---
title: Cohere
slug: cohere
url: "https://toolweight.com/tools/cohere"
homepage: "https://cohere.com"
categories: llm-apis
last_verified: 2026-11-07
dataset_version: 0738be72
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Cohere

> Enterprise-focused models built for RAG and private deployment

- Sells to regulated enterprises: the Command family plus best-in-class rerank and embedding models
- Deployable into your own VPC or on-premise, not only as a hosted endpoint
- Has largely stopped competing on frontier benchmarks
- Competes instead on retrieval quality, deployment flexibility and contract terms, defensible but niche

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Cohere |
| Company | Cohere |
| One-liner | Enterprise-focused models built for RAG and private deployment |
| Site | https://cohere.com |
| Docs | https://docs.cohere.com |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Funding | Late-stage private |
| Open source | No |
| Licence | CC-BY-NC (research weights) |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [LLM APIs](https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis)
Ranked **#9 of 18** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | Permalink |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Flagship model | Command A+ (command-a-plus-05-2026) | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/models | Cohere's newest flagship, its first MoE at 218B total / 25B active. It supersedes Command A (command-a-03-2025), now off the pricing page. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--flagship_model |
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/models | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--context_window |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/models | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--max_output |
| Image input | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/command-a-plus | Command A+ accepts text and image input. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--vision |
| Audio in/out | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--audio_io |
| Open weights | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/command-a-plus | Command A+ ships under Apache 2.0 on Hugging Face (CohereLabs/command-a-plus-05-2026-w4a4); a shift from the older non-commercial research licence. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--open_weights |
| OpenAI-compat API | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/compatibility-api | A documented Compatibility API works with the OpenAI SDK at api.cohere.ai/compatibility/v1, excluding Cohere-specific params. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--openai_compatible |
| TTFT p50 | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--ttft_p50 |
| Output tok/s | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--throughput_tps |
| $/M input | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | https://cohere.com/pricing | The flagship Command A+ is published as a free open-weight download, not a metered per-token API SKU, so there is no first-party input price to rank — self-host or use a third-party host. The metered Command R line is $0.15/M in, $0.60/M out for reference. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--price_in |
| $/M output | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | https://cohere.com/pricing | No metered first-party output price for the open-weight Command A+; Command R is $0.60/M for reference. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--price_out |
| $/M cache read | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--cached_input |
| Batch discount | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--batch_discount |
| Tool use | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-07-30 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/command-a-plus | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--tool_use |
| Schema output | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--structured_output |
| Effort control | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--reasoning_effort |
| Computer use | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--computer_use |
| MCP support | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--mcp_support |
| Cache TTL | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--prompt_cache_ttl |
| Continuity policy | Dated model names are the default (command-a-03-2025), and Cohere publishes deprecation notices with replacement guidance. The strongest guarantee is deployment-shaped rather than policy-shaped: a private VPC or on-premise deployment continues running whatever version you licensed regardless of what the hosted platform does. | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--continuity_policy |
| Notice period | - | Unknown | 2026-11-07 | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--deprecation_notice |
| Pinnable versions | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.cohere.com/docs/models | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--pinned_snapshots |
| Zero retention | ◐ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Private deployment is the primary answer, and enterprise terms cover the hosted platform, both of which are 'available on request or on a higher tier', which is what this column calls partial. Regraded down from yes: a deployment mode you have to buy is not the same as retention being off by default. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--zero_retention |
| Trains on your data | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Not on the paid platform; the free trial tier is a different agreement. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--trains_on_data |
| AU region | ◐ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Deployable into any cloud region you control, including AU; the hosted endpoint is not AU-resident. | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--au_region |
| API since | 2021 | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--launch_year |
| Positioning | Enterprise RAG models you can deploy inside your own network | Inferred | - | - | - | https://toolweight.com/compare/llm-apis#cohere--positioning |

**Verdict.** Competes on retrieval, private deployment and contracts; its rerank and embeddings are the real draw, the chat API overpriced.

## Alternatives

- [Qwen](https://toolweight.com/tools/alibaba-qwen), Alibaba's model family, huge open-weight range, closed flagship
- [Amazon Bedrock](https://toolweight.com/tools/amazon-bedrock), Multi-vendor model access inside your existing AWS account
- [Anthropic](https://toolweight.com/tools/anthropic), Claude models, built around long agentic runs and tool use
- [Cerebras](https://toolweight.com/tools/cerebras), Wafer-scale inference, the fastest tokens per second available
- [DeepSeek](https://toolweight.com/tools/deepseek), Frontier-adjacent models at a small fraction of Western prices
- [Fireworks AI](https://toolweight.com/tools/fireworks-ai), Fast open-weight inference with strong structured-output support
- [Google Gemini](https://toolweight.com/tools/google-gemini), Gemini via AI Studio for prototyping or Vertex AI for production
- [Groq](https://toolweight.com/tools/groq), Custom LPU silicon serving open-weight models at extreme speed
- [Meta Llama](https://toolweight.com/tools/meta-llama), Open-weight Llama models, hosted almost everywhere but Meta
- [Mistral AI](https://toolweight.com/tools/mistral-ai), European lab with an open-weight lineage and EU-resident hosting
- [Moonshot AI](https://toolweight.com/tools/moonshot-ai), Kimi models, open-weight agentic performance at low cost
- [OpenAI](https://toolweight.com/tools/openai), GPT models plus audio, images and embeddings on one bill

## Logo & brand colours

SVG files: https://toolweight.com/teams/cohere/logo.svg and https://toolweight.com/teams/cohere/mono.svg. JSON: https://toolweight.com/api/v1/brands/cohere.

| Hex | oklch |
| --- | --- |
| #d18ee2 | oklch(74.3% 0.137 319.3) |
| #39594d | oklch(43.5% 0.043 168.8) |
| #ff7759 | oklch(72.5% 0.172 33.9) |

## Licence and attribution

Data from Toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0.

- Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/tools/cohere
- Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/tools/cohere.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp
- Toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements.