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Cloud · head to head

Cerebrium vs Fireworks AI

Cerebrium logo

Cerebrium

Cloud

Serverless GPU infrastructure for real-time AI inference and applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Fireworks AI logo

Fireworks AI

Cloud

Fast inference and fine-tuning platform for open and custom AI models

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cerebrium free Hobby tier limited to 3 apps and 5 GPU concurrency; Fireworks AI reserved and enterprise-tier pricing is not published and requires sales contact.
  • They diverge on capability: Cerebrium covers Ultra-fast cold starts, Fireworks AI covers Serverless inference.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cerebrium and Fireworks AI actually diverge.

Attributes where Cerebrium and Fireworks AI differ
AttributeCerebriumFireworks AI
Pricing modelFreemium with monthly plans and per-second compute chargesusage-based
PlatformsCloud, Dockerweb, api

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Cerebrium

  • Ultra-fast cold starts
  • Elastic scaling
  • Bring your own code
  • Multi-region failover
  • WebSocket and streaming
  • Asynchronous jobs
  • CI/CD with gradual rollouts
  • OpenTelemetry integration

Only in Fireworks AI

  • Serverless inference
  • On-demand and reserved deployments
  • Managed fine-tuning
  • OpenAI/Anthropic API compatibility
  • Nexus router
  • Long context models

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cerebrium

  • Deploying voice agents and conversational AI applicationsnot Fireworks AI
  • Video and image model serving with low latencynot Fireworks AI
  • LLM inference and completion endpointsnot Fireworks AI
  • Real-time embeddings and vector database operationsnot Fireworks AI
  • Distributed model training with hyperparameter sweepsnot Fireworks AI

Fireworks AI

  • Deploying open-source LLMs behind an OpenAI-compatible APInot Cerebrium
  • Fine-tuning models with LoRA or full-parameter trainingnot Cerebrium
  • Routing AI coding assistant traffic to cheaper models via Nexusnot Cerebrium
  • Reserving dedicated GPU capacity for production trafficnot Cerebrium

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cerebrium

  • Free Hobby tier limited to 3 apps and 5 GPU concurrency
  • Standard plan at $100/month required for production deployments
  • Per-second compute pricing requires continuous cost monitoring
  • Storage costs add up for large model files

Fireworks AI

  • Reserved and enterprise-tier pricing is not published and requires sales contact.
  • Model catalog is curated to ~30 models, smaller than DeepInfra's 100+ model library.
  • On-demand GPU rates are scheduled to increase from September 1, adding cost unpredictability for locked-in workloads.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cerebrium

Free
  • HobbyFree
    • 3 user seats
    • Up to 3 deployed apps
    • 5 GPU concurrency
  • Standard$100/month
    • Unlimited seats and apps
    • 30 GPU concurrency
    • Custom domains
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • Unlimited resources
    • Volume discounts
    • Dedicated support
  • GPU Compute$undefined/per-second
    • T4: $0.000164/s
    • H100: $0.00167/s

Fireworks AI

Free
  • Serverless$undefined/mo
    • Pay-per-token from $0.07 to $1.74 per million input tokens
    • $1 free credit to start
  • On-Demand$7/month
    • Dedicated GPU instances from $7/hour for H100/H200
  • Reserved$undefined/mo
    • Guaranteed capacity and priority hardware access
    • Custom pricing

Which should you pick?

Choose Cerebrium if

  • You need ultra-fast cold starts.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, Docker.
  • You also want elastic scaling.
Cerebrium review

Choose Fireworks AI if

  • You need serverless inference.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want on-demand and reserved deployments.
Fireworks AI review

Questions people ask

Is Cerebrium or Fireworks AI better?
Neither clearly leads. Cerebrium starts at Free and Fireworks AI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cerebrium or Fireworks AI?
Cerebrium starts at Free and Fireworks AI at Free.
Does Cerebrium or Fireworks AI run on more platforms?
Cerebrium runs on Cloud, Docker. Fireworks AI runs on web, api.
Can I use Cerebrium for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Cerebrium best used for?
Cerebrium is most often used for deploying voice agents and conversational ai applications, video and image model serving with low latency, llm inference and completion endpoints, real-time embeddings and vector database operations. Of those, deploying voice agents and conversational ai applications and video and image model serving with low latency are not what Fireworks AI is typically brought in for.
What can Cerebrium do that Fireworks AI cannot?
Cerebrium covers Ultra-fast cold starts, Elastic scaling, Bring your own code, Multi-region failover. Fireworks AI covers Serverless inference, On-demand and reserved deployments, Managed fine-tuning, OpenAI/Anthropic API compatibility.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cerebrium: Is Cerebrium only for inference or can it train models?

Cerebrium supports both inference serving and model training with hyperparameter sweeps. It enables deployment of voice agents, LLMs, video models, and other AI applications.

Source
Fireworks AI: How is Fireworks AI billing calculated?

Serverless inference uses postpaid, pay-per-token billing across Standard, Priority, and Fast tiers, with rates from $0.07 to $1.74 per million tokens depending on model.

Source
Cerebrium: How do the cold starts compare to other platforms?

Cerebrium achieves 2-4 second cold starts through memory and GPU snapshotting, significantly faster than traditional 30+ second cold boots. This is competitive with platforms like Beam Cloud.

Source
Fireworks AI: Is there a free tier or trial credit?

New accounts receive $1 in free credit to try serverless inference before adding a payment method.

Source
Cerebrium: What compliance certifications does Cerebrium have?

Cerebrium maintains SOC 2 Type II compliance, HIPAA certification, GDPR compliance, and ISO certification. It provides gVisor container isolation and configurable data residency for regulated workloads.

Source
Fireworks AI: How much do on-demand GPU deployments cost?

Dedicated on-demand instances range from $7-8/hour for H100/H200 GPUs up to $18-20/hour for GB300, billed per GPU second with no start-up surcharge.

Source
Fireworks AI: How is fine-tuning priced?

Managed training is billed per 1 million training tokens for supervised or preference tuning, while reinforcement tuning is billed per GPU hour.

Source
Fireworks AI: Does region selection affect pricing?

Yes, region-restricted on-demand deployments carry a 1.5x premium over standard regional pricing.

Source
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