{ "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, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 695, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 14, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 5, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 69, "security": 60, "transparency": 58 }, "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.", "bestFor": "Agents or pipelines that need a whole GPU machine with SSH for hours, such as training or batch jobs, and will manage the lifecycle themselves.", "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": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 50 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 63, "maintenance": 5, "payments": 20, "reliability": 50, "schema": 69, "security": 60, "transparency": 48 }, "provenanceScore": 67 }, "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": 67 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda.json", "live": { "slug": "lambda", "probe": { "target": "https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T09:26:54.467619436Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 403, "lastMs": 685, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 99.95, "p50ms24h": 603, "p95ms24h": 901, "samples24h": 261, "samples30d": 2085, "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": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 101, "ok": 101 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.lambda.ai", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T09:25:17.021469615Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://lambda.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "expired", "expires": "2026-06-01T16:00:00Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:48.494823468Z" }, "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": "2026-10-08T18:21:12.626677302Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ad7e156559d1" }, { "url": "https://lambda.ai/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:08.557293205Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "921eec75dd83" }, { "url": "https://lambda.ai/legal/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:10.609958388Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "40e40aee2e7c" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T09:26:54.467619436Z" } }, "answer": "Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Lambda Cloud's 50 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Lambda Cloud leads on agent ergonomics and security \u0026 auth.", "b": { "slug": "thunder-compute", "name": "Thunder Compute", "vendor": "Thunder Compute", "vendorUrl": "https://www.thundercompute.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "gpu-compute", "summary": "Thunder Compute is a US GPU cloud renting RTX A6000, L40, A100 and H100 instances by the minute and GPU sandboxes by the second. Agents use its REST API, a hosted MCP server with OAuth, or the `tnr` CLI.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thunder-compute", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thunder-compute.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thunder-compute.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/thunder-compute.json", "repo": "https://github.com/Thunder-Compute/thunder-cli", "license": "Proprietary service under Thunder Compute's Terms and Conditions. The `tnr` CLI on GitHub is MIT", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "go", "name": "github.com/Thunder-Compute/thunder-cli" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "thunder-sandbox" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Self-serve. The hosted MCP server uses OAuth 2.0 with discovery. The first connection opens a browser to sign in and approve, tokens refresh, and the scopes are `instances:read`, `instances:write`, `snapshots:read`, `snapshots:write`, `sandboxes:read`, `sandboxes:write`, `billing:read` and `org:read`. The REST API takes a named API token as a Bearer header. Tokens are created and revoked one at a time in the console, or with the MCP `create_token` tool, and no token scopes were found. The CLI and the sandbox SDK read `TNR_API_TOKEN` for headless use. Price, specification, availability and template endpoints need no token.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "No general free tier. Instances are billed by the minute while they run, paid by saved card or preloaded credit that is non-refundable. Per GPU an hour on 9 October 2026, RTX A6000 is $0.35, L40 $0.79, A100 80 GB $1.09 and H100 $3.20. Sandboxes are billed by the second and need access enabled by the vendor. Students with a US university email get $20 of credit for A6000 and L40 GPUs. Reserved capacity is by quote (https://www.thundercompute.com/pricing).", "priceSummary": "$0.04 / vCPU-hr", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs corpus, the OpenAPI document or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-09).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 28, "popularity": { "githubStars": 34, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-09" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.thundercompute.com/docs", "llmsTxt": "https://www.thundercompute.com/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/openapi.json", "registryName": "io.github.Thunder-Compute/thunder-compute", "capabilities": [ "compute.gpu", "compute.containers" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-priced", "openapi", "llms-txt", "mcp", "cli", "oauth", "api-key", "python", "go", "status-page", "card-required", "closed-source" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-16", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 56.1, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 576, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 10, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 48, "maintenance": 79, "payments": 20, "reliability": 65, "schema": 70, "security": 51, "transparency": 64 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-09" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "Hosted MCP server at `https://www.thundercompute.com/mcp` with OAuth and ten scopes that separate read from write for instances, snapshots and sandboxes", "Public OpenAPI 3.1 document with 41 operations, plus `llms.txt`, `llms-full.txt` and a Markdown copy of every docs page", "`GET /v2/pricing`, `GET /v2/specs` and `GET /v2/status` return prices, configurations and live availability without a token", "Section 28 of the terms, dated 28 September 2026, permits access by AI agents, scripts and SDKs through the account holder's own credentials", "The status page lists no incidents for July to October 2026 on its Website, API and Instances components" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA were found in the reviewed documentation, and the terms disclaim availability", "`POST /instances/create` has no idempotency key, so a retried launch can start a second billed instance", "Instances cannot be stopped. Pausing means taking a snapshot, deleting the instance and restoring later", "No general free tier. The $20 credit is limited to students with a US university email", "No security.txt or disclosure policy was found, and the SOC 2 Type II claim in `llms.txt` has no report or trust page linked", "The sub-processor list, last updated 27 August 2025, names Firebase for sign-in while the MCP docs name Stytch" ], "agentNotes": [ "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.", "List instances before retrying a failed create, because the call has no idempotency key.", "Pass `public_key` on create. If omitted, the response carries a generated private key that is returned once.", "To pause work, create a snapshot, delete the instance and later create a new instance from the snapshot. Snapshot storage keeps billing until deleted.", "For headless use set `TNR_API_TOKEN` to a token from the console. The MCP server needs a browser sign-in on first connection." ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 56.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 48, "maintenance": 79, "payments": 20, "reliability": 65, "schema": 70, "security": 51, "transparency": 51 }, "provenanceScore": 77 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Thunder-Compute/thunder-cli/main/scripts/install.sh | bash", "http": "curl https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v2/pricing", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http thunder-compute https://www.thundercompute.com/mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "thunder-compute": { "url": "https://www.thundercompute.com/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/compute.gpu", "tool": "https://letme.dev/thunder-compute" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "RTX A6000 48 GB instance", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 0.35, "note": "Billed per minute. One GPU per instance" }, { "item": "L40 48 GB instance", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 0.79, "note": "Billed per minute" }, { "item": "A100 80 GB instance", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.09, "note": "Billed per minute. 4 and 8 GPU shapes cost $1.49 a GPU per the price endpoint" }, { "item": "H100 80 GB instance", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 3.2, "note": "Billed per minute" }, { "item": "H100 80 GB sandbox", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 2.95, "note": "Billed per second, plus vCPU and memory. Access on request" }, { "item": "A100 80 GB sandbox", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.95, "note": "Billed per second, plus vCPU and memory. Access on request" }, { "item": "Extra instance vCPU", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.04, "note": "Above the vCPUs included with each GPU" }, { "item": "Sandbox vCPU", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.051, "note": "Memory is $0.016 per GiB an hour" }, { "item": "Instance disk above 100 GB per GPU", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.219, "note": "Billed only while the instance runs" }, { "item": "Snapshot storage", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.05, "note": "Kept until deleted" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Thunder GPU, Inc.", "domain": "thundercompute.com", "domainRegistered": "2024-02-29", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.thundercompute.com/terms-and-conditions", "privacy": "https://www.thundercompute.com/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.thundercompute.com", "changelog": "https://github.com/Thunder-Compute/thunder-cli/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-09", "notes": [ "The Terms and Conditions, last updated 28 September 2026, name Thunder GPU, Inc., doing business as Thunder Compute, a Delaware company, and apply Delaware law. They cover the site and the services, with sections on automated access, usage billing and instance data deletion.", "The privacy policy, last updated 28 September 2026, covers the website and the GPU platform, including access by AI agents.", "The API answers at api.thundercompute.com on port 8443, and the MCP server at www.thundercompute.com/mcp, both on the vendor domain.", "/.well-known/security.txt answers 404.", "RDAP for thundercompute.com gives a registration date of 2024-02-29.", "The changelog linked is the CLI's. No API changelog was found.", "A Data Processing Addendum is published in the docs and a sub-processor list on the site, last updated 27 August 2025." ], "score": 77 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thunder-compute.json", "live": { "slug": "thunder-compute", "probe": { "target": "https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T09:27:07.340219077Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 219, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 619, "p95ms24h": 717, "samples24h": 20, "samples30d": 20, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 20, "ok": 20 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.thundercompute.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T09:25:35.789610874Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T09:27:07.340219077Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Lambda", "b": "Thunder Compute", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1", "b": "https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$9.86 per GPU-hour", "b": "$0.219 per GB per month", "name": "Price for compute gpu" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "none", "b": "Proprietary service under Thunder Compute's Terms and Conditions. The `tnr` CLI on GitHub is MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "28", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "not listed", "b": "io.github.Thunder-Compute/thunder-compute", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2026-09-16", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2025-08-01", "b": "2026-09-28", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-01-01", "b": "2026-09-28", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "34 stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Lambda Cloud's 50 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Lambda Cloud leads on agent ergonomics and security \u0026 auth.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Lambda Cloud or Thunder Compute?" }, { "answer": "Lambda Cloud needs an API key. Thunder Compute takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Lambda Cloud and Thunder Compute need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Lambda Cloud has a hosted endpoint at https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1 and Thunder Compute at https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Lambda Cloud and Thunder Compute without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 63 against 48", "Security \u0026 auth, 60 against 51" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Agents or pipelines that need a whole GPU machine with SSH for hours, such as training or batch jobs, and will manage the lifecycle themselves.", "slug": "lambda", "watchFor": "No scale to zero, autoscaling or endpoints; an idle VM bills until terminated" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 65 against 50", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 79 against 5", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 64 against 58" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "thunder-compute", "watchFor": "No rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA were found in the reviewed documentation, and the terms disclaim availability" } ], "job": { "capability": "compute.gpu", "name": "Compute gpu" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-lambda.json", "title": "Baseten vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Baseten vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-lambda.json", "title": "Beam vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Beam vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-lambda.json", "title": "Cerebrium vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Cerebrium vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-lambda.json", "title": "CoreWeave vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "CoreWeave vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-lambda.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Endpoints vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Endpoints vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-lambda.json", "title": "Hyperbolic vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Hyperbolic vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-lambda.json", "title": "Koyeb vs Lambda Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-lambda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Koyeb vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-modal.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Modal", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-modal" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-nebius-ai-cloud.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Nebius AI Cloud", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-nebius-ai-cloud" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-northflank.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-replicate-deploy.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Replicate Deployments", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-replicate-deploy" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Runpod", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-verda.json", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Verda", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-verda" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Modal vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nebius-ai-cloud-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Nebius AI Cloud vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nebius-ai-cloud-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Northflank vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Replicate Deployments vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-thunder-compute.json", "title": "Runpod vs Thunder Compute", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-thunder-compute" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Thunder Compute vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-verda.json", "title": "Thunder Compute vs Verda", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-verda" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 15, "edge": "thunder-compute", "key": "reliability", "lambda": 50, "name": "Reliability", "thunder-compute": 65, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "thunder-compute", "key": "schema", "lambda": 69, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "thunder-compute": 70, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 15, "edge": "lambda", "key": "ergonomics", "lambda": 63, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "thunder-compute": 48, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 9, "edge": "lambda", "key": "security", "lambda": 60, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "thunder-compute": 51, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "payments", "lambda": 20, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "thunder-compute": 20, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 74, "edge": "thunder-compute", "key": "maintenance", "lambda": 5, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "thunder-compute": 79, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "thunder-compute", "key": "transparency", "lambda": 58, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "thunder-compute": 64, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Lambda Cloud's 50 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Lambda Cloud leads on agent ergonomics and security \u0026 auth. Both do compute gpu.", "verdicts": { "lambda": "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.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute.min.md" }, "markdown": "Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Lambda Cloud's 50 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Lambda Cloud leads on agent ergonomics and security \u0026 auth. Both do compute gpu.\n\n- Lambda Cloud: grade D, 50/100, rank #695 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lambda.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lambda.json\n- Thunder Compute: grade C, 56.1/100, rank #576 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/thunder-compute.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/thunder-compute.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Lambda Cloud (D)\n\nGood for: Agents or pipelines that need a whole GPU machine with SSH for hours, such as training or batch jobs, and will manage the lifecycle themselves.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 48\n- Security \u0026 auth, 60 against 51\n\nWatch for: No scale to zero, autoscaling or endpoints; an idle VM bills until terminated\n\n### Thunder Compute (C)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 65 against 50\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 79 against 5\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 64 against 58\n\nWatch for: No rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA were found in the reviewed documentation, and the terms disclaim availability\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Lambda Cloud | Thunder Compute | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 65 | Thunder Compute +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 70 | Thunder Compute +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 48 | Lambda Cloud +15 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 51 | Lambda Cloud +9 |\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 | 79 | Thunder Compute +74 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 64 | Thunder Compute +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **50 · D** | **56.1 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Lambda Cloud | Thunder Compute |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Lambda | Thunder Compute |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1` | `https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| Price for compute gpu | $9.86 per GPU-hour | $0.219 per GB per month |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Proprietary service under Thunder Compute's Terms and Conditions. The `tnr` CLI on GitHub is MIT |\n| Tools exposed | none | 28 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.Thunder-Compute/thunder-compute` |\n| Last release | none | 2026-09-16 |\n| Terms last updated | 2025-08-01 | 2026-09-28 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-01-01 | 2026-09-28 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |\n| Popularity | none | 34 stars |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\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**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.\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### Thunder Compute\n\n1. 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.\n2. List instances before retrying a failed create, because the call has no idempotency key.\n3. Pass `public_key` on create. If omitted, the response carries a generated private key that is returned once.\n4. To pause work, create a snapshot, delete the instance and later create a new instance from the snapshot. Snapshot storage keeps billing until deleted.\n5. For headless use set `TNR_API_TOKEN` to a token from the console. The MCP server needs a browser sign-in on first connection.\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Lambda Cloud or Thunder Compute?\n\nThunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Lambda Cloud's 50 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Lambda Cloud leads on agent ergonomics and security \u0026 auth.\n\n### Do Lambda Cloud and Thunder Compute need an API key?\n\nLambda Cloud needs an API key. Thunder Compute takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Lambda Cloud and Thunder Compute without installing anything?\n\nYes. Lambda Cloud has a hosted endpoint at https://cloud.lambda.ai/api/v1 and Thunder Compute at https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"lambda\", \"b\": \"thunder-compute\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare lambda thunder-compute`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lambda.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/thunder-compute.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Lambda Cloud or Thunder Compute\n\n- [Baseten vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Baseten vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Beam vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Beam vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Cerebrium vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Cerebrium vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [CoreWeave vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-lambda.md)\n- [CoreWeave vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Endpoints vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Hugging Face Inference Endpoints vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Hyperbolic vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Hyperbolic vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Koyeb vs Lambda Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-lambda.md)\n- [Koyeb vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-modal.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Nebius AI Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-nebius-ai-cloud.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- [Lambda Cloud vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Verda](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-verda.md)\n- [Modal vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Nebius AI Cloud vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nebius-ai-cloud-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Northflank vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Replicate Deployments vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Runpod vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-thunder-compute.md)\n- [Thunder Compute vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Thunder Compute vs Verda](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-verda.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "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 Thunder Compute", "url": "" } ], "description": "Thunder Compute scores 56.1 (C) on agent readiness against Lambda Cloud's 50 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Lambda Cloud leads on agent ergonomics and security \u0026 auth. Both do compute gpu. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Lambda Cloud D 50", "Thunder Compute C 56.1", "scores" ], "h1": "Lambda Cloud vs Thunder Compute", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-lambda-vs-thunder-compute.png", "path": "/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Lambda Cloud vs Thunder Compute for AI agents, D 50 vs C 56.1", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2500, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }