Provider Comparison

Scaleway vs Vast.ai

Q: Which provider offers spot instances for cost savings?

Vast.ai offers spot/preemptible instances, which can significantly reduce costs (typically 50-80% off on-demand prices) for interruptible workloads like batch processing and training with checkpoints. Scaleway does not currently offer spot instances, so all usage is billed at on-demand rates. If cost optimization through spot instances is important for your workflow, Vast.ai would be the better choice.

Q: What is the minimum billing increment for each provider?

Scaleway bills per-hour, while Vast.ai bills per-hour. Both providers use the same billing granularity, so this factor won't differentiate your decision.

Q: Which provider has better compliance certifications for enterprise use?

Scaleway holds SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 27001 certifications. Vast.ai holds GDPR certification. For organizations with strict compliance requirements, Scaleway offers more comprehensive coverage.

Q: Which provider offers better development tools like Jupyter notebooks?

Both Scaleway and Vast.ai offer built-in Jupyter notebook support, making it easy to start experimenting without additional setup. This is particularly valuable for data scientists and researchers who prefer interactive development environments. Additionally, both providers offer web-based terminal access for quick debugging.

Q: Which provider has better Kubernetes support for orchestration?

Scaleway offers native Kubernetes support for container orchestration, while Vast.ai does not. If you're building production ML pipelines with Kubernetes-based tools like Kubeflow, Argo, or KServe, Scaleway will integrate more seamlessly with your workflow.

Q: What is each provider best suited for?

Scaleway is best suited for European data sovereignty; Integrated cloud services. Vast.ai excels at Absolute lowest costs; Distributed experiments. Understanding these specializations helps you choose the provider that aligns with your primary use case, though both can handle a variety of GPU computing needs.

Q: Which provider offers reserved instances for long-term savings?

Scaleway offers reserved instance pricing for long-term commitments, while Vast.ai does not currently offer this option. Reserved instances are ideal for predictable, steady-state workloads like always-on inference services. For variable workloads, on-demand or spot instances may offer better flexibility.

Q: Which provider offers better enterprise support?

Neither provider prominently advertises enterprise support tiers. Contact each provider directly to discuss custom support arrangements for production deployments.

Q: Which provider has better API and automation support?

Vast.ai provides a comprehensive API for programmatic control, while Scaleway may require more manual management. If automation is a priority, Vast.ai's API support will streamline your infrastructure-as-code workflows.

Q: Which provider has better container and Docker support?

Vast.ai offers native container support for running Docker images, while Scaleway may require additional configuration. Container support is valuable for reproducible ML pipelines and easy deployment of pre-built environments.

Scaleway and Vast.ai represent contrasting approaches in the GPU cloud market for ML/AI workloads. Scaleway, a established European provider, prioritizes data sovereignty and integrated services, making it ideal for enterprises needing GDPR-compliant, reliable infrastructure within the EU. Its Nabu AI Supercomputer offers massive scale with thousands of H100 GPUs in a single cluster, emphasizing low-carbon energy and seamless integration with object storage, Kubernetes, and managed databases. Billing is straightforward per-hour on-demand, backed by SOC 2, GDPR, and ISO 27001 compliance. Vast.ai, conversely, operates as a decentralized P2P marketplace aggregating GPUs from global hosts, targeting cost-sensitive users for experiments and bursty workloads. It excels in absolute lowest prices via granular filters like DLPerf/$ (deep learning performance per dollar), with per-hour on-demand and ultra-cheap spot instances. However, this model introduces variability in reliability and support, limited to GDPR compliance. Key differentiators: Scaleway provides predictable performance, multi-GPU scaling in dedicated clusters, and production-grade SLAs; Vast.ai offers 5-10x cost savings but with risks of interruptions, heterogeneous hardware, and peer-dependent networking. Scaleway suits regulated, long-running jobs; Vast.ai fits prototyping and cost-optimized distributed training. Overall, Scaleway delivers enterprise value, while Vast.ai maximizes affordability for agile ML teams.

Visit Scaleway Visit Vast.ai

Our Recommendation

Choose Scaleway for production ML workloads requiring EU data residency, high availability, and compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001), especially for teams of 10+ engineers managing large-scale training on Nabu clusters. It's optimal for steady-state usage with budgets allowing 2-5x higher costs than spot markets, integrating well with existing cloud services. Opt for Vast.ai when prioritizing rock-bottom costs for small-to-medium teams (1-5 engineers) running experiments, fine-tuning, or interruptible jobs. Ideal for budgets under $0.50/GPU-hour, leveraging spot instances for 80%+ savings, but only for non-critical tasks tolerant of 5-20% downtime and variable host quality. Avoid Vast.ai for latency-sensitive production; use Scaleway if reliability trumps cost by >20%.

Live Pricing

Compare real-time GPU offers from Scaleway and Vast.ai

80 offers available

Provider	GPU Model	VRAM	Host Specs	Region	Price	Status
Vast.ai	8×NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB VRAM	12GB	24 vCPU 126GB RAM 738GB Storage	Quebec	$0.00/GPU/hr $0.01/hr total (8×)	Sold Out
Vast.ai	6×NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB VRAM	12GB	8 vCPU 94GB RAM 1660GB Storage	Ukraine	$0.01/GPU/hr $0.04/hr total (6×)	Sold Out
Vast.ai	6×NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB VRAM	12GB	8 vCPU 94GB RAM 1527GB Storage	Ukraine	$0.01/GPU/hr $0.04/hr total (6×)	Sold Out
Vast.ai	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB VRAM	12GB	4 vCPU 23GB RAM 670GB Storage	Turkey	$0.01/GPU/hr	Sold Out
Vast.ai	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB VRAM	11GB	16 vCPU 31GB RAM 1549GB Storage	Georgia	$0.01/GPU/hr	Sold Out

Vast.ai

Quebec

Sold Out

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30608x

12GB VRAM

24 vCPU

126GB RAM

738GB Storage

625 Mbps ↑

626 Mbps ↓

$0.00/GPU/hr

$0.01/hr total (8×)

Vast.ai

Ukraine

Sold Out

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti6x

12GB VRAM

8 vCPU

94GB RAM

1660GB Storage

394 Mbps ↑

689 Mbps ↓

$0.01/GPU/hr

$0.04/hr total (6×)

Vast.ai

Ukraine

Sold Out

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti6x

12GB VRAM

8 vCPU

94GB RAM

1527GB Storage

$0.01/GPU/hr

$0.04/hr total (6×)

Vast.ai

Turkey

Sold Out

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

12GB VRAM

4 vCPU

23GB RAM

670GB Storage

21 Mbps ↑

99 Mbps ↓

$0.01/GPU/hr

Vast.ai

Georgia

Sold Out

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

11GB VRAM

16 vCPU

31GB RAM

1549GB Storage

722 Mbps ↑

388 Mbps ↓

$0.01/GPU/hr

View all 80 offers

Scaleway(Est. 1999)

A major European cloud provider emphasizing data sovereignty and integrated services.

Best For

European data sovereigntyIntegrated cloud services

Unique Features

Nabu AI Supercomputer
Strong environmental credentials

Vast.ai(Est. 2018)

A decentralized marketplace for absolute lowest costs and distributed experiments.

Best For

Absolute lowest costsDistributed experiments

Unique Features

Granular search filters like DLPerf/$
Decentralized marketplace

Feature Comparison

Access Methods

Feature	Scaleway	Vast.ai
SSH
Jupyter Notebooks
Web Terminal
API
Kubernetes
Containers

Billing Options

Feature	Scaleway	Vast.ai
Billing Increment	per-hour	per-hour
Spot Instances
Reserved Instances
Prepaid Credits

Compliance

Certification	Scaleway	Vast.ai
SOC 2
HIPAA
GDPR
ISO 27001

Support

Feature	Scaleway	Vast.ai
SLA
Enterprise Support
Discord Community

Pricing Analysis

Pricing Overview

Scaleway employs per-hour on-demand billing with no spot or reserved options publicly emphasized, ensuring predictable costs (e.g., ~€2-4/hour for A100/H100 equivalents) but lacking flexibility for bursts. Minimums apply per instance, suiting steady workloads. Vast.ai offers per-hour on-demand (~$0.50-2/hour for similar GPUs) plus spot instances at 50-90% discounts ($0.10-0.50/hour), with real-time bidding and filters for DLPerf/$. Implications: Scaleway favors long runs (>24h) minimizing startup overhead; Vast.ai excels for short experiments (<4h) or interruptible jobs, but spots risk eviction (5-30min notice), inflating effective costs for resumption in failure-prone training.

Value Assessment

Vast.ai dominates value for small experiments and fine-tuning, offering 5-10x better $/FLOP via spots on RTX 4090/A100s, ideal for solo devs or <10h runs. Scaleway provides superior value for large training runs (>100 GPU-hours) on Nabu, where cluster efficiency and no interruptions yield 20-30% effective savings over piecemeal Vast rentals despite higher rates. For production inference, Scaleway's reliability justifies premium; Vast.ai suits batch inference if downtime-tolerant. Overall, Vast.ai for < $1k/month budgets; Scaleway for scaled, mission-critical value.

Use Case Comparison

LLM Training

Scaleway recommended

Scaleway

Scaleway excels with Nabu supercluster enabling seamless multi-node H100 scaling (up to 4k+ GPUs), NVLink for efficient all-reduce, and integrated storage for datasets >1PB. Predictable uptime suits weeks-long pretraining, with EU sovereignty for regulated models. Drawback: Higher costs limit to funded teams.

Vast.ai

Vast.ai enables cheap distributed training via DLPerf/$ filtered clusters, but host heterogeneity and spot evictions disrupt long jobs. Good for <100B param models on aggregated A100s, yet requires custom fault-tolerance like checkpointing every 30min.

Batch Inference

Vast.ai recommended

Scaleway

Scaleway supports reliable batch jobs via Kubernetes autoscaling and object storage integration, with consistent GPU perf for high-throughput serving. Compliance aids enterprise pipelines, though on-demand pricing accumulates for irregular volumes.

Vast.ai

Vast.ai shines for cost-sensitive batches using spot RTX/A100s, granular filters optimize for inference FLOPs/$. Interruptions manageable via queuing, but variable networking slows large-batch parallelism.

Real-time Inference

Scaleway recommended

Scaleway

Scaleway's dedicated instances and low-latency EU networking ensure <100ms p99 latencies, with autoscaling for traffic spikes. Strong for production APIs under strict SLAs and compliance needs.

Vast.ai

Vast.ai struggles with peer networking variability (50-500ms latencies) and spot unreliability, unsuitable for SLAs. On-demand viable for dev testing but lacks managed load balancers.

Fine-tuning & Experimentation

Vast.ai recommended

Scaleway

Scaleway works for structured experiments with Jupyter integration and per-hour billing, but premium pricing hampers rapid iteration for small teams prototyping multiple ideas.

Vast.ai

Vast.ai is perfect for hyperparameter sweeps via cheap, diverse GPUs (e.g., 3090s at $0.20/h), spot bidding, and quick spin-up/down. DLPerf/$ guides optimal hardware; risks offset by short runtimes.

Technical Comparison

Infrastructure

Scaleway leverages dedicated bare-metal GPUs (A100/H100) in sovereign EU DCs, with 100Gbps+ InfiniBand/NVLink for clusters, ephemeral/block storage, managed Kubernetes, and Nabu for exascale. Vast.ai virtualizes via Docker on global hosts' bare metal, offering Ethernet (10-100Gbps) P2P networking, host-local NVMe, but no native K8s—users manage via SSH/CLI. Scaleway emphasizes managed ops; Vast.ai raw flexibility.

Performance

Scaleway delivers consistent 95%+ GPU util via optimized Nabu interconnects, reliable multi-GPU (e.g., 8x H100 pods). Vast.ai varies 70-95% util by host (DLPerf scores 10-200 TFLOPS/$), strong single-node but scaling hampered by WAN latencies (5-50ms). Availability: Scaleway queues during peaks; Vast.ai instant but 10-20% low-quality hosts. Scaleway edges production perf; Vast.ai experimental speed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which provider offers spot instances for cost savings?▾

Vast.ai offers spot/preemptible instances, which can significantly reduce costs (typically 50-80% off on-demand prices) for interruptible workloads like batch processing and training with checkpoints. Scaleway does not currently offer spot instances, so all usage is billed at on-demand rates. If cost optimization through spot instances is important for your workflow, Vast.ai would be the better choice.

What is the minimum billing increment for each provider?▾

Scaleway bills per-hour, while Vast.ai bills per-hour. Both providers use the same billing granularity, so this factor won't differentiate your decision.

Which provider has better compliance certifications for enterprise use?▾

Scaleway holds SOC 2, GDPR, ISO 27001 certifications. Vast.ai holds GDPR certification. For organizations with strict compliance requirements, Scaleway offers more comprehensive coverage.

Which provider offers better development tools like Jupyter notebooks?▾

Both Scaleway and Vast.ai offer built-in Jupyter notebook support, making it easy to start experimenting without additional setup. This is particularly valuable for data scientists and researchers who prefer interactive development environments. Additionally, both providers offer web-based terminal access for quick debugging.

Which provider has better Kubernetes support for orchestration?▾

Scaleway offers native Kubernetes support for container orchestration, while Vast.ai does not. If you're building production ML pipelines with Kubernetes-based tools like Kubeflow, Argo, or KServe, Scaleway will integrate more seamlessly with your workflow.

What is each provider best suited for?▾

Scaleway is best suited for European data sovereignty; Integrated cloud services. Vast.ai excels at Absolute lowest costs; Distributed experiments. Understanding these specializations helps you choose the provider that aligns with your primary use case, though both can handle a variety of GPU computing needs.

Which provider offers reserved instances for long-term savings?▾

Scaleway offers reserved instance pricing for long-term commitments, while Vast.ai does not currently offer this option. Reserved instances are ideal for predictable, steady-state workloads like always-on inference services. For variable workloads, on-demand or spot instances may offer better flexibility.

Which provider offers better enterprise support?▾

Neither provider prominently advertises enterprise support tiers. Contact each provider directly to discuss custom support arrangements for production deployments.

Which provider has better API and automation support?▾

Vast.ai provides a comprehensive API for programmatic control, while Scaleway may require more manual management. If automation is a priority, Vast.ai's API support will streamline your infrastructure-as-code workflows.

Which provider has better container and Docker support?▾

Vast.ai offers native container support for running Docker images, while Scaleway may require additional configuration. Container support is valuable for reproducible ML pipelines and easy deployment of pre-built environments.

What unique features differentiate these providers?▾

Scaleway's standout features include: Nabu AI Supercomputer; Strong environmental credentials. Vast.ai's standout features include: Granular search filters like DLPerf/$; Decentralized marketplace. These differentiators may be decisive factors depending on your specific technical requirements and workflow preferences.

How do I get started with each provider?▾

To get started with Scaleway, visit their website at https://www.scaleway.com?utm_source=gpuperhour&utm_medium=referral to create an account and explore available GPU options. For Vast.ai, visit https://cloud.vast.ai/?ref_id=375842&utm_source=gpuperhour&utm_medium=referral to sign up. Both providers typically offer some form of free credits or trial period for new users. We recommend starting with a small experiment to evaluate the platform's ease of use, instance launch times, and overall fit for your workflow before committing to larger workloads.