The A100 GPU rental price starts at $1.09/GPU-hr on Thunder Compute in this August 2026 comparison of on-demand NVIDIA A100 cloud GPU pricing.
This guide covers cloud rental rates for both the 80GB and 40GB memory variants across major cloud and marketplace providers. It doesn't cover the hardware purchase price of an NVIDIA A100 GPU.
Key Takeaways
- A100 rental starts at $1.09/GPU-hr for the 80GB card on Thunder Compute, the lowest rate tracked.
- The median A100 40GB rate is about $0.81/GPU-hr on the Vast.ai marketplace across 6 US/CA hosts.
- Hyperscalers charge 3-5x more, from $3.43/GPU-hr on AWS to $5.03/GPU-hr on Google Cloud for the 80GB card.
- The 80GB card is usually the better value, often costing less than a 40GB.
- All rates are on-demand and US-region, with no reserved or committed-use discounts applied.
NVIDIA A100 80GB Cloud Pricing
The pricing information in this guide is reviewed weekly.
| Provider | GPU / Instance | On-Demand $/GPU-hr | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thunder Compute | A100 80GB | $1.09 | |
| Vast.ai | A100 80GB | $1.34 | Median of 1 verified US/CA host, priced as compute plus 100 GB storage; bandwidth billed separately. |
| Runpod | A100 80GB | $1.39 | |
| Crusoe Cloud | A100 80GB | $2.00 | |
| Vultr | A100 80GB | $2.40 | |
| Modal | A100 80GB | $2.50 | |
| CoreWeave | 8 x A100 80GB | $2.70 | Normalized from an 8-GPU node. |
| Lambda | A100 80GB | $2.79 | |
| Paperspace | A100 80GB | $3.18 | |
| AWS EC2 | p4de.24xlarge | $3.43 | Normalized from an 8-GPU node. |
| Azure | Standard_NC24ads_A100_v4 | $3.67 | Cheapest US region (eastus); ranges $3.67-$4.78/GPU-hr across 8 US options. |
| Oracle Cloud | BM.GPU.A100-v2.8 | $4.00 | |
| Google Cloud | a2-ultragpu-1g | $5.03 | Cheapest US region (us-central1); ranges $5.03-$6.04/GPU-hr across 10 US options. |
| Last reviewed on August 28, 2026. | |||
Thunder Compute is about 4.7x cheaper than Google Cloud for a single A100, about 3.1x cheaper than AWS, and about 1.8x cheaper than Crusoe Cloud.
Cost to Run an A100 80GB for 2 Hours
| Provider | On-Demand $/GPU-hr | 2-Hour Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Thunder Compute | $1.09 | $2.18 |
| Vast.ai | $1.34 | $2.68 |
| Runpod | $1.39 | $2.78 |
| Crusoe Cloud | $2.00 | $4.00 |
| Vultr | $2.40 | $4.79 |
| Modal | $2.50 | $5.00 |
| CoreWeave | $2.70 | $5.40 |
| Lambda | $2.79 | $5.58 |
| Paperspace | $3.18 | $6.36 |
| AWS EC2 | $3.43 | $6.86 |
| Azure | $3.67 | $7.35 |
| Oracle Cloud | $4.00 | $8.00 |
| Google Cloud | $5.03 | $10.06 |
Methodology
- On-demand only: No reserved-instance, commitment, or prepaid discounts.
- Same class of silicon: Listed rates are for NVIDIA A100 GPUs where the provider publishes A100 pricing, separated by memory variant.
- Public price lists: Each figure comes from the vendor's current pricing page on the date above.
- USD in U.S. regions: Rates in other regions can differ by 5-20%.
- We review this data weekly.
A100 Cost For Longer Workloads
Even small differences in hourly pricing add up quickly. A 100-hour A100 80GB workload costs $109.00 on Thunder Compute, $200.00 on Crusoe Cloud, $343.09 on AWS, and $502.77 on Google Cloud. These figures exclude storage, networking, and egress fees.
NVIDIA A100 40GB Cloud Pricing
| Provider | GPU / Instance | On-Demand $/GPU-hr | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vast.ai | A100 40GB | $0.81 | Median of 6 verified US/CA hosts; ranges $0.68-$0.82/GPU-hr. Priced as compute plus 100 GB storage, with bandwidth billed separately. |
| Lambda | A100 40GB | $1.99 | Single-GPU on-demand rate. |
| Paperspace | A100 40GB | $3.09 | Single-GPU on-demand rate. |
| Google Cloud | a2-highgpu-1g | $3.67 | Cheapest US region (us-central1); ranges $3.67-$4.33/GPU-hr across 10 US options. |
| Last reviewed on August 28, 2026. | |||
See how different platforms stack up against each other in our breakdown of the cheapest cloud GPU providers.
FAQ
How much does an A100 GPU cost to rent?
A100 rental starts at $1.09/GPU-hr for the 80GB card on Thunder Compute, the lowest rate tracked. Hyperscalers charge more, from about $3.43/hr on AWS to $5.03/hr on Google Cloud. Marketplace and specialist providers fall in between.
What is the cheapest A100 40GB cloud price?
The cheapest A100 40GB rate is about $0.81/GPU-hr, a median marketplace rate on Vast.ai across 6 verified US/CA hosts. Lambda starts at $1.99/hr and Google Cloud at $3.67/hr for the 40GB a2-highgpu-1g instance.
Does Thunder Compute offer the A100 40GB?
No, Thunder Compute only carries the 80GB A100 at $1.09/GPU-hr. The 40GB card is available from marketplaces like Vast.ai (about $0.81/hr) and specialist clouds like Lambda ($1.99/hr). The 80GB card often costs less than a 40GB card elsewhere.
Should I rent the A100 40GB or 80GB?
The 80GB variant is usually the better value, costing little more (or less) than a 40GB card while doubling memory. Thunder Compute's 80GB A100 at $1.09/hr beats 40GB cards on Paperspace ($3.09/hr) and Google Cloud ($3.67/hr). Choose 40GB only when priced well below the 80GB card.
How much is an A100 on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud?
AWS is the cheapest hyperscaler at about $3.43/GPU-hr, normalized from an 8-GPU p4de.24xlarge node, followed by Azure at $3.67/hr and Oracle at $4.00/hr. Google Cloud starts at $5.03/hr for the 80GB a2-ultragpu-1g. Rates vary 5-20% by region.