Vast.ai vs RunPod vs io.net: Where to Host Your GPU
Updated May 2026 · Prices refreshed 2 minutes ago
Three P2P GPU rental marketplaces let individual GPU owners list their hardware and earn. They look similar at a glance — all pay hosts a percentage of the renter's hourly rate — but the economics differ enough that picking the wrong one can halve your take-home. Here's the live side-by-side.
Headline comparison
| Vast.ai | RunPod | io.net | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Host keeps | 85% | 93% | 80% |
| Platform fee | ~15% | ~7% | ~20% |
| Payout method | BTC / USD | USD (Stripe) | IO token |
| Min payout | $20 | $50 | — |
| Model | Marketplace | Marketplace | Decentralized |
| Consumer GPUs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Live price comparison (host-net $/h)
Same GPU priced across all three providers right now. Host-net = after each platform's cut. Blank cells mean the provider doesn't currently list that model.
| GPU | Vast.ai | RunPod | io.net |
|---|---|---|---|
| H100 SXM | $1.249/h | $2.502/h | $1.672/h |
| H100 PCIe | — | $1.851/h | $0.800/h |
| A100 SXM | — | $1.293/h | $1.112/h |
Full matrix across all 16+ GPU models on the GPU rental page.
When to pick Vast.ai
Pick Vast if: you want the biggest pool of renters (largest daily job volume of the three), you prefer BTC payouts, or you want to set your own per-hour bid. The 15% platform fee is the middle of the pack. Onboarding takes 1-2 days — Vast verifies host bandwidth + machine reliability before opening the firehose of jobs.
Downsides: the "Interruptable" tier (cheaper for renters, means your card can be preempted) drops host effective earnings by 20-40% vs "On-demand" tier.
When to pick RunPod
Pick RunPod if: you want the highest host share (93% after the 7% fee), you want USD payouts to a bank via Stripe Connect, or your card is mid-tier (3090, 4080, 4090). RunPod Community Cloud is the cheapest to join — no reliability threshold on day 1.
Downsides: job volume is smaller than Vast (RunPod's Secure Cloud — their first-party GPUs — eats most of the enterprise traffic). Community tier gets spillover only.
When to pick io.net
Pick io.net if: you're comfortable holding crypto (payouts in IO token), you have a cluster of identical cards (io.net's AI jobs often request contiguous GPU pools), or you want to stake the IO token back into the network for additional yield.
Downsides: 20% platform fee is the highest, and IO token price volatility adds a layer of uncertainty to real earnings. Not for hosts who just want reliable fiat.
Can I host on all three?
Yes, if you have multiple cards. A single GPU can only run one marketplace client at a time (they own the card while a job's running). But a 4× RTX 4090 rig can point 2 cards at RunPod and 2 at Vast, for example, diversifying both job-flow and payout currency. The more common pattern: run all cards on one marketplace for simpler operations, switch when a competitor raises host rates.
Earnings math for a Nvidia H100 SXM
Assume 80% uptime (reasonable for a bare-metal host with decent network + cooling), 700W power draw at $0.10/kWh:
| Marketplace | Host rate/h | Income/day (80% uptime) | Net after power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vast.ai | $1.249 | $23.97 | $22.29 |
| RunPod | $2.502 | $48.03 | $46.35 |
| io.net | $1.672 | $32.10 | $30.42 |
Full per-rig calculator including your own electricity rate + uptime scenario on any rig detail page.