Vast.ai
Vast.ai is an API-native GPU cloud for renting on-demand compute with real-time pricing and per-second billing.
Vast.ai
What is Vast.ai?
How to use Vast.ai?
- 1Create an account and add credit.
- 2Get your API key from the console.
- 3Search for GPUs by model, VRAM, price, and availability.
- 4Launch an instance through the console, CLI, SDK, or API.
- 5Scale workloads up or down as needed and stop instances when finished.
Vast.ai Key Features
- On-demand GPU rental
- API, CLI, and Python SDK access
- Real-time supply-and-demand pricing
- Per-second billing
- GPU filtering by model, VRAM, price, and availability
- Serverless model deployment
- Multi-node GPU clusters
- Large GPU marketplace with many hardware types
Vast.ai Use Cases
- AI model training
- LLM inference
- Fine-tuning
- Batch data processing
- GPU programming
- 3D rendering
- Image and video generation
- Agentic compute provisioning
- Research and experimentation
Vast.ai Pricing & Free Credits
Vast.ai currently operates on a Paid model.
Vast.ai Pros & Cons
Pros
- Wide range of GPU types
- API-native provisioning
- Real-time transparent pricing
- CLI, SDK, and REST API support
- Flexible for training and inference
Cons
- Pricing varies by supply and demand
- Requires technical setup for most workflows
- Not a traditional free-tier product
What is Vast.ai best for?
- Developers needing rented GPUs fast
- AI teams scaling training or inference
- Users who want programmatic infrastructure control
- Teams comparing GPU prices in real time
Vast.ai FAQ
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