Market insights
Runpod Pricing (December 2025) vs Thunder Compute
September 16, 2025
9 mins read
If you’re comparing Runpod’s GPU pricing to other clouds, you’ll notice multiple product lines (Community Cloud, Secure Cloud, Pods, Serverless) and per‑second billing. Below is a concise, factual breakdown of Runpod’s current rates and how they stack up against Thunder Compute.
Sources:
- Runpod Pricing
- Runpod Pods Docs
- Runpod Serverless Docs
- Runpod Storage / Network Volumes
- Runpod Regions
- Thunder Compute Pricing
- Thunder Compute Home
TL;DR:
- Runpod H100 80GB starts at $1.99/hr (Community Cloud). See the Runpod Pricing page.
- Thunder Compute H100 80GB is $1.47/hr on-demand, with VS Code and persistent storage built in. See Thunder Compute Pricing.
- Both are billed per-second.
Runpod Pricing Snapshot (July 2025)
| GPU | Product / Tier | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|
| H100 80GB (PCIe) | Community Cloud | $1.99/hr |
| H100 80GB (PCIe) | Secure Cloud | $2.39/hr |
| A100 80GB | Community Cloud | $1.64/hr |
| RTX 4090 | Community Cloud | $0.34/hr |
Check for changes on the Runpod Pricing site.
Runpod advertises thousands of GPUs across 30+ regions. See the Runpod Regions page.
Thunder Compute vs Runpod: Quick Feature & Price Comparison
| Factor | Thunder Compute | Runpod |
|---|---|---|
| H100 80GB On‑demand | $1.47/hr | $1.99/hr (Community) / $2.39/hr (Secure) |
| A100 80GB On‑demand | $0.78/hr | $1.64/hr |
| Billing | Per second | Per second |
| IDE/Dev Experience | Native in VS Code, persistent storage, snapshots, hot‑swaps | Pods (custom VMs) or Serverless endpoints; VS Code not built‑in |
| Storage Pricing | Persistent disk by default & expandable for $0.015/GB/month | Network volumes $0.07/GB/month (first 1 TB), $0.05 thereafter |
| Setup Time | One‑click instance launch | Pods or Serverless setup (still fast, but more choices) |
| Target Users | ML engineers who want low‑friction dev workflow | Teams needing consumer hardware or serverless inference |
See Thunder Compute Pricing, Runpod Pricing, and Runpod Storage Docs for details.
When Runpod Might Be Better for You
- Serverless inference at scale. Runpod’s Serverless endpoints (sync/async) are turnkey. Read the Runpod Serverless docs.
- Specific global regions. If you must deploy in a specific country/region, check Runpod’s region list.
- Broader hardware selection. If you need RTX cards, crowdsourcing through RunPod is your only option.
When Thunder Compute Is the Cheaper, Easier Choice
- Training or fine-tuning sessions that run hours or days. Hourly billing is fine, and base rates on H100/A100 are lower. See Thunder Compute Pricing.
- Developer-first workflow in VS Code. Launch a GPU and start coding instantly—no extra setup for storage, snapshots, or hot-swaps. Check the Thunder Compute homepage.
- Built-in persistent storage. No separate network volume line items to watch.
Pods vs Serverless on Runpod (What Those Terms Mean)
- Pods: Traditional VM-like instances where you manage the environment—best for training or long-running tasks. (Runpod Pods docs)
- Serverless: Pay only while your code runs; perfect for inference endpoints or short scripts. (Runpod Serverless docs)
If your workload is training-heavy and you value an IDE-based experience, Thunder Compute is likely simpler.