Lightning AI vs Vast.ai
As of , Lightning AI and Vast.ai share 5 GPUs today, but on none do both list an on-demand rate: at least one side is community capacity or a marketplace floor, compared below and not counted. On the priciest shared card, NVIDIA H200: Lightning AI $4.50 vs Vast.ai $6.43 (Multi-GPU machines · floor) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
On-demand, per GPU-hour
| GPU |  Lightning AI |  Vast.ai | Difference | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA H200 median $4.54 · 56 providers · lowest Beam $2.09 from | $4.50 captured Deploy ↗ | $6.43 Multi-GPU machines · floor captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
| NVIDIA L40S median $1.52 · 42 providers · lowest CloudRift $0.63 | $3.54 captured Deploy ↗ | $0.73 Multi-GPU machines · floor captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
| NVIDIA A100 40GB median $1.98 · 22 providers · lowest CloudGPU $0.63 | $2.19 captured Deploy ↗ | $0.53 Multi-GPU machines · floor captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB median $1.99 · 63 providers · lowest CloudRift $1.05 | $1.85 captured Deploy ↗ | $1.07 Multi-GPU machines · floor captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
| NVIDIA L4 median $0.80 · 24 providers · lowest Hikube $0.27 GPU only | $0.79 captured Deploy ↗ | $0.67 floor captured Deploy ↗ | — | not the same market |
How this is compared
Cloud GPU rental prices of Lightning AI and Vast.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: Lightning AI $4.50 vs Vast.ai $6.43 (Multi-GPU machines · floor) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
- NVIDIA L40S: Lightning AI $3.54 vs Vast.ai $0.73 (Multi-GPU machines · floor) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
- NVIDIA A100 40GB: Lightning AI $2.19 vs Vast.ai $0.53 (Multi-GPU machines · floor) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
- NVIDIA A100 80GB: Lightning AI $1.85 vs Vast.ai $1.07 (Multi-GPU machines · floor) per GPU-hour — not the same market, not counted.
- NVIDIA L4: Lightning AI $0.79 vs Vast.ai $0.67 (floor) 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: