Microsoft Azure vs RunPod
As of , RunPod lists the lower on-demand rate on 6 of the 6 GPUs both offer on-demand. Not counted: 2 more shared GPUs, on community capacity or a marketplace floor. On the priciest shared card both list on-demand, NVIDIA H100 SXM: Microsoft Azure $11.06 (eastus) vs RunPod $3.99 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $7.07 (64%) cheaper.
On-demand, per GPU-hour
| GPU |  Microsoft Azure |  RunPod | Difference | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA H100 SXM median $3.52 · 38 providers · lowest Cudo Compute $1.79 GPU only | $11.06 eastus captured Deploy ↗ | $3.99 Secure Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | $7.07 (64%) | RunPod |
| NVIDIA H200 median $4.54 · 51 providers · lowest Beam $2.09 from | $10.60 westus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $5.29 Secure Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | $5.31 (50%) | RunPod |
| NVIDIA H100 NVL median $4.23 · 8 providers · lowest GPU.ai $2.06 from | $6.98 eastus captured Deploy ↗ | $3.19 Secure Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | $3.79 (54%) | RunPod |
| AMD Instinct MI300X median $2.81 · 8 providers · lowest TensorWave $1.71 from | $6.00 eastus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $2.39 Secure Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | $3.61 (60%) | RunPod |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell median $2.21 · 38 providers · lowest Hostinger $0.65 from | $5.50 eastus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $2.49 Secure Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | $3.01 (55%) | RunPod |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB median $2.00 · 58 providers · lowest CloudRift $1.05 | $3.67 eastus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $1.79 Secure Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | $1.88 (51%) | RunPod |
| NVIDIA A100 40GB median $1.98 · 20 providers · lowest Trooper.AI $0.68 from | $3.40 westus2 captured Deploy ↗ | $1.00 Community Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
| NVIDIA V100 median $2.48 · 11 providers · lowest Verda $0.23 | $3.06 eastus captured Deploy ↗ | $0.23 Community Cloud captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
Spot / interruptible, per GPU-hour
| GPU | Microsoft Azure | RunPod |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA H100 SXM | $2.04 captured | — |
| NVIDIA H100 NVL | $1.29 captured | — |
| AMD Instinct MI300X | $1.11 captured | — |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell | $1.02 captured | — |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB | $0.68 captured | — |
| NVIDIA A100 40GB | $0.75 captured | — |
| NVIDIA V100 | $0.57 captured | — |
How this is compared
Cloud GPU rental prices of Microsoft Azure and RunPod, 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 H100 SXM: Microsoft Azure $11.06 (eastus) vs RunPod $3.99 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $7.07 (64%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA H200: Microsoft Azure $10.60 (westus2) vs RunPod $5.29 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $5.31 (50%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA H100 NVL: Microsoft Azure $6.98 (eastus) vs RunPod $3.19 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $3.79 (54%) cheaper.
- AMD Instinct MI300X: Microsoft Azure $6.00 (eastus2) vs RunPod $2.39 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $3.61 (60%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell: Microsoft Azure $5.50 (eastus2) vs RunPod $2.49 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $3.01 (55%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA A100 80GB: Microsoft Azure $3.67 (eastus2) vs RunPod $1.79 (Secure Cloud) per GPU-hour on-demand — RunPod is $1.88 (51%) cheaper.
- NVIDIA A100 40GB: Microsoft Azure $3.40 (westus2) vs RunPod $1.00 (Community Cloud) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
- NVIDIA V100: Microsoft Azure $3.06 (eastus) vs RunPod $0.23 (Community Cloud) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
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: