for NLP and computer vision.
Inference and fine-tuning API platform optimized for speed and cost-efficiency
Primary Focus. Available Models. Inference Latency (avg). Fine-tuning Capability. API Rate Limits (free tier). Community Size. Pricing Model
Choose Hugging Face if you need access to the largest model library, prefer an active open-source community, want to learn and experiment with ML models, or plan to self-host solutions. Choose Together AI if you prioritize fast inference speeds, need production-ready API deployment with minimal latency, want managed fine-tuning services, or require cost-effective scaling for high-volume inference workloads.
Hugging Face: 140,000 | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 1,000,000+ | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 0 (requires external) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 50,000,000+ | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Model training and fine-tuning | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Model cards, versioning, but requires external tools | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Free Inference API included | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 3-4 weeks | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 750,000+ | Together AI: 40+ models
Hugging Face: 150-300ms | Together AI: 50-100ms
Hugging Face: $1.50-$2.00 | Together AI: $0.48
Hugging Face: 95% (standard tier) | Together AI: 99.9%
Hugging Face: 2,000,000 | Together AI: 50,000
Hugging Face: 8 native providers | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 1,000,000+ | Together AI: 50+
Hugging Face: Yes (Inference API with auto-scaling) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 135,000+ stars | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Python primary, REST API for all | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 60-120 minutes (requires custom integration) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: AutoTrain no-code option (9/10) | Together AI: N/A
Cost for Production Deployment (monthly estimate)
Hugging Face: $100-500+ (Inference API + compute) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 750,000+ | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Limited (inference only) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 1 (caching) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Yes (Hugging Face Enterprise) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 45-120 (depends on model size) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Manual (via Datasets) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 12,000,000+ | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 500,000+ | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $0.30 (Mistral 7B) - $5.00 (Llama 2 70B) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 86.0% (best: Llama 3.1 405B) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Free tier indefinite | Together AI: $25
Hugging Face: 100 RPS (standard) | Together AI: 10,000+ RPS
Hugging Face: Open-source (weights + code inspectable) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 1,300,000 | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Community-based, limited commercial options | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Cloud, on-premises, edge devices fully supported | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: None (cloud); 16GB for local | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 10-15 (account, dependencies, API key) | Together AI: 5 (API key + REST call)
Hugging Face: 30GB requests/month | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $9-300+ (pay-as-you-go) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Cloud-hosted (data on servers) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 2,000,000+ monthly model downloads | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 20-40 (varies by tier) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $0 (free tier) or $9/month | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Free (if using own compute) or $0.88-2.50 via paid inference | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 3-5 minutes via API | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 16-40GB (via Inference API tiers) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 0 (no formal certifications) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 2.7 million | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: NLP, Vision (ViT), Audio, Multimodal, Reinforcement Learning | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $0 (unlimited free tier) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Llama 3 70B: 85% | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 1B, 7B, 13B, 70B, 405B open-source variants | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 100% - Full local deployment without server contact | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: No SLA (community support) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $0 - Free local fine-tuning | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 10 million | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 5-10 minutes | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 30,000 (Inference API) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Data sent to Hugging Face servers (by default) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Model Cards, Discussions, Datasets, Leaderboards, 4+ features | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Variable (1GB+, depends on install) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 10,000,000+ | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $0 (unlimited) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 10-15 lines | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Basic (community plugins) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: N/A (user-managed) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Minimal (via APIs) | Together AI: N/A
Development Time for Production Deployment
Hugging Face: 3-4 weeks (with external tooling) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 30-45 min | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Yes (Hugging Face Spaces) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 200-500ms (variable by model) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: Python (primary), JavaScript | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 500+ guides & tutorials | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 2,000-30,000ms | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $0 (with rate limits) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: $9 (Starter Plan) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 5-15 minutes | Together AI: 2-3 (API key signup only)
Hugging Face: Limited (variable) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 8+ (NLP, Vision, Audio, Multimodal, RL, etc.) | Together AI: N/A
Hugging Face: 500,000+ | Together AI: 30,000+
Hugging Face: Limited trials | Together AI: 5,000 requests
Hugging Face: Variable by model | Together AI: $1.00-$2.00
Hugging Face: $9 | Together AI: No subscription (pay-as-you-go)
Hugging Face: 80,000+ | Together AI: Not applicable
Hugging Face: Via Transformers library (DIY) | Together AI: Managed service included
Total Cost of Ownership (12 months, 1M daily tokens)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: $730-$1,825
Inference Latency (7B model, first token)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: 50-150ms
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: Internet connection only
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: 1000+ (auto-scaling)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: $20-100 (variable)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: 50-200ms (optimized)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: 0% (cloud-based)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: 405B (Llama 3.1)
Hugging Face: N/A | Together AI: 99.5% uptime guarantee
How to choose between Hugging Face and Together AI
Hugging Face vs Together AI — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Hugging Face vs Together AI. Contains 104 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Hugging Face vs Together AI — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Hugging Face vs Together AI.
Which platform is better for beginners learning machine learning?
Hugging Face is superior for beginners. It has 1M+ models to explore, extensive documentation, a large community answering questions, and the Transformers library is the industry standard. Together AI is production-focused and better suited for deployed applications.
Which is faster for real-time inference in production?
Together AI is significantly faster with 50-100ms latency vs Hugging Face's 150-300ms. This 3-6x speed advantage makes Together AI ideal for real-time chatbots, search systems, and recommendation engines where latency matters.
Can I fine-tune custom models on both platforms?
Yes, both support fine-tuning. Hugging Face requires you to implement fine-tuning using the Transformers library (more control, steeper learning curve). Together AI offers managed fine-tuning as a service, handling optimization automatically (faster setup, less technical overhead).
What's the actual cost difference for a small startup?
For a startup experimenting: Hugging Face free tier is free but limited; Together AI gives 5,000 free requests monthly. For production: Together AI's pay-as-you-go ($0.0001-$0.002 per token) scales from $0 to thousands based on usage, while Hugging Face requires a $9/month subscription minimum.
Which has better model selection and variety?
Hugging Face dominates with 1,000,000+ models across NLP, vision, audio, and multimodal domains. Together AI offers 50+ carefully curated models, prioritizing speed and cost. For research and exploration, Hugging Face is unmatched; for production deployment, Together AI's smaller selection is optimized for performance.
How to Choose Between Hugging Face and Together AI
Primary Focus: Hugging Face has Model hub, community, training tools, while Together AI has Inference optimization, API deployment.
Available Models: Hugging Face has 1,000,000+ pre-trained models, while Together AI has 50+ curated open-source models.
Inference Latency (avg): Hugging Face has 150-300ms per request, while Together AI has 50-100ms per request.
Fine-tuning Capability: Hugging Face has Native support via Transformers library, while Together AI has Managed fine-tuning service included.
API Rate Limits (free tier): Hugging Face has Limited to Inference API trials, while Together AI has Up to 5,000 requests/month free.
Community Size: Hugging Face has 500K+ active monthly users, while Together AI has 30K+ active monthly users.
Pricing Model: Hugging Face has Free tier + pro subscription ($9/month), while Together AI has Pay-as-you-go ($0.0001-$0.002 per token).