# GPUBank vs Beam

> Beam, run by Smartshare, Inc. and backed by Y Combinator, is a US serverless platform for GPU endpoints, task queues and sandboxes, with on-demand GPU machines and reserved clusters on the side. It lists no H100 SXM outside contact-sales clusters; its H100 PCIe machine starts at $1.83 per hour, and a serverless H100 PCIe costs $0.000972 per second ($3.50 per hour) for the GPU alone. GPUBank charges $1.35 for an H100 PCIe and $1.85 for an H100 SXM, with vCPU, RAM, NVMe and traffic included.

- Page: https://gpubank.io/compare/gpubank-vs-beam
- Prices last checked on 29 September 2026, on Beam's own pages (sources below). Page updated 2 November 2026.
- Beam: https://www.beam.cloud, headquartered in Cambridge, United States
- GPUBank: https://gpubank.io, GPU cloud billed per second at an all-in hourly price (vCPU, RAM, NVMe, one IPv4 and traffic included), prepaid balance topped up in crypto.

## Verdict

**Serverless scale-to-zero at Beam. Lower prices, named regions and crypto top-ups at GPUBank.**

Beam fits Python teams that deploy inference endpoints or task queues through its SDK and want them to scale to zero. Its on-demand machines are sold at 'from' prices: H200 from $2.09, RTX PRO 6000 from $1.09 and B200 from $4.11 are at or below GPUBank. On the H100 PCIe, A100, L40S, RTX 5090 and RTX 4090, GPUBank costs 26 to 48 % less. Beam takes cards through Stripe, holds SOC 2 Type II and asks you to contact it to choose a region; GPUBank takes crypto and lets you pick Paris, Frankfurt, Ashburn or Singapore.

Score over 25 points: GPUBank ahead on 9, even on 8, Beam ahead on 8.

## Key facts

| Criterion | Beam | GPUBank |
|---|---|---|
| H100 SXM, per GPU-hour | No H100 SXM on demand; H100 PCIe from $1.83 | $1.85, all-in |
| Cheapest GPU-hour | $0.44, RTX 4090 machine (from) | $0.23, RTX 4090 |
| Billing granularity | By the millisecond (serverless) | Per second |
| Stopped instance | Scales to zero; keep-warm time is billed | Disk only |
| Persistent storage | Free to 1 TB, then $0.021 per GB-month | $0.03 per GB-month |
| Egress traffic | Included | Included |
| Crypto payments | Not listed: cards via Stripe only | Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and 12+ more |
| Card payments | Cards via Stripe | No |
| Minimum deposit | Not published | $25 |
| GPU models listed | 13 | 10 |
| Regions | US, Europe, Asia; no locations named | 4 |
| Serverless GPUs | Yes, the core product | No |
| Availability target | No SLA published | 99.9 % monthly |
| Compliance reports | SOC 2 Type II; HIPAA BAA on Enterprise | None published |
| Support | Community; live chat from the $89/month plan | Tickets from a $25 balance |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, United States | Tallinn, Estonia |

## Same GPUs, price per GPU-hour (USD, excl. VAT)

| GPU | Beam | GPUBank | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| B200 SXM | $4.11 (on demand) | $4.15 | +1 % |
| H200 SXM | $2.09 (on demand) | $2.49 | +19 % |
| H100 PCIe | $1.83 (on demand) | $1.35 | -26 % |
| RTX PRO 6000 | $1.09 (on demand) | $1.15 | +6 % |
| A100 SXM | $1.36 (on demand) | $0.95 | -30 % |
| L40S | $0.76 (on demand) | $0.55 | -28 % |
| RTX 5090 | $0.72 (on demand) | $0.48 | -33 % |
| RTX 4090 | $0.44 (on demand) | $0.23 | -48 % |

## When to pick Beam

- Serverless GPU endpoints and task queues that scale to zero
- H200 from $2.09 and RTX PRO 6000 from $1.09 on demand
- Storage free up to 1 TB, then $0.021 per GB-month
- SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA BAA on Enterprise
- Reserved 8-GPU SXM clusters with InfiniBand, open-source beta9 engine

## When to pick GPUBank

- H100 PCIe at $1.35 against $1.83, RTX 4090 at $0.23 against $0.44
- H100 SXM on demand at $1.85, which Beam sells only in clusters
- Firm published prices, not 'from' figures
- Pay in Bitcoin, USDT and 12+ other coins, no card
- Four named regions you pick yourself, plus a Terraform provider

## Questions

### Is GPUBank cheaper than Beam for an H100?

Yes for the H100 PCIe: Beam's on-demand machine starts at $1.83 per hour and GPUBank charges $1.35. Beam's serverless H100 PCIe costs $0.000972 per second, about $3.50 per hour, before CPU and RAM. Beam sells the H100 SXM only in reserved clusters, while GPUBank rents it at $1.85 per GPU-hour.

### Does Beam charge for CPU and RAM on serverless GPUs?

Yes. Serverless GPU rates are for the GPU only; CPU costs $0.000105 per second per core and RAM $0.0000055 per second per GiB. Beam's own example of an RTX 4090 endpoint with 2 cores and 16 GiB comes to $1.77 per hour. GPUBank includes vCPU, RAM and NVMe in the GPU price.

### Does Beam accept crypto?

Beam's terms name card payments through Stripe and do not mention crypto. GPUBank is paid from a USD balance topped up in Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and more than a dozen other coins, from $25.

### Which is better for scale-to-zero inference?

Beam. Its endpoints and task queues start containers on demand and bill by the millisecond while they run, with a default keep-warm of 180 s on endpoints. GPUBank has no serverless product; you rent a VM and pay per second until you stop it.

### Where are Beam's GPUs located?

Beam states primary locations in the United States, Europe and Asia, runs on AWS and Google Cloud, and uses the United States unless you contact it to pick another region. GPUBank runs in Paris, Frankfurt, Ashburn and Singapore, chosen at launch.

### Are these prices with or without VAT?

Without. Every price on this page excludes VAT and sales tax, for Beam and for GPUBank, so the two columns compare like for like. Tax is added at checkout according to where the buyer is based.

## Sources

- https://www.beam.cloud/pricing: Serverless, sandbox, on-demand, cluster, storage, BYOC prices, plans, egress
- https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/environment/gpu: Serverless GPU list, on-demand GPU list, multi-GPU by request, regions
- https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/resources/pricing-and-billing: What is billed, keep-warm defaults, storage
- https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/security/security: SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA BAA, DPA, AWS/GCP infrastructure, default US region
- https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/security/terms-and-conditions: Legal entity, Stripe card payments, prepaid credits, billing in arrears, suspension
- https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/self-hosting/overview: Open-source beta9
- https://docs.beam.cloud/v2/reference/cli: CLI, machine list
- https://status.beam.cloud/: Status page and 90-day uptime
- https://www.beam.cloud/: Y Combinator backing, SDK languages, positioning
- https://www.beam.cloud/about: Company description

Prices change: check both providers before buying. Beam is a trademark of its owner; GPUBank is not affiliated with Beam.