# Hyperbolic vs Modal

> Modal scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hyperbolic's 48 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hyperbolic leads on schema & documentation. Both do compute gpu. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Modal scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hyperbolic's 48 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hyperbolic leads on schema & documentation. Both do compute gpu.

- Hyperbolic: grade D, 48/100, rank #730 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hyperbolic.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hyperbolic.json
- Modal: grade B, 63.6/100, rank #346 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modal.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal.json

## Which one, for what

### Hyperbolic (D)

Good for: Agents that rent whole H100, H200 or B200 machines or multi-node clusters for training and batch work and that have a funded account.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 70

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: API keys carry no scopes or expiry in the reviewed documentation, and the same key can call `DELETE /v2/users/me`

### Modal (B)

Good for: Python teams that want GPU functions, batch jobs and HTTP endpoints from one decorator with scale to zero.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 52
- Security & auth, 68 against 47
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 15
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 42
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where Hyperbolic loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No REST API or OpenAPI spec for deploying or invoking Functions


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Hyperbolic | Modal | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 52 | 70 | Modal +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 70 | Hyperbolic +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 57 | Modal +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 47 | 68 | Modal +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 15 | 30 | Modal +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 85 | Modal +43 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 67 | Modal +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48 · D** | **63.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Hyperbolic | Modal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Model platform |
| Vendor | Hyperbolic Labs, Inc. | Modal |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.hyperbolic.ai` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Hyperbolic's Terms of Service. The unmaintained hyperbolic-mcp repository on GitHub is MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-03-24 | 2026-05-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2023-05-17 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 514 stars, 941k npm/wk, 10.1M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Hyperbolic.** The API serves its own OpenAPI 3.1 document without a key, lists GPU prices on an open endpoint and dates the removal of legacy paths at 1 March 2027. API keys carry no scopes and can delete the account, rental creation has no idempotency key, and renting needs a browser signup and a $5 deposit.

**Modal.** Scale to zero by default, per-second billing and about one-second container boots. No REST API or OpenAPI spec for deploying or invoking Functions.

## Before you call either

### Hyperbolic

1. Read `GET /v2/on-demand/rental-options` first. It needs no key and lists what can be rented now, with `costPerHourCents` per GPU configuration.
2. Send `rentalType` and `gpuCount` to `POST /v2/on-demand/rentals`. Region defaults to `us-central-1` and GPU type to `h100`, so set both from the options list.
3. List active rentals before retrying a failed create call. There is no idempotency key and every ready rental bills hourly.
4. Save an SSH public key with `POST /v2/ssh-keys` before renting. Without `sshPublicKeyIds` the newest saved key is attached.
5. Do not create reserved rentals unless asked. They are paid in full up front and cannot be terminated early.

### Modal

1. Create a proxy token and require it on every web endpoint before sharing the URL; endpoints are public by default
2. Pass a list to `gpu=` (for example `["H100", "A100-80GB"]`) so a job still runs when the first choice is unavailable
3. Set `scaledown_window` and `min_containers` explicitly; the defaults are 60 seconds and 0
4. Use `.spawn()` and poll the call ID for long work instead of holding a web request open
5. Keep web endpoint traffic under 200 requests a second or ask Modal to raise the limit

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Hyperbolic or Modal?

Modal scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Hyperbolic's 48 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Hyperbolic leads on schema & documentation.

### Can an agent call Hyperbolic and Modal without installing anything?

Hyperbolic has a hosted endpoint at https://api.hyperbolic.ai. No hosted endpoint is listed for Modal.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "hyperbolic", "b": "modal"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare hyperbolic modal`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hyperbolic.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/modal.json

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