# Koyeb vs Vast.ai

> Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Koyeb's 46.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do compute gpu. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai.md (~2,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai.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

Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Koyeb's 46.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do compute gpu.

- Koyeb: grade D, 46.5/100, rank #646 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/koyeb.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/koyeb.json
- Vast.ai: grade B, 62.6/100, rank #331 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vast-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vast-ai.json

## 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.

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

### Vast.ai (B)

Good for: Cost-sensitive training, batch work and self-managed inference where the agent can search listings, set a price cap and tolerate host variance or interruption.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 60
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 41
- Security & auth, 72 against 50
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 23

Watch for: No SLA. The terms say availability is not guaranteed and the service can change without notice


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Koyeb | Vast.ai | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 65 | Vast.ai +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 41 | 78 | Vast.ai +37 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 57 | Vast.ai +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 50 | 72 | Vast.ai +22 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 20 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 23 | 81 | Vast.ai +58 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 62 | Koyeb +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **46.5 · D** | **62.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Koyeb | Vast.ai |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Koyeb | Vast.ai Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.koyeb.com/v1` | `https://console.vast.ai/api/v0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | Token | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under Vast.ai's Terms of Use Agreement. The `vastai` CLI and Python SDK on GitHub are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-05-12 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2025-06-18 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 72 stars | 223 stars, 33k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (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.

**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.

## 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

### 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

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Koyeb or Vast.ai?

Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Koyeb's 46.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Can an agent call Koyeb and Vast.ai without installing anything?

Yes. Koyeb has a hosted endpoint at https://app.koyeb.com/v1 and Vast.ai at https://console.vast.ai/api/v0.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Koyeb or Vast.ai

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- [Baseten vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-vast-ai.md)
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- [Koyeb vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-lambda.md)
- [Koyeb vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-modal.md)
- [Koyeb vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-northflank.md)
- [Koyeb vs Replicate Deployments](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-replicate-deploy.md)
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- [Lambda Cloud vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-vast-ai.md)
- [Modal vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-vast-ai.md)
- [Northflank vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.md)
- [Replicate Deployments vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-vast-ai.md)
- [Runpod vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-vast-ai.md)