kolm vs Together AI.
Together is best-in-class for hosted inference on open-weight models. The matrix below is for the case where you want to ship the model to where the work happens, not the other way around. Together has hardware we don't sell. We have artifacts they don't ship.
Eleven axes. Reviewed 2026-05-15.
| Axis | kolm | Together | Why it matters | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run location | your hardware | their hardware | Regulated data, edge fleets, and air-gap zones cannot leave the perimeter. | /edge → |
| Pricing | flat compile, $0 to serve | per-token forever | At volume the line crosses fast. 11.6× cheaper per million on the workloads we benchmark. | /roi → |
| Receipt chain | HMAC-SHA256 per inference | none | An auditor can re-verify months later that the model saw exactly that input. | receipt JSON → |
| Latency p50 | 0.6 ms local | 80–200 ms network | Real-time UIs and on-device features need the lower number. | /benchmarks → |
| Offline run | yes, deterministic | no | Field engineering, defense, retail kiosks, in-vehicle compute. | /airgap → |
| Speculative decoding | EAGLE-3, Lookahead, REST | yes, EAGLE-2 and Medusa | Both ship a decoder stack. We win on EAGLE-3, they win on traffic scale. | paper → |
| Disaggregated PD | DistServe / Mooncake | yes | A real engineering investment, both shops did it. | /research → |
| Quantization baked into artifact | INT4 / INT8 / NVFP4 at compile | dynamic at serve | Baking quantization at compile time is what makes the size and latency numbers deterministic. | NVFP4 → |
| Compliance posture | on-prem by default, BAA template ready | shared infra, SOC 2 | Healthcare and finance procurement starts here. | /compliance-packs → |
| Vendor exit | file on disk, public spec | API migration | Owning the artifact means a vendor outage or repricing doesn't pause your product. | RS-1 spec → |
| K-score quality gate | compile-time blocking | none | A blocking gate is a contract that protects production. | K-score formal → |
When Together is the right answer.
You need raw scale on open-weight inference today, your data is fine on shared infra, and you want a one-line API. Together has the operational maturity to serve millions of tokens per second on hardware you don't have to operate.
When kolm is the right answer.
You operate in a regulated zone, you want to own the model, or your per-token bill is starting to look like rent on a Lambo. The signed file with a receipt chain is the shape your compliance officer and your CFO converge on.