The A40 has 2x the memory, while the RTX 3090 has 34% more bandwidth. The RTX 3090 is typically cheaper.
At a glance
Memory
2x more on A40
- A40
- 48 GB
- RTX 3090
- 24 GB
Memory bandwidth
34% higher on RTX 3090
- A40
- 696 GB/s
- RTX 3090
- 936 GB/s
Cheapest on-demand
75% cheaper on RTX 3090
- A40
- $0.40 /GPU/hr
- RTX 3090
- $0.10 /GPU/hr
Price comparison
Median price per GPU per hour by billing type, with the cheapest listing under it.
| Billing | A40 | RTX 3090 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-demand | $0.65 /GPU/hr from $0.40 | $0.20 /GPU/hr from $0.10 | 69% cheaper on RTX 3090 |
| Reserved | -- /GPU/hr from $0.61 (24 mo) | -- /GPU/hr from $0.06 (1 mo) | |
| Spot | -- /GPU/hr from $0.27 | -- /GPU/hr from $0.08 |
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 A40 and reserved and spot on the RTX 3090: 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
A40 vs RTX 3090 price history
Weekly median on-demand price per GPU per hour
Specs comparison
| Spec | A40 | RTX 3090 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memory | |||
| Capacity | 48 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6X | 2x more on A40 |
| Bandwidth | 696 GB/s | 936 GB/s | 34% higher on RTX 3090 |
| Bus width | 384-bit | 384-bit | Identical |
| Compute · dense | |||
| FP16 / BF16 | 149.7 TFLOPS | 71.2 TFLOPS | 2.1x higher on A40 |
| INT8 | 299.3 TOPS | 284.7 TOPS | 5% higher on A40 |
| FP32 | 37.4 TFLOPS | 35.6 TFLOPS | 5% higher on A40 |
| Platform | |||
| Interconnect | PCIe only | NVLink 112 GB/s | NVLink on RTX 3090 only |
| Board power | 300 W | 350 W | 17% higher on RTX 3090 |
| Released | Q4 2020 | Q3 2020 | |
| Precision | |||
| Supported formats | FP16BF16TF32FP32INT4INT8 | FP16BF16TF32FP32INT4INT8 | |
Compute: Vendor peak figures, dense and per GPU. Not measured throughput.
Source: A40 datasheet and RTX 3090 datasheet.
Where to rent them
Providers that rent these GPUs, with each one's cheapest rate. Providers that rent both are listed first.
| Provider | A40 | RTX 3090 |
|---|---|---|
Vast.ai
USA
|
$0.40 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.12 /GPU/hr On-demand |
GPU.ai
UAE
|
$0.40 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.15 /GPU/hr On-demand |
Runpod
USA
|
$0.49 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.22 /GPU/hr On-demand |
Sesterce
France
|
$2.05 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- |
Runcrate
USA
|
$2.42 /GPU/hr On-demand PCIe | -- |
Denvr
Canada
|
$0.65 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- |
Exoscale
Switzerland
|
$1.05 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- |
Database Mart
USA
|
$0.61 /GPU/hr Reserved | -- |
HyperAI
Hong Kong
|
-- | $0.10 /GPU/hr On-demand |
Salad
Distributed
|
-- | $0.17 /GPU/hr On-demand |
SwissGPU
Switzerland
|
-- | $0.30 /GPU/hr On-demand |
TensorDock
Distributed
|
-- | $0.31 /GPU/hr On-demand |
EmpirioLabs AI
USA
|
-- | $0.40 /GPU/hr On-demand |
9 providers list the A40 and 8 the RTX 3090. Every listing is on the A40 page and the RTX 3090 page.
Similar GPUs
Other comparisons in the same class.
-
Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada
48 GB GDDR6 · 38% more bandwidth than the A40
From $0.49 /GPU/hr Compare -
Nvidia L40
48 GB GDDR6 · 24% more bandwidth than the A40
From $0.45 /GPU/hr Compare
-
Nvidia A5000
24 GB GDDR6 · NVLink 112 GB/s
From $0.23 /GPU/hr Compare
-
Nvidia RTX 5090
32 GB GDDR7 · 91% more bandwidth than the RTX 3090
From $0.35 /GPU/hr Compare
-
Nvidia RTX 4090
24 GB GDDR6X · PCIe only
From $0.32 /GPU/hr Compare
Our data for Nvidia A40 was last updated on Sept. 14, 2026, and for Nvidia RTX 3090 on Sept. 14, 2026.