Vast.ai made renting a stranger's GPU normal: a marketplace of hosts, bids for interruptible machines, a benchmark on every listing. People look for alternatives for different reasons — a refund policy, hosting on Windows, a self-serve cluster, a datacenter with certifications, or simply a GPU that is free right now. Here is how the main options differ, from their own websites and documentation as read in October 2026. Prices move daily everywhere, so compare live ones.
The short version
| If you want… | Look at |
|---|---|
| Datacenter GPUs, serverless that scales to zero, team accounts | RunPod |
| Big multi-node clusters with InfiniBand | Lambda (two-week minimum), Prime Intellect |
| Full virtual machines, including Windows | TensorDock |
| The cheapest interruptible batch capacity on consumer GPUs | Salad, Vast.ai bids |
| Pay only for delivered time, refunds automatic; self-serve clusters across hosts; earn with a Windows or Mac PC | RentGPUPower |
For renters
- RunPod — Secure Cloud datacenters and vetted Community Cloud partners; pods, network volumes, serverless endpoints and Instant Clusters; SOC 2 Type II. No self-serve hosting. Our comparison.
- TensorDock — full virtual machines (Windows with RDP or Parsec too) in 100+ locations; hosts must run vetted datacenter hardware.
- Salad — consumer GPUs behind an HTTP gateway, four priority tiers (the lowest about half price), queues that scale to zero; best for interruptible batch work.
- Lambda — datacenter GPUs and 1-Click Clusters of 16 to 256+ GPUs, with a two-week minimum for clusters.
- io.net and Akash — decentralized networks with clusters (Ray or Kubernetes); paying or earning involves their own tokens on part of the platform.
- RentGPUPower — a peer-to-peer marketplace where every rental waits in escrow and pays the host only for delivered time; one-click AI apps; an OpenAI-compatible API that starts a model for you; clusters of 2 to 64 machines from any hosts, self-serve. Our comparison with Vast.ai.
For hosts: who lets you rent out your GPU?
| Who can host | What you are paid in | |
|---|---|---|
| Vast.ai | Ubuntu machines with open ports | Money: weekly, $20 minimum, Wise, PayPal or Stripe |
| TensorDock | Datacenter hardware, Ubuntu 22.04, static IP; 25% fee | Money, through Stripe |
| Salad | A desktop app | A store balance — PayPal, gift cards or crypto |
| io.net | Machines joined to its network | Its own token |
| Akash | Kubernetes providers; a home-PC programme (30% fee) on a waitlist | Its own token |
| RunPod, Lambda | No self-serve hosting | — |
| RentGPUPower | Anyone: a one-line app on Windows, macOS (processor) or Linux that installs its own sandbox; keep 90% | Money: bank account from $20.00, PayPal from $1.00, or Solana |
More on what a card earns in Earn money with your GPU.
What RentGPUPower does not do yet
To be fair about it: no interruptible bids, no per-machine benchmark (a listing shows the detected card and a speed estimate for it), no volumes that outlive a rental (My Drive keeps 2 GB between rentals), no team accounts, no SOC 2, and no InfiniBand between cluster machines. And as a young marketplace, a given card is not always free at a given hour — the marketplace shows what is online now, and an alert can tell you when one comes back.
FAQ
What is the cheapest Vast.ai alternative?
For interruptible batch work, Salad's lowest tier and Vast.ai's own bids. For a machine you keep, compare live prices: consumer GPUs on peer-to-peer marketplaces (Vast.ai, RentGPUPower) usually cost less per hour than the same class of card in a datacenter.
Which alternative lets me host on Windows?
Salad and RentGPUPower run as desktop apps on Windows. RentGPUPower pays in money — to a bank account, PayPal or Solana — and also runs on macOS (renting out the processor) and Linux.
Which alternatives offer GPU clusters?
Lambda and Prime Intellect for large InfiniBand clusters, RunPod's Instant Clusters, io.net's Ray clusters, and RentGPUPower's self-serve clusters across hosts on a private network. On Vast.ai, multi-node is arranged through sales.
Sources
Read on 11 October 2026 on each company's own website and documentation, including docs.vast.ai, docs.runpod.io, tensordock.com, salad.com, lambda.ai, io.net and akash.network. All names are trademarks of their owners; this comparison is ours. Something out of date? Tell us from the help page.