Fireworks vs Scaledown

Fireworks lists 1 models and Scaledown 2. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.

At a glance

FireworksScaledown
Models listed12
Models with published pricing12
Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M)$6.00$0.03
Cheapest paid modelFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
Longest contextFireworks: Ember-1 (1.0M)ScaleDown: Extract (1M)
Free models00
Newest modelFireworks: Ember-1 (2026-09-24)ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13)
Price changes in the last 90 days00

What each costs for real workloads

For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.

Workload (per month)FireworksScaledown
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation
$525 with Fireworks: Ember-1$3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages
$510 with Fireworks: Ember-1$4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context
$540 with Fireworks: Ember-1no suitable model
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page
$330 with Fireworks: Ember-1$3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass
$165 with Fireworks: Ember-1$2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract

Cheapest model for each capability

You needFireworksScaledown
Any modelFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
With tool callingFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)none listed
With image inputFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
With reasoning modeFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)none listed
128K+ contextFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)
1M+ contextFireworks: Ember-1 ($6.00)ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03)

Line-up by type and price tier

Model typeFireworksScaledown
text+image+file->text02
text+image->text10
Price per 1M (3:1 blend)FireworksScaledown
Free00
Under $0.5002
$0.50 – $300
$3 – $1010
$10 and up00

Frequently asked questions

How does Fireworks cost compare with Scaledown cost?

Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $6.00 for Fireworks. The cheapest paid models are Fireworks: Ember-1 at $6.00 and ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03.

Is Fireworks better than Scaledown?

It depends on the job: Scaledown offers the broader line-up (1 models vs 2), Scaledown the lower typical price, Fireworks the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.

Which has more models, Fireworks or Scaledown?

Scaledown: Fireworks lists 1 models and Scaledown lists 2.

Which provider has the longest context window?

Fireworks: Fireworks's longest is Fireworks: Ember-1 at 1.0M tokens; Scaledown's is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M.

Do Fireworks or Scaledown offer free models?

Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.

Which provider has models that can read images?

Fireworks: 1 of 1 models accept images. Scaledown: 2 of 2.

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