Looking for cheap A100s? Here's how Crusoe Cloud compares to Thunder Compute across pricing, billing, flexibility, and ease of use.
1. A100 80GB Pricing (On-Demand)
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Sources: Crusoe Cloud pricing
Thunder Compute is over 2× cheaper than Crusoe's base price, with no lock-in or commitments.
2. Persistent Storage and Egress
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Source: Crusoe storage documentation
Crusoe's block storage is cheaper, but Thunder's GPU savings typically outweigh storage cost differences.
3. Flexibility and Instance Management
<ul><li><strong>Thunder Compute</strong>: Resize CPU, RAM, and disk live. Persistent storage tied to instance. No contracts, no waitlist, no limits per account.</li><li><strong>Crusoe Cloud</strong>: PCIe A100s often limited to one per VM. SXM A100s tied to full-node allocations. Reserved pricing requires advance planning and longer commitments.</li></ul>
Also see Shadeform for current Crusoe capacity.
4. Developer Experience
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Thunder prioritizes speed and simplicity—ideal for fast iteration. Crusoe emphasizes sustainability and reserved cluster usage.
5. Verdict: Which to Choose?
If you need flexible, low-cost A100s with no commitment and simple UX, Thunder Compute is the winner. If you need long-term reservations or are optimizing for carbon offsets, Crusoe Cloud may appeal—but expect to pay more up front.
Quick Summary
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Get started on Thunder Compute today for one-click access to GPUs in VS Code