Vast.ai vs ApexVPS: Monthly GPU Rental Compared (2026)
Written by the ApexVPS team • Last updated: September 2026 • 8 min read
If you are hunting the lowest sticker price for an A100 80GB, Vast.ai’s marketplace lists A100 PCIe machines from $0.44/hr — about $317 if one ran all 720 hours of a month at that rate — while ApexVPS rents a dedicated A100 for a flat $1,290/month. For an H100 80GB, typical Vast.ai marketplace rates hover around $2.00/hr (≈$1,440/month) versus ApexVPS’s flat $1,990/month. The catch is the model, not the math: Vast.ai is a marketplace of independent hosts with prices that update hourly and machines that can be interrupted; ApexVPS is one dedicated server at one flat monthly price, with unlimited usage and no meter at all.
This comparison uses public prices checked in September 2026, with sources linked at the end. Monthly equivalents are plain 720-hour multiplications of the listed hourly rate.
Marketplace vs flat monthly rental, in one table
| Vast.ai (marketplace, hourly) | ApexVPS (flat monthly) | |
|---|---|---|
| A100 80GB | Listed from $0.44/hr (PCIe) and ~$0.53/hr (SXM4) ≈ $317–$382 per 720-hour month | $1,290/month, unlimited usage |
| H100 80GB | Typically ~$0.90–$2.27/hr depending on host ≈ $648–$1,634/month | $1,990/month, unlimited usage |
| T4 | Consumer/datacenter cards listed by individual hosts, rates move hourly | $249/month, unlimited usage |
| Pricing model | Host-set marketplace prices that update hourly; unverified and verified host tiers | One flat invoice per month (or year, −30%); price on the page is the price you pay |
| Reliability model | Hosts vary; machines can go offline or be repriced mid-month | Dedicated server, 99.9%–99.99% SLA, 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Payment | Account credit funded by card | Crypto only (BTC, ETH, USDT + 30 coins), email-only signup, no KYC |
Sources: Vast.ai live pricing pages and third-party 2026 price trackers, checked September 2026. Marketplace rates move constantly; treat the monthly equivalents as best-case illustrations, not quotes.
Where Vast.ai wins
- Sticker price. Nothing in this comparison beats “from $0.44/hr” for an A100 — if a suitable host is actually free when you need it.
- Choice. Hundreds of hosts, dozens of GPU models, every budget tier from consumer cards to B200.
- Short jobs. Rent by the hour, run the experiment, walk away — the classic marketplace sweet spot.
Where ApexVPS wins
- A price you can budget. Marketplace rates reprice hourly and good hosts disappear mid-project; a flat $1,290 or $1,990 invoice does not move.
- A dedicated, accountable machine. One provider, a defined SLA, 24/7 monitoring and a 30-day money-back guarantee refunded in USDT — instead of vetting individual hosts.
- The whole server is included. Dedicated vCPU, RAM, NVMe storage and a bandwidth allowance are folded into the monthly price, not metered separately.
- Crypto-native, no-KYC checkout. Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and 30+ coins, email-only signup.
The honest math
On pure arithmetic, Vast.ai’s best listed rates beat any flat monthly plan — $317–$1,634 of marketplace hours can undercut $1,290–$1,990 flat. That is exactly why the marketplace exists, and if your job is short, interruptible and price-only, take it. What the arithmetic does not capture is the probability that the $0.44/hr host is occupied, repriced, or rebooted in week three of your training run, and the engineering time spent re-checking prices and migrating workloads. ApexVPS sells the removal of that variable: one invoice, one machine, unlimited hours.
Verdict
Choose Vast.ai when the job is short, interruptible, and the lowest possible hourly rate is the whole point. Choose ApexVPS when a GPU must simply exist and keep running for a month or more, at a price fixed in advance — the monthly GPU plans from $249 are built for exactly that.
Sources
- Vast.ai — A100 PCIe live pricing (from $0.44/hr; prices update hourly), checked September 2026
- Vast.ai — live cloud GPU pricing guide (A100 SXM4 ~$0.53/hr), checked September 2026
- Thunder Compute — A100 vs H100 provider price table (Vast.ai H100 ~$2.00/hr, marketplace), August 2026
- ApexVPS — GPU plans and specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Vast.ai cheaper than ApexVPS for a full month?
On listed hourly rates, often yes: Vast.ai A100 PCIe starts at $0.44/hr (≈$317 per 720-hour month) and H100 around $2.00/hr (≈$1,440), versus ApexVPS’s flat $1,290 and $1,990. But marketplace prices update hourly, the cheapest hosts are frequently occupied, and machines can be interrupted — ApexVPS sells a fixed price and a dedicated machine instead.
Does ApexVPS bill GPUs by the hour like Vast.ai?
No. ApexVPS GPU servers are flat monthly (or yearly, −30%) rentals with unlimited usage — no hourly meter, no prepaid balance, no bidding on hosts. The dedicated card is yours 24/7 for the whole term.
Can I pay for Vast.ai or ApexVPS with crypto without KYC?
ApexVPS checkout is crypto-only — Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and 30+ coins — with email-only signup and no KYC. Vast.ai account credit is funded by card through a standard account.