Modal vs Nebius: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Modal and Nebius to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Modal
6.7/10
Modal is a serverless cloud platform that runs Python code on GPUs and CPUs with per-second billing, aimed at teams building and serving AI applications.
Nebius
6.6/10
Nebius is an AI-focused cloud that rents NVIDIA GPU instances and clusters by the hour, with managed Kubernetes, Slurm, storage and inference services for ML teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.7/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $250/mo Team | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $250/mo Team | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed WordPress | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Serverless Functions | ||
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Shared Hosting | ||
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed Kubernetes | Not listed | |
Modal vs Nebius cost by team size
| Team size | Modal | Nebius |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeStarter | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $250/moTeam | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | $250/moTeam | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | $250/moTeam | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | $250/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.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Modal
- Has a free plan (Nebius does not)
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Support score (6/10 vs 5/10)
Why choose Nebius
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Security score (8/10 vs 7/10)
Pros & Cons
Modal
Pros
- GPUs from the T4 up to the B300 are available without quota requests or reservations, and workloads can burst to thousands of containers.
- Per-second billing and scale-to-zero mean idle bursty inference workloads cost nothing.
- Python developers define infrastructure in code and deploy with a single CLI command, with no Kubernetes or Dockerfiles needed.
- The free Starter plan includes $30 a month of compute, and startup and academic credit programs are available.
- Sandboxes support large numbers of concurrent isolated environments for AI agents and untrusted code.
Cons
- Always-on or steady workloads can cost more than reserved GPU rentals from providers such as RunPod or Lambda.
- Containers stay billable for 60 seconds after the last request by default, and keep-warm settings are a common source of bill surprises.
- Region pinning raises prices by 1.15 to 1.75 times, and non-preemptible execution by 3 times.
- SSO, audit logs, and HIPAA support are limited to the custom-priced Enterprise plan.
- Credits from AWS, GCP, or Azure cannot be applied to Modal usage.
Nebius
Pros
- Newest NVIDIA hardware, including B300 and GB300 NVL72, is listed with published per-hour prices.
- Network egress, ingress and public IPs are free, which removes a common hidden cost on hyperscalers.
- The certification list is broad: SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, several ISO standards including 27001 and 42001, and CSA STAR.
- EU data centers in Finland and Paris help with GDPR and data residency.
- Infrastructure as code is fully supported through a CLI, a Terraform provider, gRPC and REST APIs, and SDKs.
Cons
- The catalogue is narrow outside AI. The only managed database is PostgreSQL, and there is no CDN or web hosting.
- Some users report slower support responses than AWS or CoreWeave.
- Users note documentation gaps for advanced setups.
- Kubernetes and Slurm workflows assume DevOps expertise.
- Commitment pricing and the largest clusters require contacting sales.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Modal scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 6.7/10 against 6.6/10 for Nebius. The largest gap is in Cost: 5/10 for Modal and 7/10 for Nebius.
Modal has a free plan; Nebius does not list one.
