{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "lambda", "name": "Lambda Cloud", "vendor": "Lambda", "vendorUrl": "https://lambda.ai", "kind": "http-api", "category": "gpu-compute", "summary": "On-demand GPU virtual machines and clusters, with an API for provisioning compute and persistent storage.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lambda.json", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "API key created at cloud.lambda.ai/api-keys and sent as `Authorization: Bearer`. HTTP Basic with the key as the username (`curl -u 'KEY:'`) still works as a legacy option. SSH keys registered in the account are injected into launched instances.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "On-demand, per GPU an hour, Tesla V100 16 GB $0.79, A100 40 GB $1.99, A100 80 GB $2.79, H100 SXM 80 GB $3.99, B200 180 GB $6.69. 1-Click Clusters of HGX B200 are quoted per GPU-hour at $9.86 for 16 GPUs, $9.36 for 64 and $8.87 for 256 or more on two-week to one-year commitments. Instances bill in one-minute increments from the moment they pass health checks until you terminate them, invoiced weekly. Filesystems bill per GB used a month in one-hour increments. No free tier (https://lambda.ai/pricing, https://docs.lambda.ai/public-cloud/billing/).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.lambda.ai/public-cloud/on-demand/", "openapi": "https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud/spec.json", "capabilities": [ "compute.gpu", "compute.containers" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-priced", "openapi", "enterprise" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 50.1, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 363, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 7, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 5, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 69, "security": 60, "transparency": 59 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "H100 SXM at $3.99 and B200 at $6.69 an hour with per-minute billing. No scale to zero, autoscaling or endpoints; an idle VM bills until terminated.", "strengths": [ "H100 SXM at $3.99 and B200 at $6.69 an hour with per-minute billing", "OpenAPI 3.1 spec with documented error codes, a `suggestion` field and cursor pagination", "Audit events endpoint filterable by time and resource type", "Published rate limits, one request a second and one launch every 12 seconds", "Trust portal with SOC 2 Type 2 and four ISO certifications, and a named subprocessor list" ], "weaknesses": [ "No scale to zero, autoscaling or endpoints; an idle VM bills until terminated", "Ten status incidents in two months, including a two-day regional outage in August 2026", "No changelog, no llms.txt and no official SDK", "API keys have no scopes and launch has no idempotency key", "security.txt expired on 1 June 2026 and no free tier" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call `GET /instance-types` first and read `regions_with_capacity_available` before trying to launch", "Space launch calls 12 seconds apart; a sixth in a minute returns 429 with `global/rate-limited`", "Branch on the error `code`, not the `message` or `suggestion`, which Lambda says may change", "List instances before retrying a failed launch, since there's no idempotency key and a retry can start a second machine", "Terminate the instance in a `finally` block; billing runs by the minute until you do" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 50.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 5, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 69, "security": 60, "transparency": 48 }, "provenanceScore": 70 }, "connect": { "http": "curl \"https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1/instance-types\" -H \"Authorization: Bearer $LAMBDA_API_KEY\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/compute.gpu", "tool": "https://letme.dev/lambda" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "H100 SXM 80 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 3.99, "note": "Billed per minute" }, { "item": "B200 180 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 6.69 }, { "item": "A100 SXM 80 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 2.79 }, { "item": "A100 SXM 40 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.99 }, { "item": "Tesla V100 16 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 0.79 }, { "item": "HGX B200 1-Click Cluster, 16 GPUs", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 9.86, "note": "Two-week to one-year commitment; $8.87 at 256 GPUs or more" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Lambda, Inc.", "domain": "lambda.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "domainNote": "Lambda moved from lambdalabs.com, registered 2008-05-29, to lambda.ai. The .ai registry's RDAP server rate-limited our lookup of the new domain.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://lambda.ai/legal/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://lambda.ai/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.lambda.ai", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "expired", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Terms dated August 2025 and the privacy policy of 1 January 2026 name Lambda, Inc., 2510 Zanker Road, San Jose, California.", "The API runs on cloud.lambda.ai, a subdomain of the vendor domain.", "security.txt expired 2026-06-01 and has no Policy field.", "No public changelog found for the cloud. The OpenAPI spec reports version 1.10.0." ], "score": 70 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda.json", "live": { "slug": "lambda", "probe": { "target": "https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:17:12.701048338Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 403, "lastMs": 874, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 561, "p95ms24h": 901, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 892, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 264, "ok": 264 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.lambda.ai", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T23:17:44.342455089Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://lambda.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "expired", "expires": "2026-06-01T16:00:00Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:58.764976134Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "lambda.ai", "registered": "2017-12-16", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/lambda.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:04:37.89683091Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://lambda.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:45:18.84160567Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ad7e156559d1" }, { "url": "https://lambda.ai/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:45:14.766678886Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "921eec75dd83" }, { "url": "https://lambda.ai/legal/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:45:16.817640272Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "40e40aee2e7c" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:17:44.342455089Z" } }, "b": { "slug": "runpod", "name": "Runpod", "vendor": "Runpod", "vendorUrl": "https://www.runpod.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "gpu-compute", "summary": "Serverless GPU endpoints, queue-based or load-balanced, and rented GPU Pods, billed per second from prepaid credit.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runpod", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runpod.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runpod.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/runpod.json", "repo": "https://github.com/runpod/runpod-python", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.runpod.ai/v2", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "runpod" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "runpod-sdk" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@runpod/mcp-server" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "runpod-flash" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "API key from the console sent as `Authorization: Bearer` to serverless endpoints at api.runpod.ai/v2/\u003cendpoint-id\u003e and to the management REST API v2 at api.runpod.io/v2. Keys can be All, Read Only or Restricted per serverless endpoint. The deprecated GraphQL API takes the key as `?api_key=` in the URL. The hosted MCP server at mcp.getrunpod.io signs in with OAuth (Sign in with Runpod) or takes an API key as a Bearer header; the local `@runpod/mcp-server` reads `RUNPOD_API_KEY`.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Prepaid credit, billed per second and rounded up to the nearest second, with no data transfer fees and no free tier. Serverless flex workers an hour are 16 GB A4000 class $0.58, L4, A5000 or RTX 3090 $0.69, RTX 4090 $1.10, RTX Pro 4500 $1.15, A6000 or A40 $1.22, RTX 5090 $1.58, L40, L40S or RTX 6000 Ada $1.75, A100 80 GB $2.72, RTX Pro 6000 $3.49, H100 $4.79, H200 $5.93, B200 $8.64, B300 $9.98. Active (always-on) workers are discounted through sales. Pods run from $0.27 an hour (RTX A5000) to $7.89 (B300) on Community or Secure Cloud. Container disk $0.10 a GB-month, volume disk $0.10 running and $0.20 idle, network volumes $0.07 a GB-month under 1 TB and $0.05 above, high-performance $0.14. Default spend cap $80 an hour. Cards, crypto after KYC, prepaid cards at $100 or more a transaction, invoicing above $5,000 (https://www.runpod.io/pricing, https://docs.runpod.io/serverless/pricing, https://docs.runpod.io/accounts-billing/billing).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 314, "npmWeekly": 21838, "pypiWeekly": 146926, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.runpod.io", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.runpod.io/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://api.runpod.io/v2/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "compute.gpu", "compute.serverless", "compute.endpoints", "compute.batch", "compute.containers" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-priced", "prepaid", "mcp", "oauth", "llms-txt", "python", "typescript", "async-jobs", "batch", "webhooks", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-15", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 53.7, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 329, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 47, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 20, "reliability": 35, "schema": 81, "security": 60, "transparency": 65 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Per-second billing across more than a dozen serverless GPU classes, H100 at $4.79 and A100 80 GB at $2.72 an hour. Data-centre outages of 6 to 24 hours in each of July, August and September 2026.", "strengths": [ "Per-second billing across more than a dozen serverless GPU classes, H100 at $4.79 and A100 80 GB at $2.72 an hour", "API keys can be Read Only or restricted per serverless endpoint", "OpenAPI file for REST v2, llms.txt and dated release notes with deprecation dates", "Official MCP server, hosted with OAuth or local over stdio", "Valid security.txt and SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 in the trust centre" ], "weaknesses": [ "Data-centre outages of 6 to 24 hours in each of July, August and September 2026", "No published rate limits, 429 guidance, error codes or SLA", "The GraphQL API, live until early 2027, takes the API key in the URL", "No free tier, prepaid credit only", "Three APIs in flight, with REST v1 retiring on 15 November 2026" ], "agentNotes": [ "Create a Restricted or Read Only key per endpoint for the agent, not an All key", "Use REST v2 at api.runpod.io/v2 with a Bearer header; avoid GraphQL, which puts the key in the URL", "Fetch `/run` results within 30 minutes and `/runsync` results within 1 minute, or they're gone", "Call `/retry` on a failed job ID rather than submitting a duplicate job", "Check `/health` before relying on an endpoint idle for a week, since max workers drop to 0" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 53.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 47, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 20, "reliability": 35, "schema": 81, "security": 60, "transparency": 60 }, "provenanceScore": 70 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install runpod # or npm i runpod-sdk", "http": "curl -X POST \"https://api.runpod.ai/v2/$RUNPOD_ENDPOINT_ID/runsync\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $RUNPOD_API_KEY\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"input\":{\"prompt\":\"Hello, world!\"}}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http runpod https://mcp.getrunpod.io/ --header \"Authorization: Bearer $RUNPOD_API_KEY\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "runpod": { "args": [ "-y", "@runpod/mcp-server@latest" ], "command": "npx", "env": { "RUNPOD_API_KEY": "${RUNPOD_API_KEY}" } } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/compute.gpu", "tool": "https://letme.dev/runpod" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "H100 80 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 4.79, "note": "Billed per second" }, { "item": "H200 141 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 5.93 }, { "item": "B200 180 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 8.64 }, { "item": "A100 80 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 2.72 }, { "item": "L40S 48 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.75 }, { "item": "RTX 4090 24 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.1 }, { "item": "L4 24 GB serverless flex", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 0.69 }, { "item": "Container disk", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.1 }, { "item": "Network volume under 1 TB", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.07, "note": "$0.05 above 1 TB, $0.14 high-performance" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Runpod, Inc.", "domain": "runpod.io", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": false, "terms": "https://www.runpod.io/legal/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://www.runpod.io/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://uptime.runpod.io", "changelog": "https://docs.runpod.io/release-notes", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Terms effective 24 March 2026 name Runpod, Inc. under Delaware law. The privacy policy gives 329 Bryant St #4D, San Francisco.", "Serverless endpoints are served from api.runpod.ai and the management API from api.runpod.io, while the hosted MCP server sits on getrunpod.io.", "security.txt points to trust.runpod.io and expires 2027-01-31.", "The .io registry's RDAP server rate-limited our lookup, so the registration date is unrecorded." ], "score": 70 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runpod.json", "live": { "slug": "runpod", "probe": { "target": "https://api.runpod.ai/v2", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:17:16.925426213Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 48, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 47, "p95ms24h": 91, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 892, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 264, "ok": 264 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://uptime.runpod.io", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:40:27.797321476Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "runpod/runpod-python", "version": "v1.12.0", "released": "2026-08-10", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:38:45.92301028Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@runpod/mcp-server", "version": "4.0.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:38:44.129996109Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "runpod-sdk", "version": "1.1.2", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:38:43.626700927Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "runpod", "version": "1.12.0", "released": "2026-08-10", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:38:43.443916692Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "runpod-flash", "version": "1.20.0", "released": "2026-09-24", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:38:45.837849754Z" } ], "githubStars": 313, "npmWeekly": 29952, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://runpod.io/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-01-31T23:59:59Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:41.463706841Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.runpod.io/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:12.095308214Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "runpod.io", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:06:54.960688955Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.runpod.io/release-notes", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:44:00.021950941Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "64302af06aec" }, { "url": "https://docs.runpod.io/serverless/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:44:02.16843867Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "acdfc6a36a7f" }, { "url": "https://www.runpod.io/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:04.97613805Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "4e4c891c31f7" }, { "url": "https://www.runpod.io/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:00.890880838Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "00b9defcdf3d" }, { "url": "https://www.runpod.io/legal/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:52:02.970729657Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "4163df004c48" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:17:16.925426213Z" } }, "summary": "Runpod has a score of 53.7 (D) against Lambda Cloud's 50.1 (D). Both do compute gpu. The largest gap is maintenance \u0026 community, 77 points." }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod.min.md" }, "markdown": "Runpod has a score of 53.7 (D) against Lambda Cloud's 50.1 (D). Both do compute gpu. The largest gap is maintenance \u0026 community, 77 points.\n\n- Lambda Cloud: grade D, 50.1/100, rank #363 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lambda.json\n- Runpod: grade D, 53.7/100, rank #329 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/runpod.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/runpod.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick Lambda Cloud for reliability (+15), agent ergonomics (+16).\n\nPick Runpod for schema \u0026 documentation (+12), maintenance \u0026 community (+77), transparency \u0026 trust (+6).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Lambda Cloud | Runpod | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 35 | Lambda Cloud +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 81 | Runpod +12 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 47 | Lambda Cloud +16 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 20 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 5 | 82 | Runpod +77 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 65 | Runpod +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **50.1 · D** | **53.7 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Lambda Cloud | Runpod |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Lambda | Runpod |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1` | `https://api.runpod.ai/v2` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | MIT |\n| Tools exposed | none | none |\n| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |\n| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |\n| Last release | none | 2026-09-15 |\n| Popularity | none | 314 stars, 22k npm/wk, 147k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Lambda Cloud.** H100 SXM at $3.99 and B200 at $6.69 an hour with per-minute billing. No scale to zero, autoscaling or endpoints; an idle VM bills until terminated.\n\n**Runpod.** Per-second billing across more than a dozen serverless GPU classes, H100 at $4.79 and A100 80 GB at $2.72 an hour. Data-centre outages of 6 to 24 hours in each of July, August and September 2026.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Lambda Cloud\n\n1. Call `GET /instance-types` first and read `regions_with_capacity_available` before trying to launch\n2. Space launch calls 12 seconds apart; a sixth in a minute returns 429 with `global/rate-limited`\n3. Branch on the error `code`, not the `message` or `suggestion`, which Lambda says may change\n4. List instances before retrying a failed launch, since there's no idempotency key and a retry can start a second machine\n5. Terminate the instance in a `finally` block; billing runs by the minute until you do\n\n### Runpod\n\n1. Create a Restricted or Read Only key per endpoint for the agent, not an All key\n2. Use REST v2 at api.runpod.io/v2 with a Bearer header; avoid GraphQL, which puts the key in the URL\n3. Fetch `/run` results within 30 minutes and `/runsync` results within 1 minute, or they're gone\n4. Call `/retry` on a failed job ID rather than submitting a duplicate job\n5. Check `/health` before relying on an endpoint idle for a week, since max workers drop to 0\n\n## Other comparisons with Lambda Cloud or Runpod\n\n- [Baseten vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Baseten vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Beam vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Beam vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Koyeb vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Koyeb vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-modal.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Replicate Deployments](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-replicate-deploy.md)\n- [Modal vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Northflank vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Replicate Deployments vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-runpod.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-04", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.3", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Lambda Cloud vs Runpod", "url": "" } ], "description": "Runpod has a score of 53.7 (D) against Lambda Cloud's 50.1 (D). Both do compute gpu. The largest gap is maintenance \u0026 community, 77 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Lambda Cloud D 50.1", "Runpod D 53.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Lambda Cloud vs Runpod", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-lambda-vs-runpod.png", "path": "/compare/lambda-vs-runpod", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Runpod for AI agents, D 50.1 vs D 53.7", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-04", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 1400, "slim": 330 }, "version": 1 }