Lambda Labs alternatives: price pages, September 2026

RunPod lists H100 PCIe at US$2.89 per GPU-hour on its pricing page, checked 28 September 2026.¹ It leads the seven Lambda alternatives ranked by lowest listed on-demand H100 price per GPU-hour: RunPod, Nebius, Crusoe, Modal, Together AI, DigitalOcean and CoreWeave.^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7} Lambda’s reference price is US$3.29 for a one-GPU H100 PCIe instance, before tax.⁸ The boundary is published GPU rental prices, with different configurations identified beside each rate.

TL;DR

• Match the H100 variant before choosing: RunPod lists PCIe, SXM and NVL at different rates.¹ A ranking across variants answers the lowest-entry-price question, not an identical-hardware comparison.
• The B200 comparison changes the conclusion: Lambda’s lowest listed instance rate is below RunPod’s, while Modal lists a lower base GPU-resource rate than Lambda.^1,8,4 Configuration and execution terms still matter.
• A company can have public Pod or instance prices and quote-only cluster prices: RunPod illustrates this distinction; Crusoe’s B200 compute requires a quote.^1,3 Keep these product types separate.
• Read Nebius’s September rates as a dated snapshot: the checked page also lists higher H100 and B200 rates effective 1 October 2026.² Refresh its quote before ordering.

How this ranking was built

We rank reported H100 prices from company pricing pages checked 28 September 2026, using each company’s lowest listed on-demand price per GPU-hour in US dollars before tax. The source column is on-demand $/GPU-hour. H100 PCIe, SXM and NVL configurations are eligible; the table identifies the configuration that supplies each company’s minimum.^{1,8,2,3,4,5,6,7} The research methodology explains the publication’s evidence standard.

The checked price comparison contains eight fixed-price H100 providers. Separating Lambda as the reference leaves seven ranked alternatives; merging configurations retains one lowest eligible rate per company.^{1,8,2,3,4,5,6,7} We exclude spot, reserved and negotiated prices from the ordering and keep Vast.ai as one unranked marketplace reference. B200 rates accompany the H100 rows without determining their rank.

Modal’s GPU prices are converted from seconds to GPU-hours; CoreWeave’s node prices are divided by the GPU count.^4,7 These conversions align the price unit, while the service type and billable configuration remain distinct.

For dollar-only displays, USD is the comparison convention, not a verified billing term. The model leaves quoted amounts unchanged, without converting currency or adding tax. Nebius explicitly states USD and excludes applicable taxes; Lambda says applicable sales tax, VAT or GST is additional.^2,8 Confirm the other providers’ currency and tax treatment in a current quote. Lambda’s one- and eight-GPU associations follow the captured 8x/4x/2x/1x tab order and proportional resource allocations; request the named configuration before purchasing.⁸

Which Lambda alternatives list the lowest H100 prices?

RunPod lists the lowest eligible H100 rate among the checked alternatives at US$2.89 per GPU-hour for H100 PCIe.^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7} The alternatives below are ordered only by that H100 price field. All prices are in US dollars before tax, checked 28 September 2026.

H100 rank	Provider	H100 configuration	H100 on-demand (US$/GPU-hour)	B200 on-demand (US$/GPU-hour)	Price basis or exception
1	RunPod	H100 PCIe 80 GB	2.89	6.79	Pods prices; cluster quotes are separate.1
2	Nebius	HGX H100	3.85	7.15	September snapshot; listed rates effective 1 October 2026 are H100 4.50 and B200 8.50.2
3	Crusoe	HGX H100 80 GB	3.90	Contact sales	B200 GPU compute is quote-only.3
4	Modal	H100 SXM5	3.95	6.25	Rounded hourly equivalents of base GPU-resource prices; additional charges and execution terms apply.4
5	Together AI	HGX H100 GPU Clusters	3.99	8.19	GPU Clusters on-demand rates.5
6	DigitalOcean	HGX H100	4.41	Not listed	No B200 row on the checked GPU Droplet price list.6
7	CoreWeave	HGX H100, eight-GPU node	6.16	8.60	Node prices normalized per GPU; not a general single-GPU rental quote.7
Reference, unranked	Lambda	H100 PCIe 80 GB, one-GPU instance	3.29	6.69	Lowest B200 rate is per GPU on an eight-GPU SXM6 instance.8

For a comparison centered on the accelerator rather than a replacement for Lambda, see the H100 rental-price comparison.

Is RunPod cheaper than Lambda for the same GPU?

RunPod’s listed H100 PCIe 80 GB rate is below Lambda’s: US$2.89 versus US$3.29 per GPU-hour in the September snapshot.^1,8 The comparison supports a lower published GPU-hour charge; it doesn’t establish a lower cost to finish a workload.

RunPod also lists H100 SXM at US$3.49 per GPU-hour, below Lambda’s US$3.99 rate per GPU for its eight-GPU SXM instance.^1,8 Lambda’s one-GPU H100 SXM instance lists US$4.29 per GPU-hour.⁸ Compare the configuration you intend to rent, including the billable GPU count.

B200 reverses the lowest-rate comparison between these two companies: Lambda lists US$6.69 per GPU-hour on its eight-GPU B200 SXM6 instance, while RunPod lists B200 Pods at US$6.79 per GPU-hour.^1,8 Lambda’s one-GPU B200 instance lists US$6.99 per GPU-hour, so its lowest B200 entry isn’t the single-GPU price.⁸ Use the Lambda GPU cloud pricing breakdown when comparing instance configurations.

How do the other GPU clouds differ from Lambda?

Glamdring Research treats deployment and billing terms as limits on any price comparison with Lambda. Modal quotes GPU execution by the second, while CoreWeave’s ranked rates come from eight-GPU nodes.^4,7 A GPU-hour unit makes the numbers sortable, but neither price alone defines the service you will buy.

Nebius publishes HGX H100 and B200 GPU-hour rates with separate columns for prices effective 1 October 2026.² Its US$3.85 H100 and US$7.15 B200 values belong to the September 28 snapshot; the already-listed October values are US$4.50 and US$8.50 respectively.² The September ordering needs a fresh price check before it can describe an October purchase.

Crusoe lists HGX H100 GPU instances at US$3.90 per GPU-hour and routes B200 compute pricing through sales.³ Its dedicated inference endpoints have a separate price section.³ Ask for the compute-instance product if you need a comparable B200 quote.

Modal’s base B200 GPU-resource rate converts to US$6.25 per GPU-hour, below Lambda’s lowest listed US$6.69 B200 instance rate.^4,8 Modal lists CPU, memory and volumes separately; region selection carries a 1.15-1.75 times base-price multiplier, and non-preemptible execution is listed at three times base prices.⁴ Treat the base rate as the GPU component of a serverless execution bill, not an all-in non-preemptible instance quote.⁴

Together AI lists on-demand GPU Clusters at US$3.99 per HGX H100 GPU-hour and US$8.19 per HGX B200 GPU-hour.⁵ Its serverless inference prices use tokens, a different purchase unit from GPU rental.⁵ Compare GPU Clusters when evaluating a replacement for Lambda instances.

DigitalOcean lists HGX H100 Droplets with one or eight GPUs at US$4.41 per GPU-hour; its checked GPU Droplet price list has no B200 row.⁶ CoreWeave lists H100 nodes at US$49.24 per hour for eight GPUs, giving the rounded US$6.16 GPU-hour figure; its eight-GPU B200 node is US$68.80 per hour, or US$8.60 per GPU-hour.⁷ CoreWeave restricts its separate GPU-based inference pricing to inference-platform customers.⁷ Preserve the product boundary when requesting a price.

For a B200-first decision, use the B200 rental-price comparison.

Which alternatives require a quote?

Crusoe requires a quote for B200 GPU compute, while RunPod requires sales contact for its H100 SXM and B200 Clusters.^3,1 Quote-only applies to those configurations, even though both companies publish prices for other GPU products.^1,3

Keep quote-only configurations outside the numeric ordering until a comparable offer exists. Request the GPU model, billable GPU count, commitment term, currency and tax basis together. Ask whether the offer covers compute instances, a cluster or a managed inference endpoint.

A missing B200 row on DigitalOcean’s checked GPU Droplet price list establishes only that no B200 rate appears there.⁶ Confirm any other product or negotiated offer separately.

What the ranking cannot tell you

The H100 price order cannot establish workload performance, regional availability or the final bill. It orders reported GPU-hour charges across different hardware and purchase configurations. Choose a configuration before treating the hourly number as a budget, and confirm stock for the intended start date.

Vast.ai is an additional Lambda alternative outside the fixed-list-price ranking: its checked H100 SXM listing median is US$2.16 per hour and its B200 listing median is US$10.63 per hour.⁹ These summarize host-set marketplace offers; Vast.ai says its available-offer prices update hourly.⁹ A marketplace median and a company’s fixed on-demand rate answer different price questions.

For procurement, compare the billable configuration and the costs outside the GPU charge. RunPod says storage and deployment choices affect total cost; Modal lists separate resource charges; DigitalOcean continues billing powered-off GPU Droplets.^1,4,6 Confirm these terms against the workload and service you intend to use.

Use the compute and AI infrastructure research for related comparisons. Recheck a company’s price page whenever its rates or effective dates change.

Frequently asked questions

Does powering off a DigitalOcean GPU Droplet stop billing?

No. DigitalOcean says GPU Droplets remain billable when powered off because disk space, CPU, RAM and the IP address remain reserved; charges continue until the instance is destroyed.⁶ Include this rule when planning pauses between jobs.

Can reserved H100 prices be used in this ranking?

No. Reserved prices carry a commitment that the on-demand comparison excludes. DigitalOcean’s US$3.26 per H100 GPU-hour is a 12-month reserved rate, compared with its US$4.41 on-demand rate.⁶ Together AI also lists a US$3.19 reserved H100 GPU-hour rate separately from its US$3.99 on-demand GPU Clusters rate.⁵ Compare reserved offers under their own terms.

Does Modal charge by the hour?

Modal quotes the captured GPU-resource prices per second: US$0.001097 for H100 SXM5 and US$0.001736 for B200.⁴ Multiplying each by 3,600 produces the rounded hourly equivalents used here.⁴ The conversion aligns comparison units; it doesn’t change the per-second price basis or include other resources.