Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Vast.ai Comparison
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Vast.ai features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
7.6/10
Amazon's public cloud platform, with over 200 pay-as-you-go services for compute, storage, databases, networking and AI, used by startups through large enterprises and governments.
Vast.ai
6.3/10
Vast.ai is a marketplace for renting GPU compute by the second from independent hosts and data centers, used for AI training, inference, and rendering.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.6/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Integration | 10/10 | 5/10 |
| Analytics | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free plan | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs Vast.ai cost by team size
| Team size | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Vast.ai |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Has a free plan (Vast.ai does not)
- Higher Integration score (10/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Analytics score (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 4/10)
- Includes Uptime SLA, which Vast.ai lacks
Why choose Vast.ai
- Higher Cost score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (6/10 vs 4/10)
Pros & Cons
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Pros
- The service catalogue is unusually broad, with over 200 services across 38 regions, so most infrastructure needs can be met on one platform.
- EC2 has a 99.99% region-level SLA with credits of up to 100%, and instances unavailable for more than six minutes in an hour are not billed for that hour.
- The free plan gives up to $200 in credits, and more than 30 always-free services let new teams experiment at low cost.
- Support scales from a $29 minimum up to dedicated Enterprise and Unified Operations tiers for mission-critical workloads.
- G2 rates it 4.4 across more than 17,000 reviews, and reviewers praise its scalability and global reach.
Cons
- Reviewers widely cite a steep learning curve across the console and services.
- Usage pricing is complex and can produce unexpected bills unless spend is monitored closely.
- Paid support is billed as a percentage of total AWS spend, so support costs rise with usage.
- A July 2025 billing console bug showed customers estimated charges in the billions, which hurt trust in its cost tooling.
Vast.ai
Pros
- Marketplace rates for H100 and RTX 4090 run well below RunPod, Lambda, and AWS in mid-2026 reviews
- Per-second billing with no contracts or minimum hours
- Wide hardware choice across 68+ GPU types and 40+ data centers
- Secure Cloud filter limits results to vetted ISO 27001 data center hosts
Cons
- Reliability varies by host, and reviewers report disconnections
- No platform uptime SLA on standard marketplace instances
- Reviewers describe support as limited and inconsistent
- Storage is billed while instances are stopped, and bandwidth costs extra, which raises the real cost
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon Web Services (AWS) scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.6/10 against 6.3/10 for Vast.ai. The largest gap is in Integration: 10/10 for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and 5/10 for Vast.ai.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a free plan; Vast.ai does not list one.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 10/10 for them, against 4/10 for Vast.ai.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has Uptime SLA, which Vast.ai lacks.
