RunPod
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 6 GPU clouds by recommenders
People recommend RunPod for renting GPUs by the hour, which makes fine-tuning and running large models cheap compared with buying hardware.
People recommend RunPod for renting GPUs by the hour, which makes fine-tuning and running large models cheap compared with buying hardware.
33 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Cheap hourly GPU rental
“Paying runpod or vast or just about anyone else is _far_ cheaper than buying this hardware myself.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention” “Or just rent something substantial for like $4/hr on runpod or w/e to do that.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “GLM-5.3-Flash” “you can also easily get much larger GPUs on RunPod or Vast at $0.25/hr”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “TurboQuant: A First-Principles Walkthrough” - Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Running local models is good now”
- Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “I were 17, I'd learn how to build LLMs from scratch”
- Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Fine-tuning an LLM to write docs like it's 1995”
- Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “My local model setup on an M4 Pro Mac Mini”
- Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Are we repeating the telecoms crash with AI datacenters?”
- Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “GLM-5.3-Flash”
Good for fine-tuning models
“If you use spot instances on Lambda or RunPod you can train a model that size for less than a dollar”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “A true 'hello world' LLM pipeline” “the fine tune would have cost me like 10 bucks on RunPod”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “I were 17, I'd learn how to build LLMs from scratch” “you can fine-tune stuff for the price of a latte”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Fine-tuning an LLM to write docs like it's 1995” - Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “AI 2040 and the Cult of Intelligence”
Serves private models yourself
“rent GPUs from companies like Runpod or Vast.ai and serve some very sizable models to yourself”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “The current balance of power in open models” “there's a better middle ground with renting a GPU VPS off Runpod or Vast or something”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “A simple fix for LLM tail latency” “The best option is likely to rent hardware on Runpod”
Comment from 20 May 2026 in “Qwen3.7-Max: The Agent Frontier” - Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity”
Other GPU clouds people recommend
The four most recommended other GPU clouds, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modal | 38 | 12 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Vast.ai | 37 | 1 | 97% | 9 | — | Approved |
| RunPodThis page | 28 | 5 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Verda GPU cloud | 10 | 1 | 91% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Lambda GPU Cloud | 9 | 2 | 82% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
28 of the 36 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“costs are getting out of control”
“rent GPUs from companies like Runpod or Vast.ai and serve some very sizable models to yourself”
“rent the hardware for cheap in small time slices”
“Much faster and cheap as hell, to be honest.”
“Or just rent something substantial for like $4/hr on runpod or w/e to do that.”
“the fine tune would have cost me like 10 bucks on RunPod”
“there's a better middle ground with renting a GPU VPS off Runpod or Vast or something”
“have raised huge amounts of money and are part of the same US VC shitcycle”
“They've grown revenues at a solid clip, provide real value”
“tuned up GLM-5.2 on vast.ai or RunPods”
“Just build OpenRunPod instead.”
“I can rent an H200 for $3.50 an hour. That's INSANELY cheap.”
“now starting a pod is more from a live page where as GPU availability status changes it updates in realtime”
“you can fine-tune stuff for the price of a latte”
“The best option is likely to rent hardware on Runpod”
“my Runpod VM in Kentucky is going to die rather abruptly”
“you can also easily get much larger GPUs on RunPod or Vast at $0.25/hr”
“qwen on runpod for more private data”
“compared to $500 on RunPod, which will also stop the instance when you run out of money.”
“If you use spot instances on Lambda or RunPod you can train a model that size for less than a dollar”
“Serverless GPU providers like Modal or RunPod are probably the closest thing”
“I'm very happy with the results.”
“I've forgotten to stop my pods a few times and only learnt about it when my balance became $0.”
“Paying runpod or vast or just about anyone else is _far_ cheaper than buying this hardware myself.”
“it's hard to go wrong using any of the cloud GPU hyperscalers”
“Runpod is one of the cheaper cloud providers”
“a swarm of startups trying to make it easier to take baby steps into the cloud (eg. Modal, Runpod, etc)”
“the way it handles payment is basically my ideal”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.