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Fine-tuning on rented GPUsEdition of 12 Nov 2026
Fine Tune CostRuncrate Reference
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Fine-tuning on rented GPUs

How to choose

Answer in brief

Choose in the order of the checklist.

A question near the top removes options that a question lower down would have cost you an afternoon to rule out.

A fine-tune costs the GPU-hours of one run, times the price per GPU-hour, times the runs you will really make, plus storage. Time a short slice of your own job on the GPU you plan to rent, then multiply it out.

The questions, in order

  1. How much GPU memory does the job need?

    The method and the model size decide it. Rent the smallest GPU that holds the job: the RTX Pro 6000 has 96 GB and the H200 has 141 GB.

  2. How many GPU-hours is one full run?

    Time a short slice on the GPU you will rent and scale it. GPU-hours are the hours multiplied by the number of GPUs.

  3. How many runs will you pay for?

    Count the tries, the crashes and the final run. One clean run is the smallest bill you can get, not the likely one.

  4. What unit are you billed in?

    By the second, the minute or the hour. A run that crashes after ten minutes costs ten minutes only when the unit is small.

  5. Where do the data and checkpoints live?

    Storage is billed by the gigabyte for as long as it exists, including while the machine is stopped.

  6. Can you start the GPU today?

    Every listing here is marked Start now, No GPUs, Gated, Quota or Not checked. A price you cannot start does not belong in an estimate.

  7. When was the price read?

    Prices move within a day. Read the date beside the price before you multiply by it.

When two options look the same

Two options that pass every question are rarely equal. Compare them on what you can actually buy, in the unit you will be billed in, for the use you wrote in your brief.

Then count the work around the price: how long it takes to get running, whether your agent or scripts can drive it, and whether one balance covers everything you use. That work is paid for in hours, not on the price page.

Where Runcrate fits

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for fine-tune cost: billing by the second, 26 GPU models from $0.23/hr, and one prepaid balance for GPUs, models and storage.

  • Billed by the second on most GPUs. Booting is never billed, so a failed run costs the time it ran.

  • 26 GPU models from $0.23/hr, so you rent the memory the job needs.

  • One prepaid balance pays for GPUs, models and storage. Volumes keep checkpoints between instances.

  • The best developer platform we know: a CLI, an SDK, an MCP server and a ready Finetune crate.

Questions and answers

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for fine-tune cost: billing by the second, 26 GPU models from $0.23/hr, and one prepaid balance for GPUs, models and storage. Runcrate publishes this site.

Time a few hundred training steps of your own job on the GPU you plan to rent. Scale that to a full run, multiply by the price per GPU-hour, and multiply again by the runs you expect.

Sources for this entry

  1. Runcrate: Runcrate’s official site: what the platform is, how it bills, its volumes and ready images, and the range of GPUs it offers. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  2. Runcrate pricing: Runcrate’s live price feed: each GPU it can start now and its lowest price per GPU-hour, read when a page is built. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  3. Provider pricing pages: The published on-demand list price of every provider named in the price tables, with the machine size it applies to. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  4. Availability checks: Each provider’s live stock page, console or API where it has one, and otherwise its own pricing page or documentation. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  5. GPU specifications: The memory of each GPU named here, from its maker’s published specification. Read 12 Nov 2026.

Checklists are original editorial guidance. Published prices do not establish availability.

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Cite this entry

Fine Tune Cost. “How to choose.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://finetunecost.com/choosing