Pick Lightning AI if
mL engineers who will burn the 5 free credits (and the free 4-CPU Studio), then buy hours — T4 $0.55/hr, H200 $4.50/hr — instead of renting a bare VM.
Read the Lightning AI pageLightning AI vs Runpod
Our take
Pick Lightning AI if mL engineers who will burn the 5 free credits (and the free 4-CPU Studio), then buy hours — T4 $0.55/hr, H200 $4.50/hr — instead of renting a bare VM. Pick Runpod if engineers who will pick a GPU row and pay by the second. Skip Runpod if teams that want a managed Ray workspace instead of a raw container (Anyscale).
Best for
Lightning AI Code + GPU hours on a credit meter
Runpod Rent a GPU by the second
Free plan
Lightning AI $0 · no card. 5 credits on signup; add a card for 25 more. One free 4-CPU Studio (restarts every 4 hours on Free). Phone verify unlocks up to 80 free GPU hours (SKU-dependent: T4 75, L4 31, L40S 5, A100 40GB 10, A100 80GB 5)
Runpod No free plan
Lowest paid
Lightning AI On-demand GPU (Lightning cloud) $0.55
Runpod RTX A5000 $0.27
Next step up
Lightning AI
Runpod RTX 4090 $0.89
Watch out
Lightning AI The free CPU Studio restarts every 4 hours
Runpod You pay while the Pod exists
Last checked
Lightning AI 2026-10-22 · lightning.ai/pricing
Runpod 2026-10-22 · runpod.io/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Runpod if
engineers who will pick a GPU row and pay by the second.
Read the Runpod page