Every GPU cloud provider advertises their $/hr GPU price. None of them advertise the real monthly bill after egress, storage, idle billing, and surprise fees. We analyzed the billing models of all 18 providers we track and found that the actual cost is typically 1.3x to 3.2x the advertised GPU price. Here is every hidden cost, ranked by how much it will actually hit your wallet.
#1: The "Billed When Stopped" Trap
Impact: Up to 3x your expected cost
Some providers continue billing even when your instance is stopped. Lambda Labs is the most notable — reserved instances are billed continuously whether you are using them or not. On Vast.ai, most hosts bill while your instance exists, even if you have paused it. If you thought you would save money by stopping the GPU overnight, check the fine print.
| Provider | Billed When Stopped? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | No (GPU) | GPU stops, but EBS storage continues billing ($0.08/GB/mo) |
| GCP | No (GPU) | GPU stops, but persistent disk continues billing |
| Lambda Labs | Yes (reserved) | Reserved instances billed 24/7. On-demand: billed per hour. |
| RunPod | No | GPU stops. Network volumes billed separately ($0.07/GB/mo). |
| Vast.ai | Host-dependent | Most hosts bill while instance exists. Destroy to stop billing. |
| CoreWeave | No | GPU stops. Persistent storage billed separately. |
#2: Egress Fees (The Silent Killer)
Impact: $50-500+/month for data-heavy workloads
Transferring data out of your GPU instance costs money on some providers. AWS charges $0.09/GB, RunPod charges $0.10/GB. If you are serving inference results to users, downloading model checkpoints, or syncing training data, this adds up fast. Downloading a 70B model (140GB) from AWS costs $12.60 just in egress.
Providers with free egress: Lambda Labs, Vast.ai, TensorDock, Genesis Cloud, Latitude.sh. If egress is a significant part of your workflow, this alone can save hundreds per month.
#3: Ephemeral Disk (Data Loss)
Impact: Hours of wasted time + re-download costs
On Vast.ai, TensorDock, and RunPod (without a network volume), your local disk is ephemeral. When the instance stops, your data is gone. This means: downloading model weights again (30min+), re-installing dependencies, losing any unsaved training checkpoints. The hidden cost is not money — it is time and lost work.
Mitigation: Always use persistent storage (RunPod Network Volumes, AWS EBS, GCP Persistent Disk). Budget $3-15/month for 50-200GB of persistent storage. It costs 100x less than re-downloading and re-setting up your environment.
#4: The Enterprise Surcharge
Impact: 3-8x price premium
AWS, Azure, and GCP charge 3-8x more than marketplace alternatives for the same GPU. This premium buys you SOC 2 compliance, enterprise support, global availability zones, and SLA guarantees. For regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government), this premium is unavoidable. For a startup building an AI chatbot? You are paying for enterprise features you do not use.
#5: Quota Delays (Invisible Cost)
Impact: Days to weeks of waiting
On AWS, Azure, and GCP, requesting H100 or A100 quota can take 3-14 business days. During that time, you cannot rent the GPU. If you have a deadline, this invisible cost can force you to use a more expensive alternative or delay your project. Self-serve providers like RunPod, Lambda Labs, and Vast.ai let you spin up GPUs in minutes.
The True Monthly Cost Calculator
Here is a quick formula to estimate your real monthly bill:
Real Monthly Cost =
(GPU $/hr * hours/month)
+ (Storage GB * storage $/GB/mo)
+ (Egress GB * egress $/GB)
+ (Idle hours * idle $/hr) ← often forgotten
For a typical setup — H100 at $1.87/hr, 200GB storage, 100GB egress/month, running 16hrs/day:
- Advertised: $1.87/hr = $912/mo (assuming 16hr/day)
- Actual (AWS): $912 + $16 (EBS) + $9 (egress) + $45 (ALB + misc) = $982/mo
- Actual (RunPod): $912 + $14 (storage) + $0 (no extras) = $926/mo
- Actual (Lambda): $2.49/hr * 730 = $1,817/mo (billed 24/7 on reserved)
Compare the real costs: Our GPU price comparison shows base GPU prices. Use the TMC (True Monthly Cost) calculator on any instance to see the full cost including storage, egress, and idle billing.
