Beam vs Crusoe Cloud (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
Beam and Crusoe Cloud both score 6.6/10 on our AI Software criteria. Neither Beam nor Crusoe Cloud lists a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
Beam
6.6/10
Beam is a serverless cloud for AI teams and coding agents, offering sandboxes, persistent VMs, serverless GPU endpoints, task queues and on-demand GPU machines with per-second billing.
Crusoe Cloud
6.6/10
Crusoe Cloud is a GPU-focused AI cloud that offers NVIDIA and AMD GPU instances, managed Kubernetes, storage and managed inference to AI teams and enterprises.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.6/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Integration | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $20/mo Developer | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $89/mo Team | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
Beam vs Crusoe Cloud cost by team size
| Team size | Beam | Crusoe Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $20/moDeveloper | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $89/moTeam | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | $89/moTeam | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $89/moTeam | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $89/moTeam | 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.
Who Beam and Crusoe Cloud suit
Crusoe Cloud fits enterprise better than Beam.
| Audience | Beam | Crusoe Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 5/10Beam offers SOC 2 Type II, a Growth tier, clusters and bring-your-own-cloud, but the vendor is very small and publishes few details on regions. | 8/10Large GPU clusters, reserved capacity and SemiAnalysis-praised enterprise support suit large AI buyers. |
| Developers | 9/10Everything runs from a Python or TypeScript SDK and a CLI, with decorators that turn functions into endpoints and task queues. | 8/10Developers get a CLI, Terraform provider, API and MCP server. |
| Startups | 8/10The $20 Developer plan includes matching credit, and scale-to-zero billing keeps costs low for small AI teams. | 8/10AI startups can pay by the hour for GPUs and use the self-serve console. |
| SaaS Companies | 7/10Autoscaling GPU endpoints and sandboxes for agent code let SaaS products ship AI features without running GPU servers. | Not rated |
| Small Business | Not rated | 3/10Crusoe is built for GPU-heavy AI work, not general business hosting. |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Beam
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Crusoe Cloud
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Integration score (6/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (8/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
Beam
Pros
- Billing is per second, or per millisecond for sandboxes, with no egress fees and no compute charge while VMs are stopped. Storage was not yet billed at the time of research.
- Beta9, the core runtime, is open source under AGPL-3.0, so teams can self-host it or add their own hardware using the same CLI across cloud, on-prem and hybrid setups.
- Agent-focused sandboxes start in about half a second and can be paused, snapshotted, forked and given a GPU. Paused VMs resume with RAM and processes intact.
- GetDeploying's comparison found Beam's H100, H200, B200, L40S, RTX PRO 6000 and A6000 machine prices cheaper than Runpod's.
- Beam publishes a SOC 2 Type II report, and GetDeploying lists GDPR coverage through a DPA and HIPAA availability on the enterprise tier.
Cons
- Beam lists 10 GPU models, compared with 34 on Runpod in GetDeploying's comparison, and Runpod is cheaper on A100 and RTX 4090.
- In GetDeploying's comparison, a medium always-on VM (4 vCPU, 8 GB) cost about $289 a month on Beam versus about $86 on Runpod.
- Beam does not publish a list of data center regions, so buyers with residency needs must ask sales.
- The entry Developer plan is capped at 1 seat and 5 concurrent GPUs, and live chat support starts only on the $89 Team plan.
- Independent user reviews are scarce, and the vendor is very small (YC lists a team of 5), which may concern buyers who need long-term support guarantees.
Crusoe Cloud
Pros
- SemiAnalysis gave it a ClusterMAX Gold rating and praised how easy the console is to use, along with its fault management.
- Reviewers describe hands-on, white-glove engineering support.
- It covers NVIDIA H100 through B300 and AMD MI355X GPUs, with InfiniBand clusters.
- CPU, storage and Kubernetes rates are published openly, for example $0.10 per Kubernetes cluster-hour.
- Developers get a CLI, a Terraform provider, an API and an MCP server for automation.
Cons
- There are few independent user reviews on G2, Capterra or Gartner.
- It has fewer managed services and a narrower geographic footprint than the hyperscalers.
- Self-serve GPU rates on the pricing page are set to rise from December 1, 2026.
- Service terms reportedly exclude HIPAA-regulated workloads.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Beam and Crusoe Cloud both score 6.6/10 on our AI Software criteria. The largest gap is in Support: 5/10 for Beam and 8/10 for Crusoe Cloud.
No, neither Beam nor Crusoe Cloud lists a free plan.
Crusoe Cloud is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 5/10 for Beam.
