Beam
vs
Lightning AI
What's good about each
- Pay-per-millisecond billing, only while code is running
- Sub-second cold starts from memory snapshots
- No egress or bandwidth fees on any plan
- Runs in your own AWS, GCP or Azure account
- Billed by the second, interruptible machines 50-80% off
- Studios move between its own cloud, AWS, GCP, Lambda and Nebius
- Owned H100, B200 and GB300 fleet in US datacenters
- Bring your own AWS or GCP account and spend cloud credits
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Beam | Lightning AI | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium VM | $289.08 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 50 GB disk · Billed per second while running | -- Not listed | |
| Block storage | $2.10 /mo 100 GB beyond free allowance · First 1 TB included | $10.00 /mo 100 GB (Drive) · First 10 GB free | 79% cheaper on Beam |
| Egress allowance | Free and unlimited | -- Not listed | |
| Egress | -- Not listed | Not publicly listed |
Heads up: Figures take each provider's closest plan to a common setup, and vary by region and usage. Hover a service for the reference configuration. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
GPUs
Beam offers 10 GPU models, while Lightning AI offers 8. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Beam | Lightning AI | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
H100
2 configs · 4 configs
|
$1.83 /GPU/hr On-demand | $5.45 /GPU/hr On-demand | 66% cheaper on Beam |
|
B200
2 configs · 1 config
|
$4.11 /GPU/hr On-demand | $9.86 /GPU/hr On-demand | 58% cheaper on Beam |
|
RTX PRO 6000
1 config · 4 configs
|
$1.09 /GPU/hr On-demand | $4.63 /GPU/hr On-demand | 76% cheaper on Beam |
|
H200
2 configs · 4 configs
|
$2.09 /GPU/hr On-demand | $4.50 /GPU/hr On-demand | 54% cheaper on Beam |
|
A100
1 config · 8 configs
|
$1.36 /GPU/hr On-demand | $1.55 /GPU/hr On-demand | 12% cheaper on Beam |
|
L40S
1 config · 3 configs
|
$0.76 /GPU/hr On-demand | $2.97 /GPU/hr On-demand | 74% cheaper on Beam |
|
B300
1 config
|
-- On request | -- | Beam only |
|
RTX 5090
1 config
|
$0.72 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Beam only |
|
L4
4 configs
|
-- | $0.79 /GPU/hr On-demand | Lightning AI only |
|
T4
2 configs
|
-- | $0.55 /GPU/hr On-demand | Lightning AI only |
Beam bills on-demand; Lightning AI bills on-demand. The line under each price names the billing type shown.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
| Framework | Beam | Lightning AI |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II | Type II, AWS and GCP clouds only |
| HIPAA | Enterprise only | AWS and GCP clouds only |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
Heads up: Each entry links to the provider's own statement. An attestation can cover one tier, one region or the platform alone rather than every service. Verify the scope before you rely on it. A dash means we found nothing to link to, not that the provider lacks it.
Company details
| Fact | Beam | Lightning AI |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2021 | 2019 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | -- | -- |
| Example customers | Coke, Ogilvy, Magellan AI, Raven, EdgeImpulse, Frase | Nvidia, Cursor, Cisco, Runway, Supercell, Stability AI, Black Forest Labs |
| Website | www.beam.cloud | lightning.ai |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Beam and Lightning AI against other cloud providers.
Our data for Beam was last updated on Oct. 28, 2026, and for Lightning AI on Oct. 28, 2026.