Civo vs Vast.ai: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Civo and Vast.ai to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Civo
6.7/10
Civo is a UK cloud provider offering fast managed Kubernetes on K3s, compute instances, managed databases, object storage and GPUs for developer teams.
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 | 6.7/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Analytics | 4/10 | 4/10 |
| Cost | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 4/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $5/mo Compute instances | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $5/mo Compute instances | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
Civo vs Vast.ai cost by team size
| Team size | Civo | Vast.ai |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $5/moCompute instances | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $5/moCompute instances | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | $5/moCompute instances | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $5/moCompute instances | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $5/moCompute instances | 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 Civo
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Security score (7/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Vast.ai
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Scalability score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Civo
Pros
- The Kubernetes control plane is free, and clusters launch in about 90 seconds.
- Ingress and egress bandwidth are free and unlimited, which avoids surprise transfer bills.
- Pricing is published and billed hourly, with nodes starting at $5.43 a month.
- Resources can be managed through a CLI, a REST API, Terraform and Pulumi, plus a marketplace of over 100 apps.
- It holds ISO 27001, SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials Plus, and it is a UK G-Cloud supplier.
Cons
- It offers far fewer managed services and regions than the hyperscalers.
- Reviewers describe the documentation as limited or uneven.
- Very few independent reviews exist; G2 has none and Gartner has one.
- No core-platform SLA or 24/7 support matrix is clearly published.
- Observability tooling is basic.
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
Civo scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 6.7/10 against 6.3/10 for Vast.ai. The largest gap is in Customization: 6/10 for Civo and 8/10 for Vast.ai.
No, neither Civo nor Vast.ai lists a free plan.
