Modal vs PowerGPU at a glance
Modal
Python-native serverless: functions on GPUs, per-second, scale to zero
PowerGPU
Fixed prices at market median × 0.70, crypto only, verified datacenters
| Modal | PowerGPU | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Per second — GPU + CPU ($0.047/core-hr) + memory ($0.008/GiB-hr) separately | Per second, no minimum, price locked at deploy |
| Payment | Card | Crypto only — USDT (TRC-20/ERC-20), BTC, XMR, LTC, ETH, TRX, SOL |
| Identity | Card or GitHub account | Email + password. No KYC, no card, no stored IP addresses |
| Free credit | $30/month (Starter), $100/month (Team) | None — every hour is ≥30% under the market median instead |
| Cheaper tier | None | Interruptible flat −50% (no auction) · reserved −35% (3+ months) |
| Regions | United States (+ selected) | 32 regions on 5 continents, verified datacenters only |
| Minimums | None | None — 1× to 8× GPUs at the same per-GPU price |
| Storage | Volumes $0.09/GiB/mo, first 1 TiB free | $0.08/GB/month NVMe, volumes survive instances |
| Egress | Free | $0.01/GB in and out, every region |
| Access | Python SDK only (no SSH, no long-lived VMs) | Containers or full KVM VMs, SSH, Jupyter, REST API, CLI, Python SDK |
Modal column: as published on modal.com on 2026-09-03. Details change — verify before you decide.
Modal vs PowerGPU prices, GPU by GPU
Public on-demand list prices per GPU-hour on Modal's pricing page (2026-09-03) against PowerGPU's fixed rates today — every PowerGPU price is the public marketplace median × 0.70, rounded down, re-checked weekly.
| GPU | Modal list | PowerGPU on-demand | PowerGPU interruptible | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B200 $0.001736/s | $6.25 | $4.204 | $2.102 | −33% on PowerGPU |
| H200 $0.001261/s | $4.54 | $3.058 | $1.529 | −33% on PowerGPU |
| H100 SXM $0.001097/s | $3.95 | $1.587 | $0.793 | −60% on PowerGPU |
| A100 SXM4 80 GB, $0.000694/s | $2.50 | $0.583 | $0.291 | −77% on PowerGPU |
| L40S $0.000542/s | $1.95 | $0.466 | $0.233 | −76% on PowerGPU |
| A10 $0.000306/s | $1.10 | $0.168 | $0.084 | −85% on PowerGPU |
| L4 $0.000222/s | $0.80 | $0.225 | $0.112 | −72% on PowerGPU |
| Tesla T4 $0.000164/s | $0.59 | $0.104 | $0.052 | −82% on PowerGPU |
Configurations differ (node sizes, tiers, regions); the note beside each card says which Modal price is quoted. Negative differences mean Modal is cheaper on that card.
When to stay with Modal
- Your workload is bursty inference written in Python and you want autoscaling without operating anything.
- The $30/month free credit covers your usage.
- You never need a shell, a desktop, a VM or a long-running notebook.
Why teams switch to PowerGPU
- Long-running machines: SSH, Jupyter, full KVM VMs, desktops — Modal has no persistent instances.
- One price per GPU-hour that includes the CPU and RAM; Modal meters GPU, CPU and memory separately.
- Fixed rates at market median × 0.70 (Modal H100 $3.95, A100 80 GB $2.50), interruptible −50%, reserved −35%.
- Crypto settlement with no card or KYC — and a serverless endpoint product when you do want scale-to-zero.
Switching from Modal: what maps to what
| On Modal | On PowerGPU |
|---|---|
| @app.function(gpu="H100") | Serverless endpoint (vLLM / ComfyUI / any container) or an instance you keep |
| Modal Volume | Volume, $0.08/GB/month |
| Container image definition | Any OCI image or one of 37 templates |
| Modal CLI | powergpu CLI, REST API, Python SDK |
pip install powergpu
export POWERGPU_API_KEY=pg_live_… # console → API keys
powergpu launch --gpu b200 --template pytorch --disk 100 --volume data:/data
# ✓ instance i-52ab77c1 running (24.1s) · $4.204/hr · per second
powergpu stop i-52ab77c1 # billing ends this secondData moves the boring way: rsync or rclone from your Modal machine to a PowerGPU volume, which then mounts on every future instance in seconds. Templates for PyTorch, vLLM, ComfyUI and Ollama are official images; anything else runs from its OCI reference.
A real month, costed
| Scenario | Modal | PowerGPU |
|---|---|---|
| 1× B200, 730 hours on-demand | $4,563 | $3,069 |
| 1× B200, 8 h/day × 20 days | $1,000 | $673 |
| Same 160 hours, PowerGPU interruptible | — | $336 |
| 500 GB of storage, one month | Volumes $0.09/GiB/mo, first 1 TiB free | $40 |
Run your own schedule through the cost calculator — it adds storage and bandwidth and compares against the marketplace median.
Modal alternative: FAQ
Is PowerGPU cheaper than Modal?
Per GPU-hour, yes: Modal bills the H100 at $3.95/hr and the A100 80 GB at $2.50/hr plus CPU and memory meters (checked 2026-09-03); PowerGPU fixes them at the public market median × 0.70, CPU and RAM included. Modal's $30 monthly credit can make tiny workloads free.
Does PowerGPU have scale-to-zero like Modal?
Yes — serverless endpoints with queue-based autoscaling, cached weights and per-second billing on the same fixed prices. The difference is that PowerGPU also offers instances, VMs and SSH when a function is not the right shape.
Can I keep using Python to drive PowerGPU?
Yes: pip install powergpu gives a typed SDK with a context manager that guarantees the meter stops when your block exits.
Try the switch for the price of a coffee
Top up $30 in USDT or Monero, deploy the same image you run on Modal, and benchmark it. No card, no KYC, per-second billing — stop it the minute you are done.
Modal and its logo are trademarks of their owner, used here only to identify the compared service; PowerGPU is not affiliated with Modal. NVIDIA GPU names are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation.
