{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "northflank", "name": "Northflank", "vendor": "Northflank", "vendorUrl": "https://northflank.com", "kind": "platform", "category": "gpu-compute", "summary": "Platform for deploying services, jobs and databases from Git or container images, in managed or customer-owned infrastructure. Supports GPU workloads and sandboxes.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/northflank", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/northflank.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/northflank.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/northflank.json", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.northflank.com/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@northflank/cli" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@northflank/js-client" } ], "auth": "pat", "authNotes": "Personal API token from account settings, or a team token issued under an API role, sent as `Authorization: Bearer` to api.northflank.com/v1. Rate limit headers `x-ratelimit-limit`, `x-ratelimit-remaining` and `x-ratelimit-reset` come back on every response.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Pay as you go, pro-rated to the second and charged at the end of the monthly cycle. CPU $0.01667 a vCPU-hour and memory $0.00833 a GB-hour, from a 1 vCPU 2 GB plan at $24 a month to 32 vCPU 499 GB at $3,312. GPUs an hour are L4 24 GB $0.80, A100 40 GB $1.42, A100 80 GB $1.76, H100 80 GB $2.74, RTX PRO 6000 96 GB $3.00. SSD $0.15 a GB-month and egress $0.06 a GB. A free sandbox tier gives 2 services, 1 database and 2 cron jobs. Running in your own cloud adds no platform fee on pay as you go (https://northflank.com/pricing).", "priceSummary": "$0.0167 / vCPU-hr", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 19190, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://northflank.com/docs/v1/application", "llmsTxt": "https://northflank.com/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://api.northflank.com/v1/swagger-json", "capabilities": [ "compute.gpu", "compute.containers", "compute.batch", "compute.endpoints" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "free-tier", "openapi", "llms-txt", "typescript", "uk", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-24", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 61.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 367, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 6, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 48, "maintenance": 65, "payments": 30, "reliability": 65, "schema": 81, "security": 75, "transparency": 55 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "OpenAPI 3.0 with over 100 paths, enums and `per_page`, `page` and `cursor` on every list. No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1.", "bestFor": "Teams that want GPUs next to their services and databases on one platform, or inside their own cloud account.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.0 with over 100 paths, enums and `per_page`, `page` and `cursor` on every list", "Team API tokens under API roles with granular permissions, plus audit logs", "Runs in Northflank's cloud or your own AWS, GCP, Azure or bare metal", "llms.txt and a Markdown twin for every docs page", "H100 at $2.74 and A100 80 GB at $1.76 an hour, billed per second" ], "weaknesses": [ "No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1", "1,000 API requests an hour by default", "One partial outage of workload starts across regions on 5 August 2026", "Terms and privacy policy unchanged since 1 March 2021, and no security.txt", "No error schemas in the spec, no idempotency keys, no Python SDK" ], "agentNotes": [ "Issue the agent a team token under an API role limited to one project, not a personal token", "Read `x-ratelimit-remaining` and wait `x-ratelimit-reset` seconds on a 429; the default is 1,000 calls an hour", "Page lists with `per_page` up to 100 and the returned `cursor` instead of numbered pages", "Use a job, not a service, for anything that finishes; services bill until paused or deleted", "Fetch any docs page with .md appended to get Markdown" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 61.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 48, "maintenance": 65, "payments": 30, "reliability": 65, "schema": 81, "security": 75, "transparency": 33 }, "provenanceScore": 77 }, "connect": { "install": "npm i -g @northflank/cli \u0026\u0026 northflank login", "http": "curl \"https://api.northflank.com/v1/projects\" -H \"Authorization: Bearer $NORTHFLANK_TOKEN\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/compute.gpu", "tool": "https://letme.dev/northflank" }, "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "H100 80 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 2.74, "note": "Billed per second" }, { "item": "RTX PRO 6000 96 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 3 }, { "item": "A100 80 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.76 }, { "item": "A100 40 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 1.42 }, { "item": "L4 24 GB", "unit": "gpu-hour", "usd": 0.8 }, { "item": "CPU", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.01667, "note": "Memory extra at $0.00833 a GB-hour" }, { "item": "SSD storage", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.15 }, { "item": "Egress", "unit": "gb", "usd": 0.06 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Northflank Ltd", "domain": "northflank.com", "domainRegistered": "2019-03-31", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://northflank.com/legal/terms", "privacy": "https://northflank.com/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.northflank.com", "changelog": "https://northflank.com/changelog", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Terms and privacy policy, both dated 1 March 2021, name Northflank Ltd, company number 11918540, 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU, with legal@northflank.com as contact.", "The API runs on api.northflank.com, a subdomain of the vendor domain.", "northflank.com/.well-known/security.txt returns 404.", "No public source repository for the platform; the CLI and JavaScript client are published on npm." ], "score": 77 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/northflank.json", "live": { "slug": "northflank", "probe": { "target": "https://api.northflank.com/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T19:52:57.098519349Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 40, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 37, "p95ms24h": 192, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 1941, "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": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 225, "ok": 225 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.northflank.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:38:50.246928865Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@northflank/cli", "version": "0.13.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:22:35.066484465Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@northflank/js-client", "version": "0.11.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:22:35.928473419Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 5763, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://northflank.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:39:04.396861069Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://northflank.com/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:42.125610096Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "northflank.com", "registered": "2019-03-31", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/northflank.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:08:04.961258123Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://northflank.com/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:23.38969484Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "dded57d72d65" }, { "url": "https://northflank.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:29.465118201Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "83f74eaab49c" }, { "url": "https://northflank.com/legal/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:25.713082793Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "d3ee323ae832" }, { "url": "https://northflank.com/legal/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:27.469810163Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ead1ffa17ca6" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T19:52:57.098519349Z" } }, "answer": "Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Northflank's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Northflank leads on payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "vast-ai", "name": "Vast.ai", "vendor": "Vast.ai Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://vast.ai", "kind": "http-api", "category": "gpu-compute", "summary": "Vast.ai is a marketplace for renting GPUs by the second from independent hosts and data centres, as Docker instances, virtual machines or autoscaling serverless endpoints. Agents use the `vastai` CLI, a Python SDK or a REST API.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vast-ai", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vast-ai.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vast-ai.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vast-ai.json", "repo": "https://github.com/vast-ai/vast-cli", "license": "Proprietary service under Vast.ai's Terms of Use Agreement. The `vastai` CLI and Python SDK on GitHub are MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://console.vast.ai/api/v0", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "vastai" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "API key from the console's Keys page, sent as `Authorization: Bearer` to https://console.vast.ai/api/v0, or stored once with `vastai set api-key`. Access is self-serve after a browser signup and email verification. A key has full account access by default. Scoped keys take any of 11 permission categories (`instance_read`, `instance_write`, `billing_write` and others) and constraints that narrow an endpoint to resource IDs. Keys are shown once, and can be reset or deleted with immediate effect. The rate-limit page names an `api_key` query parameter as part of a caller's identity, while the authentication page documents only the header.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Prepaid credit with a $5 minimum deposit and no free tier or trial found. Each host sets its own rate per listing, so there is no fixed price list. Live rates are public at vast.ai/pricing and through `vastai search offers`. GPU time bills per second while an instance runs, storage per second while it exists (stopped included) and bandwidth per byte. Interruptible rentals are bid-priced and reserved rentals are prepaid for 1, 3 or 6 months. Serverless adds no fee on top of instance rates. Spent credit is not refunded (https://docs.vast.ai/guides/reference/billing.md, https://docs.vast.ai/guides/instances/pricing.md, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs index, llms.txt, the agent pricing page or the OpenAPI file (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 223, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": 32699, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.vast.ai", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.vast.ai/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://docs.vast.ai/api-reference/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "compute.gpu", "compute.containers", "compute.serverless", "compute.endpoints" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "marketplace", "usage-priced", "prepaid", "api-key", "scoped-keys", "openapi", "llms-txt", "python", "cli", "agent-skill", "serverless", "spot", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-02", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 62.6, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 331, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 57, "maintenance": 81, "payments": 20, "reliability": 65, "schema": 78, "security": 72, "transparency": 62 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "API keys take 11 permission categories and per-endpoint constraints on resource IDs, and can be reset or deleted at once", "Public OpenAPI 3.1 file with 89 operations, llms.txt and Markdown docs pages", "MIT CLI and Python SDK, v1.8.3 on 2 October 2026, with 12 tagged releases since 27 July 2026", "Per-second billing, with serverless workers charged at the same rates as rented instances", "Vulnerability disclosure policy with safe harbour and triage within 5 business days, and an account audit log from the CLI" ], "weaknesses": [ "No SLA. The terms say availability is not guaranteed and the service can change without notice", "Rate-limit thresholds are unpublished and 429 responses carry no `Retry-After` header", "No free tier. Credit is prepaid with a $5 minimum deposit after a browser signup and email verification", "Hosts are independent. The security FAQ says individual hosts may have less formal security than Secure Cloud data centres", "The terms of 1 September 2026 prohibit scripts and automated access to the services without a separate written agreement, which conflicts with the public API" ], "agentNotes": [ "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", "Pass `--raw` on every CLI command for JSON output, and `-y` on `vastai destroy instance`, which otherwise waits for a confirmation prompt", "Register an SSH key with `vastai create ssh-key` before creating an instance, or the host is unreachable", "Destroy instances when finished. A stopped instance still bills storage, and a zero balance without a saved card leads to deletion", "Back off on HTTP 429 yourself when calling REST directly. The CLI retries 429 three times from 0.15 seconds", "Filter searches with `verified=true` or the Secure Cloud option for sensitive data, and set a `dph_total` price cap" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 62.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 57, "maintenance": 81, "payments": 20, "reliability": 65, "schema": 78, "security": 72, "transparency": 45 }, "provenanceScore": 79 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install vastai", "http": "curl -s -H \"Authorization: Bearer $VAST_API_KEY\" \\\n \"https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/users/current/\"", "claudeCode": "/plugin marketplace add vast-ai/vast-claude-plugin\n/plugin install vastai" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/compute.gpu", "tool": "https://letme.dev/vast-ai" }, "area": "models", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Vast.ai Inc.", "domain": "vast.ai", "domainRegistered": "2017-12-16", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://vast.ai/terms", "privacy": "https://vast.ai/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.vast.ai", "changelog": "https://github.com/vast-ai/vast-cli/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The Terms of Use Agreement, version date 1 September 2026, names Vast.ai Inc. and its affiliates, covers the website and the rental service, and is governed by California law with JAMS arbitration in the Los Angeles area.", "The privacy policy, version date 18 June 2025, names Vast.ai Inc. and a Privacy Officer at contact@vast.ai. It is written for users of the website and contains an unfilled `[INSERT HYPERLINK]` placeholder.", "A Data Processing Agreement at vast.ai/data-processing-agreement forms part of the terms, with standard contractual clauses and five named sub-processors (Stripe, Google, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft).", "The REST API answers at console.vast.ai and serverless routing at run.vast.ai, both on the vendor's domain. Rented machines belong to independent hosts.", "vast.ai/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. A vulnerability disclosure policy dated 23 July 2025 at vast.ai/vulnerability-disclosure-policy sends reports to security@vast.ai.", "No API changelog was found in the docs index. The changelog link is the CLI and SDK repository's release list, which has no CHANGELOG file.", "RDAP for vast.ai gives a registration date of 2017-12-16." ], "score": 79 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vast-ai.json", "live": { "slug": "vast-ai", "probe": { "target": "https://console.vast.ai/api/v0", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T19:53:05.315409291Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 341, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 340, "p95ms24h": 407, "samples24h": 27, "samples30d": 27, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 27, "ok": 27 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.vast.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:18.949416936Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.vast.ai/guides/instances/pricing.md", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:19:43.22968168Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "7cd305f9206a" }, { "url": "https://vast.ai/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:25:30.293684318Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "afe890f5aa20" }, { "url": "https://vast.ai/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:25:32.570996649Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "652ca94c3dd7" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T19:53:05.315409291Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Model platform", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Northflank", "b": "Vast.ai Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.northflank.com/v1", "b": "https://console.vast.ai/api/v0", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "Token", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "none", "b": "Proprietary service under Vast.ai's Terms of Use Agreement. The `vastai` CLI and Python SDK on GitHub are MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-24", "b": "2026-10-02", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2021-03-01", "b": "2026-09-01", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2021-03-01", "b": "2025-06-18", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "19k npm/wk", "b": "223 stars, 33k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3.5/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Northflank's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Northflank leads on payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Northflank or Vast.ai?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Northflank has a hosted endpoint at https://api.northflank.com/v1 and Vast.ai at https://console.vast.ai/api/v0.", "question": "Can an agent call Northflank and Vast.ai without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Teams that want GPUs next to their services and databases on one platform, or inside their own cloud account.", "slug": "northflank", "watchFor": "No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 57 against 48", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 81 against 65", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 62 against 55" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "vast-ai", "watchFor": "No SLA. The terms say availability is not guaranteed and the service can change without notice" } ], "job": { "capability": "compute.gpu", "name": "Compute gpu" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-northflank.json", "title": "Baseten vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Baseten vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-northflank.json", "title": "Beam vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Beam vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-northflank.json", "title": "Cerebrium vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Cerebrium vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-northflank.json", "title": "CoreWeave vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "CoreWeave vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-northflank.json", "title": "Koyeb vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Koyeb vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai" }, { "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-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/modal-vs-northflank.json", "title": "Modal vs Northflank", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-northflank" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Modal vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-replicate-deploy.json", "title": "Northflank vs Replicate Deployments", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-replicate-deploy" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-runpod.json", "title": "Northflank vs Runpod", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-runpod" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Replicate Deployments vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-vast-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-vast-ai.json", "title": "Runpod vs Vast.ai", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-vast-ai" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "northflank": 65, "vast-ai": 65, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 3, "edge": "northflank", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "northflank": 81, "vast-ai": 78, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 9, "edge": "vast-ai", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "northflank": 48, "vast-ai": 57, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 3, "edge": "northflank", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "northflank": 75, "vast-ai": 72, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "northflank", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "northflank": 30, "vast-ai": 20, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 16, "edge": "vast-ai", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "northflank": 65, "vast-ai": 81, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "vast-ai", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "northflank": 55, "vast-ai": 62, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Northflank's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Northflank leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do compute gpu.", "verdicts": { "northflank": "OpenAPI 3.0 with over 100 paths, enums and `per_page`, `page` and `cursor` on every list. No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.min.md" }, "markdown": "Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Northflank's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Northflank leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do compute gpu.\n\n- Northflank: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #367 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/northflank.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/northflank.json\n- 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\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Northflank (C)\n\nGood for: Teams that want GPUs next to their services and databases on one platform, or inside their own cloud account.\n\nAhead on:\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 30 against 20\n\nWatch for: No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1\n\n### Vast.ai (B)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 57 against 48\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 81 against 65\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 62 against 55\n\nWatch for: No SLA. The terms say availability is not guaranteed and the service can change without notice\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Northflank | Vast.ai | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 65 | even |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 78 | Northflank +3 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 48 | 57 | Vast.ai +9 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 75 | 72 | Northflank +3 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Northflank +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 81 | Vast.ai +16 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 62 | Vast.ai +7 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **61.3 · C** | **62.6 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Northflank | Vast.ai |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model platform | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Northflank | Vast.ai Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.northflank.com/v1` | `https://console.vast.ai/api/v0` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | Token | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Proprietary service under Vast.ai's Terms of Use Agreement. The `vastai` CLI and Python SDK on GitHub are MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-10-02 |\n| Terms last updated | 2021-03-01 | 2026-09-01 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2021-03-01 | 2025-06-18 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |\n| Popularity | 19k npm/wk | 223 stars, 33k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Northflank.** OpenAPI 3.0 with over 100 paths, enums and `per_page`, `page` and `cursor` on every list. No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1.\n\n**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.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Northflank\n\n1. Issue the agent a team token under an API role limited to one project, not a personal token\n2. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining` and wait `x-ratelimit-reset` seconds on a 429; the default is 1,000 calls an hour\n3. Page lists with `per_page` up to 100 and the returned `cursor` instead of numbered pages\n4. Use a job, not a service, for anything that finishes; services bill until paused or deleted\n5. Fetch any docs page with .md appended to get Markdown\n\n### Vast.ai\n\n1. 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\n2. Pass `--raw` on every CLI command for JSON output, and `-y` on `vastai destroy instance`, which otherwise waits for a confirmation prompt\n3. Register an SSH key with `vastai create ssh-key` before creating an instance, or the host is unreachable\n4. Destroy instances when finished. A stopped instance still bills storage, and a zero balance without a saved card leads to deletion\n5. Back off on HTTP 429 yourself when calling REST directly. The CLI retries 429 three times from 0.15 seconds\n6. Filter searches with `verified=true` or the Secure Cloud option for sensitive data, and set a `dph_total` price cap\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Northflank or Vast.ai?\n\nVast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Northflank's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Northflank leads on payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Can an agent call Northflank and Vast.ai without installing anything?\n\nYes. Northflank has a hosted endpoint at https://api.northflank.com/v1 and Vast.ai at https://console.vast.ai/api/v0.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"northflank\", \"b\": \"vast-ai\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare northflank vast-ai`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/northflank.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vast-ai.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Northflank or Vast.ai\n\n- [Baseten vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Baseten vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baseten-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Beam vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Beam vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beam-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Cerebrium vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Cerebrium vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cerebrium-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [CoreWeave vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-northflank.md)\n- [CoreWeave vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coreweave-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Koyeb vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Koyeb vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/koyeb-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Lambda Cloud vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lambda-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Modal vs Northflank](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-northflank.md)\n- [Modal vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modal-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Northflank vs Replicate Deployments](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-replicate-deploy.md)\n- [Northflank vs Runpod](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-runpod.md)\n- [Replicate Deployments vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-deploy-vs-vast-ai.md)\n- [Runpod vs Vast.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/runpod-vs-vast-ai.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "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": "Northflank vs Vast.ai", "url": "" } ], "description": "Vast.ai scores 62.6 (B) on agent readiness against Northflank's 61.3 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Northflank leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do compute gpu. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Northflank C 61.3", "Vast.ai B 62.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Northflank vs Vast.ai", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-northflank-vs-vast-ai.png", "path": "/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Northflank vs Vast.ai for AI agents, C 61.3 vs B 62.6", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2050, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }