At a glance — Oct 2026
Updated 2026-10-27 · forward this page: /jtbds/serverless-gpu#briefScores as of 2026-10-19 (8 days old).
- Depot Pick
- Modal · 8.36/10 for this job (curated estimate, high confidence)
dx + pricePerf + reliability. Modal wins Python DX; RunPod wins flexible $/GPU.
- Runner-up
- RunPod · 8.34/10
Scores higher than the pick on: Price / performance, Lock-in risk (higher = worse).
- When not to use the pick
- Need cheapest raw GPU-seconds on familiar pods (RunPod) or one-click public models (Replicate).
- Lock-in / migration
- Runner-up RunPod has lower stored lock-in risk (3.5 vs 4.5, 0–10, higher = more lock-in).
- Sourced price (usd_per_gpu_hour)
Pick: no sourced price in this job's unit (no_matching_sourced_price).
Cheapest matching SKU: RunPod RTX 4090 Pod (Community Cloud) $0.34 — source, as of 2026-10-19. Not the pick; not quality-adjusted.
Price history: first seen 2026-10-19 · last changed no change recorded · history JSON
- Free option
- No free resource lists this job. A cheap paid SKU is not a free option.
- Failure modes to watch
- Runaway spend: Set a budget and a tool-call cap per task. Alert when spend jumps. Stop the run at the cap instead of summarizing a partial trace as success.
Cite: Agent Provider Depot, Depot Pick for serverless-gpu: modal, scores as of 2026-10-19. Agents: GET /api/decide?jtbd=serverless-gpu
All sourced prices, cheapest first
Modal
dx + pricePerf + reliability. Modal wins Python DX; RunPod wins flexible $/GPU.
Pricing (directional): As of 2026-10-24 (modal.com/pricing, fetched 2026-10-24): Python-native serverless GPU/CPU billed per second of compute ('You never pay for idle resources'). GPU list rates per second: H100 SXM5 '$0.001097', H200 SXM '$0.001261', B200 '$0.0…
Lock-in risk: higher = more lock-in (worse). Overall already inverts this dimension.
Depot darling for Python agent backends and bursty GPU jobs. If you think in functions not VMs, start here.
Quote for Serverless GPU inference/jobs
Depot Pick stays Modal. Prices below are sourced SKU rows only (as of 2026-10-27). Input and output are not blended. GET /api/quote?jtbd=serverless-gpu
Pick is not a price winner. Cheapest matching USD per GPU-hour among candidates is runpod at 0.34. The pick has no matching sourced price. Chat input $/1M was not borrowed.
- CPU physical core usd_per_core_second $0.0000131 source as of 2026-10-27
- Memory usd_per_gib_second $0.00000222 source as of 2026-10-27
- Network egress usd_per_gib $0.04 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia A10 usd_per_gpu_second $0.000306 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia A100 40GB usd_per_gpu_second $0.000583 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia A100 80GB usd_per_gpu_second $0.000694 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia B200 usd_per_gpu_second $0.001736 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia B300 usd_per_gpu_second $0.001972 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia H100 SXM5 usd_per_gpu_second $0.001097 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia H200 SXM usd_per_gpu_second $0.001261 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia L4 usd_per_gpu_second $0.000222 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia L40S usd_per_gpu_second $0.000542 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia RTX PRO 6000 usd_per_gpu_second $0.000842 source as of 2026-10-27
- Nvidia T4 usd_per_gpu_second $0.000164 source as of 2026-10-27
- Sandbox CPU usd_per_core_second $0.00003942 source as of 2026-10-27
- Sandbox memory usd_per_gib_second $0.00000667 source as of 2026-10-27
- Team plan usd_per_month $250 source as of 2026-10-27
- Volumes usd_per_gib_month $0.09 source as of 2026-10-27
7 of 14 candidates have no sourced price row. 10 are excluded from the USD per GPU-hour comparison (gpu_hour). min sourced GPU-hour SKU among candidates; not coerced to $/1M; per-second GPU was not included; not quality-adjusted
Sourced USD per GPU-hour for Serverless GPU inference/jobs
Candidates for this job that already have a matching sourced price (gpu_hour), cheapest first. As of 2026-10-27. Each figure is one SKU in that unit, not a blend of input and output, not a cross-modal rate, and not a Depot score. min sourced GPU-hour SKU among candidates; not coerced to $/1M; per-second GPU was not included; not quality-adjusted The Depot Pick is not a price winner.
| Provider | USD per GPU-hour | SKU | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RunPod | $0.34usd_per_gpu_hour | RTX 4090 Pod (Community Cloud) | pricing page | 2026-10-19 |
| Chutes | $1.8usd_per_gpu_hour | RTX Pro 6000 96GB | pricing page | 2026-10-27 |
| Verda | $1.845usd_per_gpu_hour | 1x L40S 48GB | pricing page | 2026-10-27 |
| FriendliAI | $4usd_per_gpu_hour | A100 80GB | pricing page | 2026-10-27 |
Runners-up
RunPod
Depot default for self-serve GPUs. Secure Cloud for anything customer-facing; Community/spot for batch.
Replicate
Ship a model demo by lunch. Migrate hot paths to Modal/RunPod/Fireworks when the bill hurts.
Beam
Viable Modal/RunPod alternative for serverless endpoints. Evaluate cold starts on your workload.
Baseten
Strong custom-model serving alternative to Replicate/Modal when you bring your own model.
Chutes
Budget open-model overflow with a now-pinned public TEE matrix. Depot open-model production pick stays…
FriendliAI
Open-model production peer when latency/tool-calling matter. Fireworks remains depot open-model default…
Koyeb
Serverless GPU/app peer for EU-friendly deploys. Depot neocloud pick stays Nebius; interruptible Salad…
When NOT to use the top pick
Need cheapest raw GPU-seconds on familiar pods (RunPod) or one-click public models (Replicate).
Full ranking (score table)
Ranked with this JTBD's weights. Scores are curated estimates unless marked otherwise. Agents: prefer /api/decide then this table for tie-breaks.
| # | Provider | Overall | Fit | $/perf | Latency | DX | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fal | 8.4 | 9.2 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 9.6 | 2026-10-19 |
| 2 | ModalDepot Pick | 8.4 | 9.0 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 9.6 | 2026-10-19 |
| 3 | RunPod | 8.3 | 8.8 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 8.8 | 2026-10-19 |
| 4 | Verda | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 2026-09-14 |
| 5 | Koyeb | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.8 | 2026-09-14 |
| 6 | FriendliAI | 8.0 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 2026-10-01 |
| 7 | Baseten | 7.9 | 8.4 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 2026-09-14 |
| 8 | Lightning AI | 7.8 | 8.6 | 7.0 | 8.2 | 9.0 | 2026-09-14 |
| 9 | Replicate | 7.6 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 8.2 | 9.4 | 2026-09-14 |
| 10 | Beam | 7.6 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 2026-09-14 |
| 11 | Novita AI | 7.5 | 7.2 | 9.0 | 7.0 | 7.8 | 2026-09-14 |
| 12 | Northflank | 7.4 | 8.0 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 2026-09-14 |
| 13 | Chutes | 7.4 | 7.4 | 9.2 | 6.8 | 7.6 | 2026-09-14 |
| 14 | Lepton AI | 7.3 | 7.2 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 2026-09-14 |
Score methodology for this job
dx + pricePerf + reliability. Modal wins Python DX; RunPod wins flexible $/GPU.
capabilityFit: 22%pricePerformance: 25%latencyReliability: 15%developerDx: 12%privacyPosture: 8%lockInRisk: 8%maturity: 10%