# GPUBank vs Lium

> Lium is a GPU rental marketplace on Bittensor subnet 51, run by Datura AI Corp of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Independent providers list whole machines and set their own asks, so prices move: on 2026-09-29 the H100 SXM ranged from $1.30 to $2.20 per GPU-hour, against a fixed $1.85 at GPUBank. Lium has 91 GPU models, cards and a headless signup; GPUBank runs its own capacity, includes traffic and IPv4 and keeps a stopped instance at disk cost.

- Page: https://gpubank.io/compare/gpubank-vs-lium
- Prices last checked on 29 September 2026, on Lium's own pages (sources below). Page updated 2 November 2026.
- Lium: https://lium.io/, headquartered in Saint Kitts and Nevis
- 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

**Lower lowest asks and a wider catalogue at Lium. Fixed prices on own-operated GPUs at GPUBank.**

Lium suits cost-sensitive jobs and AI agents that can live with provider variability: its lowest live asks beat GPUBank on the H100 SXM, L40S and RTX PRO 6000, and it lists 91 models. GPUBank is cheaper on the B200, H200, H100 PCIe, A100 SXM 80GB, RTX 5090 and RTX 4090, and its prices do not depend on which host has a free pod. Lium has no pause state, no SLA and no status page, and its own docs warn that some 4- and 8-GPU rentals were silently cut to 1 GPU. Lium takes cards, stablecoins and TAO; GPUBank takes more than a dozen coins and no card.

Score over 27 points: GPUBank ahead on 6, even on 11, Lium ahead on 10.

## Key facts

| Criterion | Lium | GPUBank |
|---|---|---|
| H100 SXM, per GPU-hour | From $1.30 live ask (range $1.30 to $2.20) | $1.85, all-in |
| Cheapest GPU-hour | $0.03 reference price, GTX 1080 | $0.23, RTX 4090 |
| Billing granularity | Per second | Per second |
| Stopped instance | No pause; billed until the pod is removed | Disk only |
| Persistent storage | $0.00005 per GB-hour, about $0.036 per GB-month | $0.03 per GB-month |
| Egress traffic | Pod egress not published; volume reads billed | Included |
| Crypto payments | Stablecoins, TAO and Bittensor alpha | Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and 12+ more |
| Card payments | Cards via Stripe, with Auto Top Up | No |
| Minimum deposit | $10 ($20 for Auto Top Up) | $25 |
| GPU models listed | 91 | 10 |
| Regions | Provider nodes in 46 cities | 4 |
| Serverless GPUs | No | No |
| Availability target | None; terms give no uptime warranty | 99.9 % monthly |
| Compliance reports | No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 published | None published |
| Support | Email and a per-pod Discord channel | Tickets from a $25 balance |
| Headquarters | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Tallinn, Estonia |

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

| GPU | Lium | GPUBank | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| B200 SXM | $5.35 (marketplace) | $4.15 | -22 % |
| H200 SXM | $3.40 (marketplace) | $2.49 | -27 % |
| H100 SXM | $1.30 (marketplace) | $1.85 | +42 % |
| H100 PCIe | $1.40 (marketplace) | $1.35 | -4 % |
| RTX PRO 6000 | $1.10 (marketplace) | $1.15 | +5 % |
| A100 SXM | $1.18 (marketplace) | $0.95 | -19 % |
| L40S | $0.38 (marketplace) | $0.55 | +45 % |
| RTX 5090 | $0.50 (marketplace) | $0.48 | -4 % |
| RTX 4090 | $0.35 (marketplace) | $0.23 | -34 % |

## When to pick Lium

- H100 SXM live asks from $1.30 per GPU-hour, L40S at $0.38
- 91 GPU models, from GTX 1080 up to B300 SXM6
- Pay by card, stablecoin, TAO or Bittensor alpha, from $10
- Headless signup with no email, plus CLI, Python SDK and a price JSON
- Multi-node clusters on InfiniBand or RoCE, and Intel TDX nodes

## When to pick GPUBank

- Fixed prices on our own capacity, not provider asks that move
- B200 at $4.15 and H200 at $2.49, against asks from $5.35 and $3.40
- Stop an instance and pay only for its disk, at $0.03 per GB-month
- All traffic and one public IPv4 included in the GPU price
- 99.9 % monthly SLA target, status page and Terraform provider

## Questions

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

Sometimes. Lium is a marketplace, and on 2026-09-29 H100 SXM asks from independent providers ran from $1.30 to $2.20 per GPU-hour. GPUBank charges a fixed $1.85 per GPU-hour, with vCPU, RAM, NVMe, IPv4 and traffic included. A 40-hour fine-tune costs $52.00 at the lowest Lium ask and $74.00 on GPUBank.

### Are Lium prices fixed?

No. Each provider sets its own ask, and the pricing page shows a range per model. On the check date only 17 of the 91 models had a free pod; the rest showed a Lium reference price. A provider price increase reaches a running pod 7 days after notice.

### Can I pause a Lium pod to save money?

Lium documents no pause that stops compute billing. A pod bills from the deploy request until it is removed, and its local data is deleted with it. On GPUBank a stopped instance costs only its persistent disk, at $0.03 per GB-month.

### Does Lium accept crypto?

Yes. Lium takes stablecoins by invoice, with USDT on Tron as the example, plus TAO and Bittensor alpha, and cards through Stripe, from $10. GPUBank takes Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and more than a dozen other coins from $25, and no cards.

### Does Lium have an SLA?

No. Lium's terms provide the service as is, with no uptime warranty, and there is no status page. Each listing shows the node's own uptime and a reliability score. GPUBank states a 99.9 % monthly SLA target per region in its terms and runs a status page.

### Are these prices with or without VAT?

Without. Every price on this page excludes VAT and sales tax, for Lium 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://lium.io/: Listings, filters, tier options, site observations
- https://lium.io/pricing: Per-model GPU-hour prices and ranges, billing FAQ, 95 % provider share
- https://lium.io/pricing.json: 91 models, reference and min/max prices, VRAM, availability
- https://lium.io/gpu/h100: H100 SXM vs PCIe labelling, from prices
- https://lium.io/api/public/v1/nodes: Node locations, tiers (secure/spot), GPU counts
- https://lium.io/api/v1/shared-config: Bittensor netuid 51, volume GB-hour price, rental fee rate
- https://lium.io/llms.txt: Product scope, fleet totals, API endpoints
- https://lium.io/llms-full.txt: Signup paths, funding options, crypto invoices, CLI, clusters, GPU verification caveats
- https://lium.io/terms: Legal entity, jurisdiction, payment methods, refunds, no uptime warranty
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/billing.md: Per-second billing, balance rules, minimum top-ups, Auto Top Up
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/volumes.md: Volume storage price, egress on reads
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/backups.md: Backup storage and schedules
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/clusters.md: InfiniBand/RoCE clusters
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/security.md: Confidential computing (Intel TDX), encryption
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/discord-support.md: Support channels
- https://docs.lium.io/security/export-compliance.md: Compliance, access review
- https://docs.lium.io/providers/portal/node-tier.md: Spot tier definition
- https://docs.lium.io/pod-users/invoices.md: Stripe invoices for card top-ups with company and VAT details

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