Cerebrium vs Vast.ai

Cerebrium

Per-second GPU prices are public, a 94-operation OpenAPI spec covers the management API, and service account tokens expire and are limited to named projects. Deployed endpoints are callable without a token unless disable_auth = false is set, and no request rate limits, 429 handling or SLA were found in the reviewed documentation.

Vast.ai

API keys can be limited by permission category and by resource ID, the REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, and the CLI ships weekly with a skill file for coding agents. Machines belong to independent hosts, prices move with the market, rate-limit thresholds are unpublished, and there is no SLA or free tier.

Cerebrium

1. Set disable_auth = false in cerebrium.toml before deploying. The default leaves the endpoint callable by anyone with the URL
2. Authenticate headless with CEREBRIUM_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN. cerebrium login opens a browser
3. Raise response_grace_period for long work. It defaults to 15 minutes and async runs stop at 12 hours
4. Send ?async=true to get a run_id with HTTP 202, and add webhookEndpoint because async calls return no result to the caller
5. Check the plan before choosing hardware. A100, H100, H200, B200 and RTX PRO 6000 need Standard, and protected compute bills at twice the listed rate

Vast.ai

1. Create a scoped key with vastai create api-key --permissions for the agent. A default key has full account access, billing and key management included
2. Pass --raw on every CLI command for JSON output, and -y on vastai destroy instance, which otherwise waits for a confirmation prompt
3. Register an SSH key with vastai create ssh-key before creating an instance, or the host is unreachable
4. Destroy instances when finished. A stopped instance still bills storage, and a zero balance without a saved card leads to deletion
5. Back off on HTTP 429 yourself when calling REST directly. The CLI retries 429 three times from 0.15 seconds
6. Filter searches with verified=true or the Secure Cloud option for sensitive data, and set a dph_total price cap