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Databricks vs Together AI

Databricks logo

Databricks

Software

Unified analytics platform for data engineering and data science

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Together AI logo

Together AI

Software

Open-source AI at scale

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Databricks cloud compute is billed separately by the cloud provider on top of Databricks DBU charges; Together AI fine tuning carries a minimum charge of $4.00 per job regardless of dataset size
  • They diverge on capability: Databricks covers Delta Lake, Together AI covers Open-source models.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Databricks and Together AI actually diverge.

Attributes where Databricks and Together AI differ
AttributeDatabricksTogether AI
PlatformsWeb, Aws, Azure, GcpApi, Cloud
Founded20132022

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Databricks

  • Delta Lake
  • Apache Spark
  • MLflow
  • Unity Catalog
  • Photon Engine
  • Collaborative Notebooks
  • Auto-scaling
  • AWS

Only in Together AI

  • Open-source models
  • Fine-tuning
  • Fast inference
  • Embeddings
  • REST API
  • Python SDK
  • OpenAI compatible
  • Api support

What people use each for

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

Databricks

  • Running Spark data engineering pipelines on managed clustersnot Together AI
  • Building a lakehouse over data in cloud object storagenot Together AI
  • Training and serving machine learning models alongside the datanot Together AI

Together AI

  • Serverless inference against open source chat, vision, embedding, image and video modelsnot Databricks
  • Renting dedicated single tenant H100, H200 or B200 GPU clusters by the hournot Databricks
  • Fine tuning open weight models on a per token basisnot Databricks

Where each one falls short

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

Databricks

  • Cloud compute is billed separately by the cloud provider on top of Databricks DBU charges
  • The free trial lasts 14 days
  • Discounts require a Committed Use Contract, with larger commitments needed for larger discounts
  • Azure Databricks pricing is set by Microsoft rather than by Databricks
  • Security and compliance capabilities are sold as separate platform add ons rather than included in the base rate

Together AI

  • Fine tuning carries a minimum charge of $4.00 per job regardless of dataset size
  • Reserved GPU commitments beyond 180 days are priced by contacting sales with no published rate
  • Volume and enterprise discounts are quote only with no published threshold
  • Reserved dedicated inference pricing is contact sales while only on demand rates of $5.49 to $8.99 per GPU hour are published

Pricing, plan by plan

Databricks

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Limited cluster
    • Notebook environment
    • Community support
  • Standard$0.07/DBU
    • Jobs compute
    • SQL compute
    • Standard support

Together AI

Free
  • FreeFree
    • $5 credits
    • API access
  • Pay-per-use$0.2/per-million-tokens
    • All models
    • Fine-tuning

Which should you pick?

Choose Databricks if

  • You need delta lake.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Aws, Azure, Gcp.
  • You also want apache spark.
Databricks review

Choose Together AI if

  • You need open-source models.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Api, Cloud.
  • You also want fine-tuning.
Together AI review

Questions people ask

Is Databricks or Together AI better?
Neither clearly leads. Databricks starts at Free and Together AI at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Databricks or Together AI?
Databricks starts at Free and Together AI at Free.
Does Databricks or Together AI run on more platforms?
Databricks runs on Web, Aws, Azure, Gcp. Together AI runs on Api, Cloud.
Can I use Databricks for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Databricks best used for?
Databricks is most often used for running spark data engineering pipelines on managed clusters, building a lakehouse over data in cloud object storage, training and serving machine learning models alongside the data. Of those, running spark data engineering pipelines on managed clusters and building a lakehouse over data in cloud object storage are not what Together AI is typically brought in for.
What can Databricks do that Together AI cannot?
Databricks covers Delta Lake, Apache Spark, MLflow, Unity Catalog. Together AI covers Open-source models, Fine-tuning, Fast inference, Embeddings.
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