Lightning AI
vs
Paperspace
Both pair notebooks with on-demand GPUs. Paperspace runs on DigitalOcean datacenters in Amsterdam and the US, while Lightning AI rents H200 and B200 by the second.
What's good about each
- 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
- Competitive GPU prices
- Managed platform, from notebooks to container-based clusters
- Free ingress and egress
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Lightning AI | Paperspace | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | -- Not listed | $6.48 /mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM (C2) | |
| Medium VM | -- Not listed | $57.60 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (C5) | |
| Large VM | -- Not listed | $115.20 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (C6) | |
| Block storage | $10.00 /mo 100 GB (Drive) · First 10 GB free | $7.00 /mo 100 GB SSD · Billed hourly, capped at $7.00 / mo | 30% cheaper on Paperspace |
| Egress allowance | -- Not listed | Free and unlimited | |
| Egress | Not publicly listed | -- Not 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
Lightning AI offers 8 GPU models, while Paperspace offers 12. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Lightning AI | Paperspace | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
H100
4 configs · 2 configs
|
$5.45 /GPU/hr On-demand | $5.95 /GPU/hr On-demand | 8% cheaper on Lightning AI |
|
A100
8 configs · 4 configs
|
$1.55 /GPU/hr On-demand | $3.09 /GPU/hr On-demand | 50% cheaper on Lightning AI |
|
B200
1 config
|
$9.86 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Lightning AI only |
|
RTX PRO 6000
4 configs
|
$4.63 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Lightning AI only |
|
H200
4 configs
|
$4.50 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Lightning AI only |
|
L40S
3 configs
|
$2.97 /GPU/hr On-demand | -- | Lightning AI only |
|
V100
3 configs
|
-- | $2.30 /GPU/hr On-demand | Paperspace only |
|
RTX A6000
2 configs
|
-- | $1.89 /GPU/hr On-demand | Paperspace only |
|
A4000
1 config
|
-- | $0.76 /GPU/hr On-demand | Paperspace only |
|
A5000
1 config
|
-- | $1.38 /GPU/hr On-demand | Paperspace only |
Lightning AI bills on-demand; Paperspace bills on-demand. The line under each price names the billing type shown.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
| Service | Lightning AI | Paperspace |
|---|---|---|
| Block Storage | ||
| GPU-powered Servers | ||
| Managed Containers | ||
| Python Notebooks | ||
| Virtual Private Server (VPS) |
Compliance
Frameworks each provider states on its own site, each linked to its source.
| Framework | Lightning AI | Paperspace |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II, AWS and GCP clouds only | Data centers only |
| ISO 27001 | -- | Data centers only |
| HIPAA | AWS and GCP clouds only | -- |
| GDPR | Yes | -- |
| PCI DSS | -- | Level 1, data centers only |
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 | Lightning AI | Paperspace |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 | 2014 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | -- | 3 |
| Example customers | Nvidia, Cursor, Cisco, Runway, Supercell, Stability AI, Black Forest Labs | Fast.ai, SciSpace, Tunebat, Spectrum Labs, Kando |
| Website | lightning.ai | paperspace.com |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Lightning AI and Paperspace against other cloud providers.
Our data for Lightning AI was last updated on Oct. 28, 2026, and for Paperspace on Oct. 28, 2026.