20+ Best Alternatives to Etched in 2026
Etched is building custom hardware to accelerate large language models and achieve superintelligence.
Looking for an alternative to Etched? Below are 20 AI startups working in the same space — ranked by our Neuron score so the most credible options come first. Each card shows what makes the tool a viable substitute, pricing signals, and funding stage.
- 1View alternative →
Ineffable Intelligence
$1.1BAn AI research company building a superlearner to achieve superintelligence through reinforcement learning
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 2View alternative →
Cohere
$2.4BEnterprise AI for language understanding
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Freemium
- 3View alternative →
Cerebras Systems
$8.0BWafer-scale AI chips for unprecedented speed
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Freemium · From $50/mo
- 4View alternative →
Groq
$2.3BFastest AI inference on the planet
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Free
- 5View alternative →
Crusoe
$1.4BSustainable AI cloud infrastructure
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Paid
- 6View alternative →
SambaNova
$1.5BThe fastest AI inference platform, purpose-built for agentic AI with custom dataflow technology and three-tier memory architecture.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 7View alternative →
Rebellions
$850MRebellions provides high-performance AI inference infrastructure, enabling efficient and scalable AI deployment for real-world applications.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 8View alternative →
Multiverse Computing
$250MPioneering the era of efficient and secure AI by empowering organisations to run production-ready AI with tailored solutions.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 9View alternative →
Preferred Networks
$160MPreferred Networks develops and provides all four layers of the AI technology value chain: AI semiconductors, computing infrastructure, generative AI foundation models, and AI products/solutions.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 10View alternative →
Liquid AI
$250MEfficient general-purpose foundation models built for edge, on-device, and cloud deployment at every scale.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 11View alternative →
Lumai
$15M3D optical computing that slashes the cost and power of AI inference.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 12View alternative →
Domyn
UndisclosedThe agentic AI platform for regulated enterprises, offering full control over models, data, and infrastructure.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 13View alternative →
HUMAIN
UndisclosedWe build the entire AI stack: data centers, cloud, models, and applications, providing end-to-end AI solutions.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
- 14View alternative →
Fireworks AI
$327MProduction-grade generative AI serving
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Free
- 15View alternative →
Together AI
$267.5MThe open AI cloud
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Free trial
- 16View alternative →
AI21 Labs
$336MAdvanced language AI for enterprise applications
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Free trial
- 17View alternative →
Replicate
$57.8MRun AI models in the cloud
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models, AI Infrastructure.
💵 Free
- 18View alternative →
OpenAI
$193.3BCreator of ChatGPT, GPT-4, and the leading frontier AI lab.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models.
💵 Free · From $20/mo
- 19View alternative →
Anthropic
$132.6BAI safety lab building Claude — a helpful, harmless, honest AI assistant.
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — Foundation Models.
💵 Free · From $20/mo
- 20View alternative →
Databricks
$5.6BThe data + AI company
Why it's similar: Shares categories with Etched — AI Infrastructure.
💵 Enterprise · Contact sales
Frequently asked questions
What are the best alternatives to Etched?
The top-ranked alternatives to Etched on NeuronFeed are Ineffable Intelligence, Cohere, Cerebras Systems, Groq, Crusoe. Rankings are based on our Neuron score, which weighs funding, momentum and editorial signal.
Is there a free alternative to Etched?
Yes — Groq, Liquid AI, Fireworks AI offer a free plans. See the pricing column for each alternative above.
How is this list ranked?
We rank alternatives by shared categories with Etched, then by our proprietary Neuron score (0–100) which combines funding, team quality, momentum, and editorial input. The list refreshes every 30 days.
Etched vs Ineffable Intelligence — which is better?
It depends on use case. Ineffable Intelligence (An AI research company building a superlearner to achieve superintelligence through reinforcement learning) is the #1-ranked alternative. See the full side-by-side at /compare/etched-vs-ineffable-intelligence.
Explore more around Etched
Contextual paths to related AI startups, deals and rankings.