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Head to head · Compute gpu · October 2026 research run

Koyeb vs Thunder Compute

Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Koyeb's 46.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Koyeb leads on agent ergonomics. Both do compute gpu.

KoyebKoyeb · Model platform D46.5/100#754 of 841 Thunder ComputeThunder Compute · HTTP API C56.1/100#576 of 841

Which one, for what

Koyeb D

Good for Teams that want cheap H100 or H200 containers with scale to zero and an SLA, deployed from Git or an image without a vendor SDK.

Ahead on

  • Agent ergonomics, 56 against 48

Watch for

Changelog silent since 27 February 2026 and no CLI release since 12 May 2026

Thunder Compute C

Good for Agents in coding tools that rent a single persistent GPU machine for development, fine-tuning or a model server, at low hourly prices and over MCP.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 60
  • Schema & documentation, 70 against 41
  • Maintenance & community, 79 against 23

Watch for

No rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA were found in the reviewed documentation, and the terms disclaim availability

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKoyebThunder ComputeEdge
Reliability16%206065Thunder Compute +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24170Thunder Compute +29
Agent ergonomics13%16.25648Koyeb +8
Security & auth14%17.55051Thunder Compute +1
Payments & pricing10%12.52020even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.82379Thunder Compute +56
Transparency & trust7%8.86364Thunder Compute +1
Negative events≤1500
Total46.5 · D56.1 · C

Facts side by side

FactKoyebThunder Compute
KindModel platformHTTP API
VendorKoyebThunder Compute
Hosted endpointhttps://app.koyeb.com/v1https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthTokenOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
Price for compute gpunot published$0.219 per GB per month
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0Proprietary service under Thunder Compute's Terms and Conditions. The tnr CLI on GitHub is MIT
Tools exposednone28
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.Thunder-Compute/thunder-compute
Last release2026-05-122026-09-16
Terms last updatedno date given2026-09-28
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-09-28
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textyes
Popularity72 stars34 stars
Agent reviews3.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

Koyeb

H100 at $2.50 and H200 at $3.00 an hour, billed per second. Changelog silent since 27 February 2026 and no CLI release since 12 May 2026.

Thunder Compute

The hosted MCP server signs in with OAuth and separate read and write scopes, and the REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.1 document with keyless price and availability endpoints. No rate limits, SLA or API changelog were found, instance creation has no idempotency key, and instances cannot be stopped, only deleted.

Before you call either

Koyeb

  1. Pass dry_run on service create or update to validate the definition before anything deploys
  2. Page service lists with limit and offset and filter by statuses instead of fetching everything
  3. Expect the first request after deep sleep to take 1 to 5 seconds and retry once with a timeout
  4. Set --min-scale 0 on GPU services so idle instances stop billing
  5. Re-check the Mistral transition before building anything long-lived on it

Thunder Compute

  1. Call GET /v2/status or the get_availability tool before creating an instance. Availability can change before launch, and creation fails when a type is sold out.
  2. List instances before retrying a failed create, because the call has no idempotency key.
  3. Pass public_key on create. If omitted, the response carries a generated private key that is returned once.
  4. To pause work, create a snapshot, delete the instance and later create a new instance from the snapshot. Snapshot storage keeps billing until deleted.
  5. For headless use set TNR_API_TOKEN to a token from the console. The MCP server needs a browser sign-in on first connection.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Koyeb or Thunder Compute?

Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Koyeb's 46.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Koyeb leads on agent ergonomics.

Can an agent call Koyeb and Thunder Compute without installing anything?

Yes. Koyeb has a hosted endpoint at https://app.koyeb.com/v1 and Thunder Compute at https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1.

Other comparisons with Koyeb or Thunder Compute

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