A data center GPU against a consumer card on the Ampere architecture: 80 GB HBM2e against 12 GB GDDR6, 5.4x the memory bandwidth on the A100, and NVLink 600 GB/s on the A100 where the RTX 3060 is PCIe only.
At a glance
Memory
- A100
- 80 GB
- RTX 3060
- 12 GB
6.7x more on A100
Memory bandwidth
- A100
- 1,935 GB/s
- RTX 3060
- 360 GB/s
5.4x higher on A100
Cheapest on-demand
- A100
- $0.80 /GPU/hr
- RTX 3060
- $0.04 /GPU/hr
21x more expensive on A100
Price comparison
Median price per GPU per hour by billing type, with the cheapest listing under it.
| Billing | A100 | RTX 3060 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-demand | $1.77 /GPU/hr from $0.80 | $0.08 /GPU/hr from $0.04 | 22x more expensive on A100 |
| Reserved | $1.62 /GPU/hr from $0.66 (24 mo) | -- /GPU/hr from $0.64 (1 mo) | |
| Spot | $1.14 /GPU/hr from $0.30 | -- /GPU/hr from $0.03 |
Heads up: A provider's own page may quote a different figure, for example on tax, region or a promotion. A monthly-only plan shows a derived hourly rate. Medians are across providers, one vote each, so a large catalog does not outweigh a small one. No median for reserved and spot on the RTX 3060: we only show one when at least 3 providers list the GPU on that billing type. Verify before provisioning. More on how we price.
Price history
A100 vs RTX 3060 price history
Weekly median on-demand price per GPU per hour
Specs comparison
| Spec | A100 | RTX 3060 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memory | |||
| Capacity | 80 GB HBM2e 40 GB on SXM, PCIe | 12 GB GDDR6 | 6.7x more on A100 |
| Bandwidth | 1,935 GB/s 2,039 GB/s on SXM 1,555 GB/s on SXM, PCIe | 360 GB/s | 5.4x higher on A100 |
| Bus width | 5,120-bit | 192-bit | 27x wider on A100 |
| Compute · dense | |||
| FP16 / BF16 | 312 TFLOPS | 25.5 TFLOPS | 12x higher on A100 |
| INT8 | 624 TOPS | 101.9 TOPS | 6.1x higher on A100 |
| FP32 | 19.5 TFLOPS | 12.7 TFLOPS | 1.5x higher on A100 |
| FP64 | 9.7 TFLOPS | Not supported | A100 only |
| Platform | |||
| Interconnect | NVLink 600 GB/s | PCIe only | NVLink on A100 only |
| Board power | 300 W | 170 W | 1.8x higher on A100 |
| Released | Q2 2020 | Q1 2021 | 9 months newer on RTX 3060 |
| Precision | |||
| Supported formats | FP16BF16TF32FP32FP64INT4INT8 | FP16BF16TF32FP32INT4INT8 | |
Figures are for each model's headline configuration. Where a form factor carries a different number, it is named under the figure.
Compute: Vendor peak figures, dense and per GPU. Not measured throughput.
Source: A100 datasheet and RTX 3060 datasheet.
Where to rent them
Providers listing these GPUs, those with both first, so you can switch without moving clouds.
| Provider | A100 /GPU/hr | RTX 3060 /GPU/hr |
|---|---|---|
Vast.ai
|
On-Demand $0.80 | On-Demand $0.05 |
GPU.ai
|
On-Demand $0.89 | -- |
Runpod
|
On-Demand $1.00 | -- |
Thunder Compute
|
On-Demand $1.09 | -- |
Lium
|
On-Demand $1.23 | -- |
Verda
|
On-Demand $1.29 | -- |
Massed Compute
|
On-Demand $1.35 | -- |
Spheron
|
On-Demand $1.43 | -- |
Theta EdgeCloud
|
-- | On-Demand $0.0390 |
Salad
|
-- | On-Demand $0.08 |
44 providers list the A100 and 3 the RTX 3060. Every listing is on the A100 page and the RTX 3060 page.
Similar GPUs
Other comparisons in the same class.
-
Nvidia H100
From $1.10 /GPU/hr Compare -
Nvidia RTX 5090
From $0.35 /GPU/hr Compare -
Nvidia RTX 4090
From $0.33 /GPU/hr Compare -
Nvidia RTX 3070
From $0.08 /GPU/hr Compare -
Nvidia RTX 4060
From $0.08 /GPU/hr Compare
Our data for Nvidia A100 was last updated on Sept. 7, 2026, and for Nvidia RTX 3060 on Sept. 7, 2026.