Microsoft Azure vs Lightning AI
As of , Lightning AI lists the lower on-demand rate on 3 of the 4 GPUs both offer on-demand; Microsoft Azure wins on 1. On the priciest shared card both list on-demand, NVIDIA H200: Microsoft Azure $10.60 (westus2) vs Lightning AI $4.50 per GPU-hour on-demand — Lightning AI is $6.10 (58%) cheaper.
On-demand, per GPU-hour
| GPU |  Microsoft Azure |  Lightning AI | Difference | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA H200 median $4.54 · 56 providers · lowest Beam $2.09 from | $10.60 westus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $4.50 captured Deploy ↗ | $6.10 (58%) | Lightning AI |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB median $1.99 · 63 providers · lowest CloudRift $1.05 | $3.67 eastus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $1.85 captured Deploy ↗ | $1.82 (50%) | Lightning AI |
| NVIDIA A100 40GB median $1.98 · 22 providers · lowest CloudGPU $0.63 | $3.40 westus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $2.19 captured Deploy ↗ | $1.21 (36%) | Lightning AI |
| NVIDIA T4 median $0.57 · 18 providers · lowest immers.cloud $0.24 | $0.53 northcentralus captured Deploy ↗ | $0.55 captured Deploy ↗ | $0.02 (4%) | Microsoft Azure |
Spot / interruptible, per GPU-hour
| GPU | Microsoft Azure | Lightning AI |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA A100 80GB | $0.68 captured | — |
| NVIDIA A100 40GB | $0.75 captured | — |
| NVIDIA T4 | $0.07 captured | — |
How this is compared
Cloud GPU rental prices of Microsoft Azure and Lightning AI, compared per GPU-hour on the GPUs both list. Where a provider has several tiers or regions, its cheapest on-demand rate is used and labelled. Community capacity (RunPod Community Cloud) and marketplace floors are shown only where a provider has nothing else, and never decide which is cheaper.
GPU by GPU
- NVIDIA H200: Microsoft Azure $10.60 (westus2) vs Lightning AI $4.50 per GPU-hour on-demand — Lightning AI is $6.10 (58%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA A100 80GB: Microsoft Azure $3.67 (eastus2) vs Lightning AI $1.85 per GPU-hour on-demand — Lightning AI is $1.82 (50%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA A100 40GB: Microsoft Azure $3.40 (westus2) vs Lightning AI $2.19 per GPU-hour on-demand — Lightning AI is $1.21 (36%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA T4: Microsoft Azure $0.53 (northcentralus) vs Lightning AI $0.55 per GPU-hour on-demand — Microsoft Azure is $0.02 (4%) cheaper.
Not compared: GPUs only one of the two lists, reserved/committed tiers, and anything either provider prices only on request. See each provider's page for its full list.
Data updated: