Rayvs
AWS SageMaker
AWS SageMaker: Build, train, and deploy machine learning models at scale
Ray
Scale AI and Python applications
As of 30 August 2026, Ray is free to use. Ray is an open-source unified compute framework for scaling AI and Python applications. Softwr lists it under Machine Learning. Ray is made by Anyscale, launched in 2019, available on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Overview
What Ray does
Ray is an open-source unified compute framework for scaling AI and Python applications. It provides libraries for distributed training (Ray Train), hyperparameter tuning (Ray Tune), reinforcement learning (RLlib), and model serving (Ray Serve).
What people use it for
- Distributed AI model training and serving
- Large-scale data processing
- Reinforcement learning workloads
- ML inference serving
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Ray.
- Windows support is beta and multi node Ray clusters are untested on Windows
- Windows lacks copy on write forking, which raises memory requirements, and Ray code assumes UNIX filenames
- Multi node clusters are untested on Apple Silicon Macs
- The Java API is experimental and community supported only, and requires matching Java and Python versions
- Python 3.13 support is beta
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Ray
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- RayvsGoogle Vertex AI
Google Vertex AI: Unified ML platform to build, deploy, and scale AI models
- RayvsAzure Machine Learning
Azure Machine Learning: Enterprise-grade machine learning service
- RayvsDataRobot
DataRobot: Enterprise AI platform for automated machine learning
Pricing
What Ray costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Open Source
Free
- Full Ray framework
- All libraries
- Community support
Anyscale Platform
Free
- Managed infrastructure
- Enterprise support
- SLAs
Capabilities
Features
Distributed computing
Ray Train
Ray Tune
RLlib
Ray Serve
PyTorch
Integration with PyTorch
TensorFlow
Integration with TensorFlow
Hugging Face
Integration with Hugging Face
scikit-learn
Integration with scikit-learn
Kubernetes
Integration with Kubernetes
Linux support
Available on linux
Mac support
Available on mac
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Ray free?
Yes. Ray is free and open source software with over 34,800 GitHub stars and 1,000+ contributors. Users can download and use the Ray framework at no cost.
SourceIs there a paid option for Ray?
Yes. Anyscale, the managed platform built by Ray's creators, offers paid tiers with enterprise features like governance and advanced tooling. Specific Anyscale pricing details are not listed on the Ray website.
SourceCan I try Ray with credits?
Yes. New users can try Ray with $100 credit on Anyscale's managed platform to explore the service.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Ray
- Company
- Anyscale
- Based in
- San Francisco, California
Keep looking
Where to go from Ray
- Ray alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Ray pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Ray badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Machine Learning softwareThe full category
- Best Machine Learning softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Machine Learning software for
Compare Ray with
- Google Vertex AI
- AWS SageMaker
- Azure Machine Learning
- DataRobot
- Milvus
- Pinecone
- H2O.ai
- Dask
- Apache Spark MLlib
- Weaviate
- TensorFlow
- LangChain
- Dataiku
- KNIME
- Palantir Foundry
- Python
- Pinecone
- LangChain
Other Machine Learning software
Build, train, and deploy machine learning models at scale
Free, then $0.04/hour9 researched notesMicrosoft's managed platform for training, tracking and deploying models on Azure
Free plan13 researched notesThe machine learning library inside Apache Spark, for data that will not fit on one machine
Free plan14 researched notesBrowser-based platform where visual data preparation and written code share one pipeline
Free plan14 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Ray, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Ray
Ray alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Ray pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Ray
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Ray badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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