# Modal vs Thunder Compute

> Modal scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Thunder Compute's 56.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do compute gpu. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-thunder-compute.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 Thunder Compute's 56.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do compute gpu.

- 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
- 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

## Which one, for what

### 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 65
- Agent ergonomics, 57 against 48
- Security & auth, 68 against 51
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 79

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

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

### 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.

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

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Modal | Thunder Compute | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 65 | Modal +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 70 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 48 | Modal +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 51 | Modal +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Modal +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 79 | Modal +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 64 | Modal +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63.6 · B** | **56.1 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Modal | Thunder Compute |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Modal | Thunder Compute |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1` |
| Transports |  | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for compute gpu | not published | $0.219 per GB per month |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under Thunder Compute's Terms and Conditions. The `tnr` CLI on GitHub is MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 28 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.Thunder-Compute/thunder-compute` |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-05-01 | 2026-09-28 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2023-05-17 | 2026-09-28 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 514 stars, 941k npm/wk, 10.1M PyPI/wk | 34 stars |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**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

### 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

### 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, Modal or Thunder Compute?

Modal scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Thunder Compute's 56.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Can an agent call Modal and Thunder Compute without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Modal. Thunder Compute has a hosted endpoint at https://api.thundercompute.com:8443/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Modal or Thunder Compute

- [Baseten vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-modal.md)
- [Baseten vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Beam vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-modal.md)
- [Beam vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Cerebrium vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-modal.md)
- [Cerebrium vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [CoreWeave vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-modal.md)
- [CoreWeave vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Hugging Face Inference Endpoints vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-modal.md)
- [Hugging Face Inference Endpoints vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-endpoints-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Hyperbolic vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-modal.md)
- [Hyperbolic vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hyperbolic-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Koyeb vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-modal.md)
- [Koyeb vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Lambda Cloud vs Modal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-modal.md)
- [Lambda Cloud vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Modal vs Nebius AI Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-nebius-ai-cloud.md)
- [Modal vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-northflank.md)
- [Modal vs Replicate Deployments](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-replicate-deploy.md)
- [Modal vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-runpod.md)
- [Modal vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-vast-ai.md)
- [Modal vs Verda](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-verda.md)
- [Nebius AI Cloud vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nebius-ai-cloud-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Northflank vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Replicate Deployments vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Runpod vs Thunder Compute](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-thunder-compute.md)
- [Thunder Compute vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-vast-ai.md)
- [Thunder Compute vs Verda](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thunder-compute-vs-verda.md)