表示“与......竞争”compete with和compete against常可互换使用,在意义上没有什么差别。例如:
compete with [against] sb. for sth.与某人竞争而获得某物《现代英汉综合大辞典》
Several companies are competing against/with each other for the contract/to gain the contract. 几家公司正为争取一项合同而互相竞争。《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》
▲如果一定要找不同点的话,弗雷德里克·托·伍德的《英语介词习语词典》上有一段说明可供你参考:
Compete也可表示hold an equal place with(与......相匹敌)的意思,而不是enter into a contest with(同......竞争)的意思。例如:We cannot hope to compete with so experienced a team.我们不能指望与经验如此丰富的一个队相匹敌。You cannot expect an amateur like me to compete with a professional like yourself你不能指望像我这样一个业余爱好者能跟你这样一个专业工作者相比。从compete一词这个意义出发,虽然我们感到自己不能指望跟某人相匹敌(to compete with a person),但我们却可以同意跟他对阵(compete against him).