| Feature | Prototyping | Production |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Lower | Higher |
| Compatibility | Most ML workloads | Full CUDA compatibility |
| GPUs | A6000, A100, H100 | A100, H100 |
| Multi-GPU | No | Up to 8 GPUs |
| Graphics (OpenGL, Vulkan) | No | Yes |
Prototyping Mode
Prototyping mode is currently in beta and exclusively available on Thunder Compute.
Supported Software
- PyTorch: Fully supported (downgrading from the pre-installed version may cause issues)
- TensorFlow
- JAX
- Jupyter Notebooks
- Model Serving: ComfyUI, Ollama, VLLM, and others
- Fine Tuning: Unsloth and others
Unsupported Workloads
- Graphics workloads (OpenGL, Vulkan, FFMPEG)
- Custom CUDA kernels (may exhibit unpredictable behavior)
- Hardware-specific profiling tools
Production Mode
Production mode provisions a standard virtual machine with full CUDA compatibility and predictable performance.When to Choose Production
- Long-running training jobs
- Multi-GPU workloads (up to 8 GPUs)
- Graphics workloads (OpenGL, Vulkan, FFMPEG)
- Custom CUDA kernels
- Workloads requiring accurate hardware metrics
Switching Between Modes
Use the modify command to switch between prototyping and production mode on an existing instance. Modify also lets you change GPU type, vCPUs, and RAM. Storage can be expanded but not reduced.Learn More
- How Thunder Compute Works - Technical deep dive into our CUDA-level optimizations
- Technical Specifications - Hardware, networking, and storage details