# Northflank vs Vast.ai

> 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 & pricing. Both do compute gpu. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.md (~2,050 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/northflank-vs-vast-ai.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

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 & pricing. Both do compute gpu.

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

## Which one, for what

### Northflank (C)

Good for: Teams that want GPUs next to their services and databases on one platform, or inside their own cloud account.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20

Watch for: No scale to zero for services; minimum instances must be at least 1

### Vast.ai (B)

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

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 57 against 48
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 65
- Transparency & trust, 62 against 55

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Northflank | Vast.ai | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 65 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 78 | Northflank +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 48 | 57 | Vast.ai +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 75 | 72 | Northflank +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Northflank +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 81 | Vast.ai +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 62 | Vast.ai +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **61.3 · C** | **62.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Northflank | Vast.ai |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model platform | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Northflank | Vast.ai Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.northflank.com/v1` | `https://console.vast.ai/api/v0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | Token | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under Vast.ai's Terms of Use Agreement. The `vastai` CLI and Python SDK on GitHub are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2021-03-01 | 2026-09-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2021-03-01 | 2025-06-18 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 19k npm/wk | 223 stars, 33k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

## Before you call either

### Northflank

1. Issue the agent a team token under an API role limited to one project, not a personal token
2. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining` and wait `x-ratelimit-reset` seconds on a 429; the default is 1,000 calls an hour
3. Page lists with `per_page` up to 100 and the returned `cursor` instead of numbered pages
4. Use a job, not a service, for anything that finishes; services bill until paused or deleted
5. Fetch any docs page with .md appended to get Markdown

### Vast.ai

1. Create a scoped key with `vastai create api-key --permissions` for the agent. A default key has full account access, billing and key management included
2. Pass `--raw` on every CLI command for JSON output, and `-y` on `vastai destroy instance`, which otherwise waits for a confirmation prompt
3. Register an SSH key with `vastai create ssh-key` before creating an instance, or the host is unreachable
4. Destroy instances when finished. A stopped instance still bills storage, and a zero balance without a saved card leads to deletion
5. Back off on HTTP 429 yourself when calling REST directly. The CLI retries 429 three times from 0.15 seconds
6. Filter searches with `verified=true` or the Secure Cloud option for sensitive data, and set a `dph_total` price cap

## Questions

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

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 & pricing.

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

Yes. Northflank has a hosted endpoint at https://api.northflank.com/v1 and Vast.ai at https://console.vast.ai/api/v0.


## For agents

- 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
- 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`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/northflank.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vast-ai.json

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