AI API

Vast.ai

Vast.ai is an API-native GPU cloud for renting on-demand compute with real-time pricing and per-second billing.

What is Vast.ai?

Vast.ai is a GPU cloud platform for renting compute resources on demand. It offers API, CLI, and SDK-based provisioning, real-time market pricing, and infrastructure options for AI training, inference, and other GPU workloads.

Vast.ai vs Similar AI Tools

Pricing ModelPaidCustom PricingFreeFree
Free Credits
Key Features
  • On-demand GPU rental
  • API, CLI, and Python SDK access
  • Real-time supply-and-demand pricing
  • Enterprise-Grade Runtime with high availability
  • Flexible Identity & Access (SAML, OAuth)
  • Tenant Isolation with isolated runtimes, credentials, and audit trails
  • Emulates Ollama, OpenAI, and llama.cpp APIs
  • Transparent forwarding to NVIDIA's OpenAI-compatible API
  • Optional response caching with configurable TTL and size
  • Transparent credential injection for AI agents
  • AES-256-GCM encrypted secret storage at rest
  • Host and path matching for routing secrets to endpoints
Pros
  • Wide range of GPU types
  • API-native provisioning
  • Enterprise-grade security and governance built-in
  • Multi-tenant isolation for SaaS providers
  • Lightweight and easy to deploy via Docker
  • Caches responses to reduce API calls and latency
  • Open-source and self-hosted, giving full control over credentials
  • Easy setup with one-line install or Docker
Cons
  • Pricing varies by supply and demand
  • Requires technical setup for most workflows
  • Pricing is not transparent and requires contacting sales
  • Requires technical expertise to set up and configure workflows
  • Only forwards to NVIDIA's API; no other cloud provider support
  • Requires a valid NVIDIA API key
  • Currently limited to single-user local mode by default; OAuth setup requires additional config
  • Requires self-hosting infrastructure (Docker/PostgreSQL)
Best For
  • Developers needing rented GPUs fast
  • AI teams scaling training or inference
  • Enterprises needing a secure, governable integration platform
  • SaaS companies requiring multi-tenant integration for customers
  • Developers integrating NVIDIA LLMs into existing workflows
  • Users of Open WebUI, curl, or SDKs wanting to leverage NVIDIA models
  • Developers building AI agents that need secure API access
  • Teams managing multiple AI agent deployments with varying credential scopes

How to use Vast.ai?

  1. 1Create an account and add credit.
  2. 2Get your API key from the console.
  3. 3Search for GPUs by model, VRAM, price, and availability.
  4. 4Launch an instance through the console, CLI, SDK, or API.
  5. 5Scale workloads up or down as needed and stop instances when finished.

Vast.ai Key Features

  • On-demand GPU rental
  • API, CLI, and Python SDK access
  • Real-time supply-and-demand pricing
  • Per-second billing
  • GPU filtering by model, VRAM, price, and availability
  • Serverless model deployment
  • Multi-node GPU clusters
  • Large GPU marketplace with many hardware types

Vast.ai Use Cases

  • AI model training
  • LLM inference
  • Fine-tuning
  • Batch data processing
  • GPU programming
  • 3D rendering
  • Image and video generation
  • Agentic compute provisioning
  • Research and experimentation

Vast.ai Pricing & Free Credits

Vast.ai currently operates on a Paid model.

Pay-as-you-go GPU Cloud

Variable market pricing

GPU instances are priced by supply and demand, with per-second billing and no long-term contract required.

Start-up credit access

From $5

Users can begin by adding a small amount of credit to start renting compute.

Vast.ai Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Wide range of GPU types
  • API-native provisioning
  • Real-time transparent pricing
  • CLI, SDK, and REST API support
  • Flexible for training and inference

Cons

  • Pricing varies by supply and demand
  • Requires technical setup for most workflows
  • Not a traditional free-tier product

What is Vast.ai best for?

  • Developers needing rented GPUs fast
  • AI teams scaling training or inference
  • Users who want programmatic infrastructure control
  • Teams comparing GPU prices in real time

Vast.ai FAQ

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