# RunPod vs Vast.ai

| Attribute | RunPod | Vast.ai |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 63.1 (60% (medium)) | 73.9 (33% (low)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | RunPod is a cloud platform providing on-demand access to GPU compute across 31 global regions for AI model training, fine-tuning, and inference. Users can deploy containerized workloads, serverless endpoints, or distributed training jobs with transparent hourly/per-second billing, supporting reserved capacity for committed usage or spot instances for cost reduction. | A marketplace connecting users with distributed GPU providers worldwide, enabling hourly GPU rentals at variable prices determined by supply and demand across thousands of independent hosts. |
| features.capabilities | `{"soc2":true,"multi_region":true,"soc2_type_ii":true,"compute_model":"serverless_per_token","pricing_model":"on-demand-published","deployment_model":"serverless","max_cluster_scale":"multi-node-cluster","per_second_billing":true,"spot_preemptible_pricing":true,"reserved_capacity_contracts":true,"openai_compatible_rest_api_schema":true,"bring_your_own_weights_byow_hosting":true,"multimodal_vision_and_audio_in_out_support":true}` | `{"soc2":true,"interconnect":"infiniband","multi_region":true,"pricing_model":"marketplace-bid","amd_gpu_support":true,"deployment_model":"marketplace","max_cluster_scale":"multi-node-cluster","per_second_billing":true,"spot_preemptible_pricing":true}` |
| integrations.count | 15 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Docker Hub"},{"name":"HuggingFace"},{"name":"PyTorch"},{"name":"TensorFlow"},{"name":"NVIDIA CUDA"},{"name":"Jupyter"},{"name":"VS Code"},{"name":"Whisper"},{"name":"Stable Diffusion"},{"name":"YOLOv5"},{"name":"DreamBooth"},{"name":"LLaMA"},{"name":"OpenAI Python SDK"},{"name":"Bazel"}]` | - |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","summary":"Usage-based pricing on GPU compute by hour or second. Reserved instances available for committed capacity; Spot instances available at reduced rates for interruptible workloads.","sourceUrl":"https://www.runpod.io/articles/guides/pricing-models-ai-cloud-platforms","retrievedAt":"2026-08-25T12:09:38.868Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","summary":"Market-based hourly pricing ($2.99 to $8.60+ per GPU/hr for major models). Per-second billing. Minimum $5 to get started.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://vast.ai/article/how-much-does-it-cost-to-rent-a-gpu-in-the-cloud-live-pricing-guide","retrievedAt":"2026-08-25T12:18:26.637Z","billingPeriods":["second"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | no |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | unknown | unknown |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | yes | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |

## Capabilities (GPU Cloud)

| Capability | RunPod | Vast.ai |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Deployment model | Serverless | Marketplace |
| Interconnect | - | Infiniband |
| Max cluster scale | Multi node cluster | Multi node cluster |
| Kubernetes support | - | - |
| Slurm support | - | - |
| Spot preemptible pricing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per second billing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reserved capacity contracts | ✓ | - |
| Amd GPU support | - | ✓ |
| SOC2 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi region | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing model | On demand published | Marketplace bid |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:30:15.653Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*