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Paid plans start at $0.27/mo.
Runpod’s pricing page lists no free plan or trial, though its homepage invites visitors to get started for free without explaining the offer’s limits. The service is usage-priced: Pods and Clusters charge per GPU hour, while Serverless charges per worker hour. Your bill then grows with runtime, GPU choice, storage and any usage-priced Public Endpoints. Reserved Clusters and some Cluster GPUs require a sales quote, so teams planning committed capacity need a direct price before comparing monthly costs.
01Every plan, line by line
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pods | — | Quote | Dedicated GPU instances and long-running jobs |
| Serverless | — | Quote | API inference workloads |
| Clusters | — | Quote | Multi-GPU jobs without commitments |
| Reserved Clusters | — | Quote | Enterprise deployments needing reserved capacity |
Add-ons and overages
- Storage: Container Disk $0.10/GB/mo; Volume Disk $0.10/GB/mo running or $0.20/GB/mo idle
- Network Storage (Standard): $0.07/GB/mo under 1TB; $0.05/GB/mo over 1TB
- Network Storage (High-Performance): $0.14/GB/mo
- Public Endpoints are usage-priced: examples include $0.005/request for Pruna Image T2I and $0.05/1,000 characters for Whisper V3 Large
- Enterprise and Serverless reservations: contact sales for pricing
02What the plan grid doesn't tell you
Pod time during transfers
A Reddit user reported keeping a Pod running during a slow download. Running compute continues to accrue hourly charges; moving artifacts to network storage may change the cost.
Persistent storage
Container Disk costs $0.10/GB/month. Volume Disk is $0.10/GB/month while running or $0.20/GB/month while idle.
Network storage
Standard Network Storage costs $0.07/GB/month under 1TB and $0.05/GB/month over 1TB. High-Performance storage costs $0.14/GB/month.
Endpoint usage
Public Endpoints are usage-priced; listed examples include $0.005 per Pruna Image T2I request and $0.05 per 1,000 characters for Whisper V3 Large.
03Which plan should you buy?
| If you are… | Get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Side project with GPU jobs | Pods | Use hourly GPU instances for development, training or persistent compute without a stated commitment. |
| Inference with changing traffic | Serverless | Pay per worker hour for API inference; the homepage says endpoints autoscale and scale to zero when idle. |
| Multi-GPU training team | Clusters | Run multi-GPU jobs by the GPU hour; some GPU configurations require contacting sales. |
04Is Runpod worth the money?
Runpod’s usage pricing can make sense when GPU demand is bursty and buying hardware would leave capacity idle. Pods have hourly rates and no commitment, while Serverless can scale down when inference traffic stops. The free-start message is not enough to budget against: confirm any credits and their limits before relying on them. Include storage and endpoint charges in estimates, and get a quote for Reserved Clusters or Cluster GPUs marked for sales. For critical workloads, compare cost alongside capacity and support commitments.
Runpod pricing FAQ
What is the cheapest Runpod GPU?
The pricing page lists Secure Cloud RTX A5000 Pods at $0.27 per GPU hour, the lowest listed Pod example. Rates vary by GPU and cloud type. Community Cloud examples include H100 PCIe from $1.99 per hour, so compare the exact GPU, region and availability you need.
Does Runpod charge monthly or hourly?
The listed compute rates are per GPU hour for Pods and Clusters, or per worker hour for Serverless; the pricing note says Pods have no commitment. Storage is priced per GB per month. Reserved Clusters use custom pricing and have reservation terms listed from one month upward.
How much does Runpod Serverless cost?
The pricing page lists Serverless rates from $0.58 per worker hour for 16GB GPUs. Its examples include $2.72 per hour for an A100, $5.39 for an H100 and $1.34 for an RTX 4090. Public Endpoints can have separate usage-based prices.
Does Runpod charge for network storage egress?
Runpod’s homepage says persistent network storage has no egress fees. Storage itself is billed: Standard Network Storage is $0.07/GB/month under 1TB and $0.05/GB/month over 1TB; High-Performance Network Storage is $0.14/GB/month.