The Same GPU Costs 63x More Depending on Where You Rent It

The same GPU can cost 63x more depending on where you rent it.

That's not a typo. A Tesla V100 costs $0.05/hr at one provider and $3.06/hr at another. Same chip, same VRAM, same performance. One costs $36/month. The other costs $2,234/month.

We track pricing across 27 GPU cloud providers in real-time. Here's what the data looks like right now.

The Price Spread Problem

Most people pick a GPU provider based on a blog post they read six months ago, a recommendation from a coworker, or whatever shows up first on Google. That's expensive.

Here's the actual price spread we're seeing across providers for the same GPUs:

The pattern is clear: older GPUs have the widest spreads. The big cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) haven't updated their pricing in years, while newer providers are racing to the bottom.

Even on H100s, you're looking at a 5x difference. That's the difference between a $585/month GPU bill and a $2,847/month bill for identical hardware.

Best Value Right Now By Use Case

Hobbyists and Students (Under $100/month)

If you just need something to run experiments on, you don't need to spend much.

VERDA V100 16GB at $0.05/hr is the cheapest GPU we're tracking right now. That's $36/month if you run it 24/7. The V100 is old but it still handles most inference workloads and smaller training jobs fine.

Vast.ai RTX 3060 at $0.08/hr gets you a consumer GPU with 12GB VRAM for about $58/month. Good for playing with Stable Diffusion or running smaller LLMs.

The catch with Vast.ai is availability fluctuates since you're renting from individuals. Check what's actually in stock before you plan around it.

Serious Training (24GB+ VRAM)

This is where it gets interesting.

VERDA RTX A6000 at $0.17/hr is genuinely hard to believe. That's 48GB of VRAM for $124/month. For context, RunPod charges $0.76/hr for the same GPU. Paperspace charges $1.89/hr. We don't know how VERDA is pricing this low, but it's real and it's available right now.

RunPod RTX A5000 at $0.16/hr is solid if you want something more established. 24GB VRAM, good availability, RunPod's interface is clean.

TensorDock RTX 3090 at $0.20/hr is another good option. The 3090 is a beast for training and TensorDock tends to have reliable uptime.

TensorDock RTX 4090 at $0.33/hr if you want the fastest consumer card. The 4090 trains noticeably faster than the 3090 on most workloads.

Production and H100 Workloads

If you need serious compute:

VERDA H100 SXM5 at $0.80/hr is the cheapest H100 we're tracking. That's $585/month for an 80GB H100.

Compare that to Paperspace H100 at $5.95/hr which is $4,344/month. Same GPU. Same VRAM. 7x the price.

VERDA A100 80GB at $0.45/hr is worth considering if you don't specifically need H100s. That's $329/month for 80GB of HBM memory.

The big caveat with VERDA is they're newer and less proven than RunPod or Lambda. If you need enterprise support contracts and guaranteed uptime SLAs, you'll pay more for that at the established providers. If you just need the GPU and can handle some rougher edges, VERDA's pricing is unmatched right now.

Who Actually Has Stock

Availability matters as much as pricing. A cheap GPU that's perpetually sold out doesn't help you.

Here's what we're seeing in stock right now:

*Vultr offers fractional GPU slices (4-20GB portions of A100s), which is why their entry price is so low.

RunPod has the most variety with 36 different GPU types available. If you need something specific, they probably have it.

VERDA has strong availability and the lowest prices, but fewer GPU options.

Vast.ai is slim right now with only 16 offers. Inventory varies a lot since it's a marketplace model.

Providers to Avoid (Unless Someone Else is Paying)

Some providers are charging 2021 prices in 2026.

AWS charges up to $4.35/hr for a T4 (their largest instance size). Even their cheapest T4 starts at $0.53/hr. ThunderCompute has the same GPU for $0.27/hr.

Paperspace charges enterprise prices across the board. Their H100 at $5.95/hr is the most expensive we track. Their A100 80GB at $3.18/hr is 7x more than VERDA's.

CoreWeave is expensive but at least you're getting dedicated support and enterprise SLAs. If your company requires that, fine. If you're an indie developer or researcher, you're lighting money on fire.

The hyperscalers (AWS, GCP, Azure) made sense when they were the only option. They don't anymore. The GPU cloud market has matured and there are dozens of providers offering the same hardware for a fraction of the price.

What We're Not Covering (Yet)

This analysis focuses on hourly GPU rates. There are other costs that matter:

Egress fees can destroy your budget if you're moving lots of data. Some providers charge $0.05-0.10/GB for data transfer out. Others include it free. We're adding this data soon.

Storage costs vary wildly. Some providers give you free storage with your GPU, others charge per GB/month.

Minimum commitments exist at some providers. Make sure you're not locked into a 3-month contract if you just need a weekend of compute.

Idle charges are another gotcha. Some providers charge you even when your instance is stopped but not terminated.

We're working on adding all of this to our comparison data. For now, read the fine print before you commit.

The Bottom Line

If you're renting GPUs without comparing prices, you're probably overpaying by 5-10x.

The market right now:

1. VERDA is the price leader across almost every GPU tier. Worth trying if you can handle a newer provider.

2. RunPod and TensorDock are the sweet spot of good prices and proven reliability.

3. Vast.ai is great when they have inventory, but check availability first.

4. AWS/GCP/Azure/Paperspace are for people with expense accounts, not their own money.

We update this data daily. Check gpuperhour.com for current prices, or set a price alert if you're waiting for a specific GPU to hit your budget.

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Last updated: January 2026. Prices change constantly. Don't trust any comparison article (including this one) that's more than a few weeks old.