The A100 80GB is the memory workhorse — from ~$0.47/hr on Vast spot, $1.19/hr on Runpod (24 Sep 2026). Where to rent one cheaply and when its 80GB is worth it.
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The A100 is the data-centre workhorse — 80GB of memory, the card you rent when a 4090 runs out of room but you don't need to pay H100 prices. As of 24 Sep 2026 an A100 80GB rents from about $0.47/hour on Vast.ai spot and $1.19/hour on Runpod on-demand. Here's where to rent one cheaply, and what its 80GB gets you over a consumer card. Part of our cloud-GPU pricing pillar.
As with every card, Vast.ai's spot market is cheapest (an A100 80GB from ~$0.47/hr) but interruptible, while Runpod's on-demand (~$1.19/hr PCIe) is stable. For an A100 the stakes are usually higher — you rent one for a 70B model or a real training run — so on-demand or a high-reliability host is often worth it. Save spot for interruptible inference you can checkpoint.
A100 vs H100 — which to rent
Both have 80GB, so they fit the same models; the H100 is faster (newer architecture) and, on our tracker, an H100 is only a little more than an A100 on some providers. Rent the A100 when it's meaningfully cheaper for your job and you don't need maximum throughput; step up to the H100 when speed matters or the price gap is small. For fine-tuning specifically, see the best cloud GPU for fine-tuning.
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Rent the cheapest A100 on Vast.ai
The lowest A100 80GB rate is on Vast.ai spot — from about $0.47/hr as of 24 Sep 2026. Use a verified host and checkpoint for long runs.
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Frequently asked
What's the cheapest way to rent an A100?
Vast.ai's spot marketplace, from about $0.47/hour for an 80GB A100 (24 September 2026), versus ~$1.19/hour on-demand from Runpod. Spot is cheapest but reclaimable; for a training run, on-demand or a high-reliability host is safer. Check the live figure before renting.
What can an A100 80GB run that a 4090 can't?
Its 80GB fits a 70B model at 4-bit quantisation, supports full fine-tuning of mid-size models, and handles long context — all of which overflow a 24GB 4090. If your model fits in 24GB, a 4090 is far cheaper; the A100 is for when you genuinely need the memory.
A100 or H100 for the cloud?
Both have 80GB and fit the same models; the H100 is faster. Rent the A100 when it's clearly cheaper for your workload and you don't need peak throughput, and the H100 when speed matters or the price difference is small. Compare both on our live page.
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Managed pods + serverless
Want a stable A100 for a training run? Runpod on-demand is about $1.19/hr (PCIe, 24 Sep 2026).
The A100 is the memory workhorse — cheapest on Vast.ai spot, stable on Runpod, and cheaper than an H100 for jobs that just need the 80GB. Compare live prices on our cloud-GPU compare page, read the pillar, and see the cheapest H100 or H100 vs B200 for the tiers above.
