Which one is cheaper?

One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.

Can I use either one for free?

Modal has a free plan. Cohere doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.

Different approach here. Cohere uses custom pricing, while Modal goes with usage-based. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.

Which one is a better deal?

Depends on what you need. Cohere: Cohere is squarely targeting enterprise and developer teams that can't or won't send data to OpenAI or Anthropic — data residency, security, and deployment flexibility are the pitch. They're not the cheapest option, but they're positioning as the serious infrastructure play for regulated industries and large orgs that need control. Modal: Modal is pitching itself as the developer-friendly middle ground between raw cloud infrastructure (AWS Lambda, GCP Cloud Run) and higher-abstraction ML platforms like Replicate or Banana. GPU pricing starting at $0.000164/sec for a T4 is competitive, but the 3x multiplier for non-preemptible runs and 1.5–1.75x for region selection means production workloads can get expensive fast — they're not the cheapest option once you need reliability guarantees.

Cohere vs Modal Pricing (2026)

	Cohere	Modal
Starts at	Custom	$250/mo
Number of plans	3	3
Free plan	—
Free trial		—
Pricing model	custom	usage-based

Cohere

Official page

North

Custom

Intuitive interface
Purpose-built generative models
Intelligent search
AI agents for routine tasks and complex workflows

Compass

Custom

Pre-built data connectors
Intelligent search
Document parsing
Managed index

Model Vault

Custom

Fully managed model deployment
No shared resources or multi-tenancy overhead
Seamless integration with Cohere North
Simple startup and self-serve model access
Fixed or Flex pricing plans available

Modal

Official page

Starter

$0/mo

$30 / month free credits
3 workspace seats included
100 containers + 10 GPU concurrency
Scheduled and Web Functions (limited)
Real-time metrics and logs
Region selection

Team

$250/mo

$100 / month free credits
Unlimited seats
1000 containers + 50 GPU concurrency
Unlimited Scheduled Functions
Custom domains
Static IP proxy
Deployment rollbacks

Enterprise

Custom

Volume-based discounts
Unlimited seats
Higher GPU concurrency
Embedded ML engineering services
Support via private Slack
Audit logs, Okta SSO, and HIPAA

Cohere vs Modal FAQ

Which one is cheaper?: One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
Can I use either one for free?: Modal has a free plan. Cohere doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
How do they charge?: Different approach here. Cohere uses custom pricing, while Modal goes with usage-based. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
Which one is a better deal?: Depends on what you need. Cohere: Cohere is squarely targeting enterprise and developer teams that can't or won't send data to OpenAI or Anthropic — data residency, security, and deployment flexibility are the pitch. They're not the cheapest option, but they're positioning as the serious infrastructure play for regulated industries and large orgs that need control. Modal: Modal is pitching itself as the developer-friendly middle ground between raw cloud infrastructure (AWS Lambda, GCP Cloud Run) and higher-abstraction ML platforms like Replicate or Banana. GPU pricing starting at $0.000164/sec for a T4 is competitive, but the 3x multiplier for non-preemptible runs and 1.5–1.75x for region selection means production workloads can get expensive fast — they're not the cheapest option once you need reliability guarantees.

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