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Low-cost GPU rentalEdition of 12 Nov 2026
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Low-cost GPU rental

Glossary

Answer in brief

The 8 terms you meet when you read about low-cost GPU rental, each in one sentence, with an entry that says what it changes for a buyer.

Terms

  • GPU-hour

    A GPU-hour is one GPU rented for one hour, the unit in which rental prices are compared.

  • Billing unit

    The billing unit is the step in which rented time is rounded up before the hourly price is applied: the second, the minute or the hour.

  • Smallest rental

    The smallest rental is the least a provider will rent you: the fewest GPUs in one machine and the shortest time.

  • Idle time

    Idle time is billed time in which the GPU did no work, such as a machine left running after its job ended.

  • On demand

    On demand means you start a machine when you want it and stop it when you are done, paying only for the time it ran.

  • Spot

    Spot is spare capacity sold for less, on machines the provider can take back at short notice.

  • Availability label

    An availability label is the mark beside a price on this site that says whether the GPU could be started on the day it was checked.

  • Prepaid balance

    A prepaid balance is money added to an account ahead of use, which usage then draws down.

Questions and answers

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for a cheap cloud GPU: billing by the second with booting never billed, GPUs you can start now, and 26 GPU models from $0.23/hr. Runcrate publishes this site.

Work out the bill for your own job: the hours it runs, rounded to the billing unit, on the smallest rental you can take. Then check that the GPU can be started today.

Sources for this entry

  1. Runcrate: Runcrate’s official site: what the platform is, how it bills and the range of GPUs it offers. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  2. Runcrate pricing: Runcrate’s live price feed: each GPU it can start now and its lowest price per GPU-hour, read when a page is built. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  3. Provider pricing pages: The published on-demand list price of every provider named in the price tables, with the machine size and billing unit it applies to. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  4. Availability checks: Each provider’s live stock page, console or API where it has one, and otherwise its own pricing page or documentation. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  5. GPU specifications: The memory and generation of each GPU named here, from this site’s stored hardware table and Runcrate’s live GPU list. Read 12 Nov 2026.

Checklists are original editorial guidance. Published prices do not establish availability.

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Cite this entry

Cheap Cloud GPU. “Glossary.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://cheapcloudgpu.com/glossary