OpenRouter vs Together AI
A feature-by-feature comparison of OpenRouter and Together AI across 7 capability categories.
Modalities — OpenRouter Wins
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
Text Input | Yes, requires free plan. Chat completions via /api/v1/chat/completions. | Yes, requires free plan. Serverless inference and playground take chat/completions text. |
Image Upload / Vision | Yes, requires plus plan. Homepage: text, images, videos, and audio through one interface. Vision depends on the routed model. | Unknown. Vision on hosted models was not confirmed on the marketing homepage. |
Image Generation | Yes, requires plus plan. Unified interface includes image generation across providers. | Unknown. Together is inference/GPU cloud. Image model hosting was not on the homepage snippet. |
Voice Mode | No. Audio generation/transcription may exist via routed models. Not a conversational voice UI. | No. Not a conversational voice product. |
Video Understanding | Partial. Video generation API is documented. Understanding uploaded video was not separately confirmed. | No. Not a video-analysis product. |
Video Generation | No. Not a video generation product. | No. Not a video generation product. |
File Upload (PDF, DOCX) | Unknown. PDF/DOCX chat was not confirmed on the quickstart page. | No. Chat/completions, not a PDF uploader. |
Code Execution | No. You implement tools via the Agent SDK. OpenRouter does not sandbox your Python. | Yes, requires plus plan. Code sandboxes are listed on the product page. |
Audio Input | Partial. Audio is listed as a modality. Treat as routed-model support, not a first-party STT studio. | Unknown. Speech endpoints were not on the homepage snippet. |
Canvas / Artifact Editor | No. Chat/API console, not an artifacts canvas. | No. Playground, not a canvas. |
Screen Sharing / Computer Use | No. No computer-use product. | No. No computer-use product. |
Memory & Context — OpenRouter Wins
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
Persistent Memory | No. API is stateless aside from your credits/keys. No user memory layer. | No. Stateless inference. You keep history. |
Large Context Window | Yes, requires plus plan. Window is whatever the selected model publishes. Catalog is at openrouter.ai/models. | Unknown. Depends on the open model you host. No single Together window on the homepage. |
Custom Instructions | Yes, requires free plan. System messages plus org data policies that restrict providers. | Yes, requires free plan. System prompts in the API. |
Conversation History | Yes, requires free plan. The site is a chat UI over models. API history is your client’s job. | Partial. Playground/console history. The API is stateless. |
Integrations — OpenRouter Wins
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
Web Search / Browsing | Unknown. Some routed models search. A first-party search toggle was not on quickstart. | No. Not a search product. |
Plugins / Extensions | Yes, requires free plan. Hosted MCP at mcp.openrouter.ai plus Agent SDK tools. | Partial. Endpoints, batch, dedicated clusters. Not a GPT plugin store. |
API Access | Yes, requires plus plan. OpenAI-compatible API. Credits, no seat subscription. Client SDKs and OpenAI SDK drop-in. | Yes, requires free plan. Inference API, fine-tuning, GPU cloud. Usage billing, not a seat. |
Zapier Integration | Unknown. No first-party Zapier app was checked. | Unknown. No first-party Zapier listing was checked. |
Custom GPTs / Bots | No. No GPT Store. Agent SDK is for your own agents. | No. No GPT store. |
Real-time Collaboration | No. No multiplayer chat. | No. No multiplayer chat. |
Live Social Data Integration | No. No live social firehose. | No. No live social firehose. |
Live Citation Mapping | No. Not a cited-search product. | No. Not a cited-search product. |
Developer — OpenRouter Wins
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
Function Calling | Yes, requires free plan. Agent SDK tool loops; chat completions can carry tools depending on the model. | Unknown. Tool use on hosted models was not confirmed on the homepage. |
Streaming Responses | Yes, requires free plan. Quickstart: the API supports streaming. | Yes, requires plus plan. Serverless inference streams tokens. Research kernels (FlashAttention) are the latency pitch. |
Fine-Tuning | No. You consume providers. OpenRouter does not train your weights. | Yes, requires plus plan. Fine-tuning is a listed product next to inference and GPU cloud. |
Embeddings API | Yes, requires plus plan. Client SDK docs cover embeddings alongside streaming. | Unknown. An embeddings endpoint was not confirmed on the homepage. |
Structured Output (JSON) | Unknown. JSON-schema guarantees depend on the routed model; not asserted here. | Unknown. JSON mode was not confirmed on the homepage. |
Reasoning / Thinking Mode | Unknown. Overlapping columns disagreed (yes vs partial); left unverified rather than copying a no. | Unknown. You can host reasoning open models. No Together Deep Think toggle. |
Local Execution | No. Routes to cloud providers. Not a local runtime. | No. Cloud GPUs / serverless. Not on your laptop. |
Open Weights | Partial. You can pick open models hosted by providers. OpenRouter is not a weight release. | Partial. Inference cloud for open models. Together’s serving stack is not a weight release. |
Multi-Agent Orchestration | Partial. Agent SDK handles tool loops and state. Not a multi-agent swarm product. | No. You orchestrate in your app. |
Platforms — Tie
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
Web App | Yes, requires free plan. openrouter.ai chat, models catalog, and credit dashboard. | Yes, requires free plan. together.ai console. |
iOS App | No. No iOS app is documented. | No. No iOS app. |
Android App | No. No Android app is documented. | No. No Android app. |
Desktop App | No. No desktop app is documented. | No. No desktop app. |
Chrome Extension | No. No Chrome extension is documented. | No. No Chrome extension. |
Privacy — OpenRouter Wins
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
GDPR Compliant | Unknown. Needs a DPA read. Data policies exist but are not GDPR certification. | Unknown. Needs a current DPA read. |
Opt Out of Data Training | Partial. Custom data policies restrict which providers see prompts. Not a single training-opt-out toggle we read. | Unknown. Training use of prompts was not checked. |
Enterprise Privacy Mode | Yes, requires plus plan. Org accounts and fine-grained data policies for trusted providers. | Unknown. Dedicated endpoints exist; enterprise contract terms were not on the homepage. |
Workspaces — Tie
| Feature | OpenRouter | Together AI |
|---|---|---|
Projects / Folders | Unknown. Org/app keys exist. Folder workspaces were not confirmed. | No. No consumer project product. |