Top 5 OctoAI alternatives for 2025: After the NVIDIA shutdown

So, the news is out. NVIDIA bought OctoAI, and if you’re a customer, you’ve probably already seen that email. OctoAI is shutting down its services, and all access will be cut off on October 31, 2024. For everyone who relied on their platform for AI inference and media generation, that means it’s time to find a new place to run your AI workloads.

OctoAI did a great job of making powerful open-source models accessible without forcing you to manage all the messy infrastructure. Now that easy path is gone, and the hunt for a replacement is officially on.

But this isn’t just about swapping one API key for another. It’s a good moment to step back and look at your goals. Are you looking for a direct, one-to-one replacement, or is there a better way to solve the problem you were trying to fix in the first place? This guide is here to help you figure that out. We’ll walk through the best OctoAI alternatives, from raw developer tools to complete business solutions, so you can make a move you feel good about.

What was OctoAI?

Before we jump into the alternatives, let’s have a quick refresher on what made OctoAI so popular. Basically, it was an AI platform that made it incredibly simple for developers to run and scale open-source generative AI models.

It gave you efficient APIs for text and media generation, meaning you could add features like a chatbot or image creator to your app with just a few lines of code. The real selling point was that it handled all the complicated backend stuff (like managing GPUs and making models run fast) so you could just focus on building your product. It was mainly for tech teams who needed a reliable way to use AI models without building the whole system from scratch.

How we picked the best OctoAI alternatives

Finding a real replacement is about more than just comparing feature lists. We looked at these alternatives based on what actually matters when you’re moving a key part of your product.

• How fast can you get going? We gave priority to platforms that let you get your hands dirty right away. The best tools let you sign up and start building in minutes, without having to sit through a mandatory demo or sales call.

• What are you trying to do? Are you replacing a developer tool, or are you solving a business problem? We’ve got options for both. Some are pure-code platforms for developers, while others are full-blown applications designed to automate things like customer support.

• Can you customize the AI? A big part of OctoAI’s appeal was its support for open-source models. We looked for alternatives that offer a good variety of models and let you control things like prompts, fine-tuning, and what the AI can actually do.

• How much will this actually cost? Is the pricing straightforward or a bit of a guessing game? We checked if the cost is based on usage metrics that are hard to predict (like per-token or per-second billing) or on clear, flat-rate plans that you can actually budget for.

The top 5 OctoAI alternatives for 2025: At a glance

This table gives you a quick overview of our top picks. Use it to spot the platforms that feel like a good fit before you dive into the details below.

Feature	eesel AI	Fireworks AI	Together AI	Replicate	Amazon Bedrock
Primary Use Case	Business Automation (CX, ITSM)	Developer Inference Engine	Developer Inference & Training	Developer Model Deployment	Enterprise AI Services
Ease of Use	Completely self-serve, live in minutes	Developer-focused, API-driven	Developer-focused, API-driven	Developer-focused, API-driven	Complex, enterprise setup
Pricing Model	Predictable monthly/annual plans	Pay-per-use (tokens/time)	Pay-per-use (tokens/time)	Pay-per-use (compute time)	Pay-per-use (tokens/provision)
Integrations	100+ business tools (helpdesks, wikis)	API-based	API-based	API-based	AWS ecosystem
Best For	Support & IT teams wanting automation	Developers needing fast inference	Developers needing custom models	Developers needing flexible deployment	Enterprises in the AWS ecosystem

A detailed look at the 5 best OctoAI alternatives

Let’s dig a little deeper into each platform, what it does best, and who it’s really for.

1. eesel AI

If you were using OctoAI to power something like customer support or an internal helpdesk, eesel AI is less of an alternative and more of an upgrade. Instead of just giving you an API to a generic model, eesel AI is a whole platform that automates the entire process. It’s the right choice for teams that want to solve a business problem directly, not just swap out a piece of tech.

Why it’s on the list:

eesel AI is built to give you results right away. It connects to tools you already use, like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Confluence, and learns from your company’s knowledge to automate frontline support, help agents write replies, and answer internal questions. It’s not a tool for building something from scratch; it’s a solution that works from day one.

Key features & advantages:

• Go live in minutes, not months: eesel AI is fully self-serve. You can sign up, connect your helpdesk and knowledge bases with simple one-click integrations, and have a working AI agent running without talking to a salesperson.

A flowchart showing the quick setup process for eesel AI, a top choice among OctoAI alternatives.

• Unify your knowledge, instantly: The platform automatically learns from your past support tickets, help articles, and internal docs from places like Google Docs. It picks up your company’s tone and specific solutions, so its answers are on-brand and accurate from the get-go.

An infographic showing how eesel AI connects with various knowledge sources, making it one of the best OctoAI alternatives for business automation.

• Total control & risk-free simulation: Before the AI ever talks to a real customer, you can test it on thousands of your past tickets. This shows you exactly how it will perform and what its resolution rate will be, letting you roll it out without any guesswork.

The simulation dashboard in eesel AI, a key feature for businesses looking for reliable OctoAI alternatives.

• Transparent & predictable pricing: No need to worry that a busy support day will lead to a giant bill. eesel AI uses flat-rate monthly or annual plans based on how many interactions you have, so your costs are always predictable.

Pricing:

eesel AI keeps its pricing simple.

• Team Plan: $299/month ($239/month billed annually) for up to 1,000 AI interactions and 3 bots.

• Business Plan: $799/month ($639/month billed annually) for up to 3,000 AI interactions, unlimited bots, and more advanced features like training on past tickets.

• Custom Plan: For enterprise needs with unlimited interactions and custom setups.

All plans include a 7-day free trial.

2. Fireworks AI

For anyone looking for a direct, developer-first replacement for OctoAI, Fireworks AI is a really solid option. It’s a high-speed platform built to run a wide range of open-source models. It’s a great tool for teams that just want to swap out the API and keep their existing apps running smoothly.

Why it’s on the list:

Fireworks AI is laser-focused on one thing: fast, reliable AI model inference. It’s a no-nonsense, high-performance API that gives developers the raw power they need.

Key features:

It boasts some of the fastest response times out there, a serverless setup that handles scaling for you, and support for fine-tuning models to better fit your project.

Limitations:

Fireworks AI is a tool, not a full solution. You’re still on the hook for building all the application logic, business-specific integrations, and user interfaces that go around its API. The pay-as-you-go pricing is flexible but can also make it tough to predict your monthly bill, especially if your usage spikes.

Pricing:

Fireworks AI uses a pay-as-you-go model based on token usage.

• Serverless Inference: Prices depend on the model size. For example, models in the 4B-16B parameter range cost $0.20 per 1M tokens. Big models like Llama 3.1 405B cost $3.00 per 1M tokens.

• Fine-Tuning: Charged per 1M training tokens, starting at $0.50 for models up to 16B parameters.

• On-Demand Deployments: Billed per GPU-second for dedicated hardware, starting from $2.90/hour for an A100 GPU.

3. Together AI

Together AI is another excellent developer platform and a popular OctoAI alternative. It offers a pretty complete cloud setup for inference, fine-tuning, and even training models from the ground up. Plus, it gives you access to a huge library of over 200 open-source and specialized models.

Why it’s on the list:

It’s a strong and budget-friendly choice for teams that want to do more than just run models. If you’re planning to experiment with fine-tuning or just want access to a ton of different models through a simple API, Together AI is worth a look.

Key features:

Its main perks are the massive model selection, competitive per-token pricing, and a serverless API that makes it easy to plug into your code. They also offer dedicated hardware for heavy-duty training jobs.

Limitations:

Just like Fireworks AI, this is an infrastructure-level tool. It gives you the building blocks, but it takes a lot of developer hours to turn those blocks into a finished product for your users. The business logic, workflows, and integrations are all up to you.

Pricing:

Together AI’s pricing is usage-based and changes a lot depending on the model you use.

• Serverless Inference: Charged per 1M input/output tokens. As an example, Llama 3.1 8B costs $0.18 per 1M tokens, while a model like Kimi K2 costs $1.00 (input) and $3.00 (output) per 1M tokens.

• Fine-Tuning: Charged per processed token, with prices varying by model size and tuning method.

• GPU Clusters: Billed per hour per GPU, with an NVIDIA HGX H100 starting at $1.76/hour if you commit to a longer term.

4. Replicate

Replicate has made a name for itself by making it dead simple for developers to run open-source models through an API, especially for generating images and video. It has a giant library with thousands of models, many from the community, making it a fun playground for AI experiments.

Why it’s on the list:

If you used OctoAI for its media generation features, Replicate will feel very familiar. Its biggest strength is the huge variety of models available and the simplicity of its API. You can find and run a model for just about any creative task in a few minutes.

Key features:

The huge library of models is the main draw. It also has a clean API and a unique pay-per-second billing model based on how long a model runs.

Limitations:

That pay-per-second billing can be very unpredictable. The cost of one API call depends on how long the model takes to finish its job, which can change from one request to the next. And again, it’s a developer tool. You get access to the models, but you have to build the entire app around them yourself.

Pricing:

Replicate’s pricing is based on the compute time it takes to run a model, billed by the second.

• The price-per-second depends on the GPU needed. An Nvidia T4 GPU costs $0.000225/sec, while a powerful Nvidia A100 GPU costs $0.001400/sec.

• Some special models are billed per output (e.g., one image from FLUX 1.1 Pro costs $0.04).

• This structure makes your costs hard to predict and very dependent on model speed and traffic.

5. Amazon Bedrock

For bigger companies or teams already deep in the AWS world, Amazon Bedrock is the enterprise-level alternative. It’s a managed service that gives you access to a curated list of models from big names like Anthropic, Meta, and Amazon itself, all through a single API.

Why it’s on the list:

This is the hyperscaler option. It comes with the security, compliance, and scale that large organizations need. If you have to keep your AI work inside your existing cloud provider and connect it with other AWS services, Bedrock is the obvious choice.

Key features:

Bedrock offers a mix of proprietary and open models, strong security controls, and tight integration with the rest of the AWS ecosystem.

Limitations:

With enterprise power comes enterprise complexity. Bedrock can be a lot harder to set up and manage than the other platforms here. Its pricing is also famously complicated, with different tiers for on-demand tokens, reserved capacity, and model customization, which makes forecasting your costs a real headache.

Pricing:

Amazon Bedrock has a multi-layered pricing structure that is pretty complex.

• On-Demand: You pay per 1,000 input and output tokens, and the price varies a lot by model and region. For example, in US East (Ohio), Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs $0.003/1k input tokens and $0.015/1k output tokens. Meta’s Llama 3.1 8B costs $0.00022/1k tokens for both.

• Provisioned Throughput: For heavy usage, you can commit to capacity for 1 or 6 months, billed per hour.

• Batch Mode: You can get up to a 50% discount on on-demand prices for large, non-urgent jobs.

Tips for picking your OctoAI alternatives

Moving off a platform is never fun, but a little planning can make it much less painful. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Think about your real goal, not just the tech. Take a step back. Were you just trying to find an API, or were you trying to automate a part of your business? If the goal was to automate customer support, a purpose-built platform like eesel AI will get you there much faster than a generic tool.

A workflow diagram illustrating how a complete solution automates support, a key consideration when choosing between OctoAI alternatives.

• Consider the total cost. That low per-token price on developer platforms doesn’t tell the whole story. You have to add in the cost of your developers’ time to build, integrate, and maintain the application around the API. An all-in-one solution might look more expensive upfront but often costs less overall.

• Look for a risk-free way to switch. Find a platform that lets you test it with your own data before you buy. The ability to run simulations, like you can with eesel AI, is a huge help for seeing how the AI will actually perform and lets you migrate without crossing your fingers.

• Find predictable pricing. The last thing you want after being forced to switch platforms is a surprise bill. Pick a partner with a clear, predictable pricing model so you can focus on your work, not on trying to figure out a complicated invoice.

Move from APIs to actual solutions

The OctoAI shutdown is a good reason to think a little bigger. While it’s tempting to find the quickest direct replacement, this is a great chance to upgrade your whole approach.

For developers who just need raw, fast inference, platforms like Fireworks AI and Together AI are strong OctoAI alternatives. They give you the power and flexibility you need to keep building.

But for many businesses, the goal isn’t just to use an AI model, it’s to solve a problem. If you want to automate customer support, streamline IT help, or give your team an internal expert, you’ll get there much faster with a complete solution. Instead of just finding a new API, find a platform that does the job for you.

Get started with eesel AI in minutes and see how fast you can launch an AI agent that’s already trained on your company’s knowledge and plugged into the tools you use every day.