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Cohere Intermediate

Cohere Command R

Cohere Command R is a live 128K-context enterprise model for RAG, tool use and multilingual chat, priced at $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output tokens.

Text GenerationText Paid
In plain English

What is this model and why does it matter?

Command R is Cohere's lower-cost R-series enterprise model for RAG, tool use, multilingual chat and long-context workflows.

RAG applicationsEnterprise searchSingle-step tool useMultilingual assistantsLong-context chat
Model overview

Cohere Command R: features, use cases and important details

Cohere Command R is an enterprise language model optimized for retrieval-augmented generation, tool use and long-context conversational workflows. The current dated model ID is command-r-08-2024, released as part of Cohere’s August 2024 refresh.

Verified specifications

Cohere lists a 128,000-token context window, a 4,000-token maximum output and a June 1, 2024 knowledge cutoff. The model supports citations, tool use and structured outputs and is optimized across ten major languages.

Pricing and positioning

Current Cohere pricing is $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens. Command R is the lower-cost member of the R family and is positioned for scalable RAG, search and simpler tool-using applications. Cohere now recommends Command A for many new use cases, but Command R remains listed as a live model.

Limitations

Its 4K output cap is modest compared with newer models, and the model does not have live knowledge unless you connect retrieval or external tools. Teams should also avoid the deprecated command-r alias and use the dated 08-2024 model ID instead.

Get started

How to use this model

  1. Create a Cohere API key.
  2. Call the Chat endpoint with model command-r-08-2024.
  3. Provide documents or tools when building RAG or agent workflows.
  4. Use structured outputs when downstream parsing is required.
  5. Evaluate citations and tool decisions on your own data.
Copy and try

Example prompts

  • Answer this question using only the supplied documents and cite the evidence.
  • Choose the correct tool for this customer request and return the result as JSON.
  • Summarize this multilingual support ticket in English.
Capabilities

What it can do

  • 128K context
  • RAG
  • Tool use
  • Structured outputs
  • Multilingual chat
  • Citations
Best for

Practical use cases

  • Enterprise RAG
  • Search assistants
  • Customer support
  • Document Q&A
  • Workflow automation
Pricing

What does it cost?

$0.15 per 1M input tokens and $0.60 per 1M output tokens on Cohere's API.

Input$0.15 / 1M tokens
Output$0.60 / 1M tokens
Simple summaryCommand R is priced below Command R+ and is positioned for scalable RAG and single-step tool use.

What stands out

  • Low current API price
  • 128K context
  • Strong RAG focus
  • Tool use and structured outputs
  • Live Cohere API model

Things to consider

  • Older than Cohere's Command A generation
  • 4K output limit
  • Proprietary model
Limitations

Important restrictions and trade-offs

  • Cohere recommends Command A for many new use cases
  • Knowledge is not live without retrieval
  • Model can still return incorrect or weakly grounded answers
SimplifyAITools verdict

Our editorial take

A strong value choice for production RAG and enterprise assistants when cost matters more than using Cohere’s newest flagship.

References

Primary sources

  1. Open source 1 ↗
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  3. Open source 3 ↗
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