Vast.ai A100 80GB starts at $1.20/hr (spot pricing on a marketplace of providers). RunPod Secure Cloud is $1.89/hr with consistent quality. The Vast savings are real — but preemption is the norm, and machine quality varies provider-to-provider. For training jobs that can checkpoint and resume, Vast is fantastic. For inference behind a customer-facing API, RunPod is the safer call.
RunPod vs Vast.ai
RunPod vs Vast.ai — managed GPUs vs marketplace pricing
Side by side
PRICING + WHO IT'S FOR| RunPod | Vast.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| CATEGORY | COMPUTE | COMPUTE |
| RATING | 8.4 / 10 | 7.8 / 10 |
| PRICING | SERVERLESS FROM $0.94/HR | MARKET-DRIVEN · RTX 3090 FROM $0.20/HR |
| BEST FOR | Burst GPU work, fine-tuning runs, indie and small-team inference without a cloud contract. | Research compute, training runs on a budget, sweep jobs, anyone trading polish for raw price. |
| WATCH OUT | SLA-sensitive production, HIPAA- or SOC2-locked workloads, or anything requiring guaranteed capacity. | Production, compliance-sensitive workloads, zero-ops operation, enterprise procurement. |
Our verdict
PICK BY USE CASE, NOT RATINGPICK RunPod
Pick RunPod for predictable Secure Cloud capacity, smooth UX, and good support — production-friendly.
PICK Vast.ai
Pick Vast.ai for the absolute cheapest GPU-hours on the market — best for fault-tolerant batch workloads.
Frequently asked
TAP TO EXPANDRunPod is the production-friendly pick; Vast.ai is the cheapest-per-hour pick.
RunPod: SERVERLESS FROM $0.94/HR. Vast.ai: MARKET-DRIVEN · RTX 3090 FROM $0.20/HR.
RunPod — SLA-sensitive production, HIPAA- or SOC2-locked workloads, or anything requiring guaranteed capacity.. Vast.ai — Production, compliance-sensitive workloads, zero-ops operation, enterprise procurement..