How to Get Your Together AI API Key (Open Source Models)
Llama 4, DeepSeek, FLUX - one key, hundreds of models

Together AI is the go-to platform for open-source models. If you want to run Llama 4 or DeepSeek without managing your own infrastructure, Together gives you access through a clean, unified API. One key covers LLMs, image generation, and embeddings.

Prerequisites

• A api.together.ai account (free to sign up)
• No credit card required to start - Together gives you $5 in free credits on signup

Get your key in 3 steps

1. Sign up and log in

Go to api.together.ai and create an account. Email signup works, no credit card needed.

2. Open "API Keys"

Once logged in, click your profile icon in the top right corner. Select API Keys from the dropdown menu.

3. Create your key

Click Create, give the key a name, and copy it immediately. The key starts with sk- - store it somewhere safe, as you won't be shown it again in full.

Models unlocked with your key

Your Together AI key gives you access to one of the largest curated catalogs of open-source models available via API:

LLMs:

• Meta Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scout - Meta's latest frontier open models
• Llama 3.3 70B - still one of the best open-weight models for instruction following
• Qwen 3 72B - strong multilingual and reasoning performance
• DeepSeek-V3 - exceptional performance at a fraction of the cost of closed models
• Mistral models - including Mistral 7B and Mixtral variants

Image generation:

• FLUX.1 Schnell - fast, high-quality image generation
• FLUX.1 Dev - higher quality, slightly slower, excellent for production

Embeddings:

• BGE-M3 and UAE-Large - top-tier embedding models ideal for RAG pipelines and semantic search

The same API key works across all three modalities. No separate credentials to manage.

Pricing

Together AI operates on pure pay-as-you-go pricing after the initial $5 credit:

• Llama 3.3 70B: around $0.88/Mtok input
• DeepSeek-V3: very competitive, often among the cheapest for its performance tier
• FLUX.1 Schnell: priced per image, extremely affordable for image generation
• Embeddings: low cost, designed to be used at scale

No subscription required. You pay only for what you use.

Security tips

• Never hardcode your key in source code or commit it to a Git repository
• Use environment variables (.env files) in all your projects
• Create separate keys per environment (dev, staging, prod) so you can revoke one without breaking everything
• If a key leaks, revoke it immediately from the Together AI dashboard

Why Together AI for open-source models

Self-hosting Llama 4 or DeepSeek requires serious GPU infrastructure. Together AI abstracts that entirely - you get the same model quality through a REST API, with no cold starts on popular models and competitive per-token pricing.

For teams that want open-source model freedom without the DevOps overhead, Together is the cleanest option available.

Connect your key to HiWay2LLM

Once you have your Together AI key, bring it to HiWay2LLM in seconds. All your calls route through a unified endpoint with cost tracking, usage analytics, and intelligent routing built in.