Runpod
vs
Salad
Both run containers on consumer RTX GPUs. Runpod offers persistent storage and notebooks, while Salad spreads container replicas across idle PCs at four priority tiers.
What's good about each
- GPUs from RTX 3070 to B300 in one catalog
- Serverless GPU endpoints that scale to zero
- Built-in deployments, autoscaling & monitoring
- No ingress or egress fees
- SOC 2 Type II certified
Price comparison
Closest matching configuration on each side, monthly list price in USD.
| Service | Runpod | Salad | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | $43.20 /mo 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized) | -- Not listed | |
| Medium VM | $86.40 /mo 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized) | -- Not listed | |
| Large VM | $172.80 /mo 8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM (Compute-Optimized) | -- Not listed | |
| Block storage | $10.00 /mo 100 GB | -- Not listed | |
| Egress allowance | Free and unlimited | -- Not listed | |
| Egress | Free and unlimited | -- 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
Runpod offers 34 GPU models, while Salad offers 35. Cheapest listed price per GPU per hour; GPUs both providers sell come first.
| GPU | Runpod | Salad | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
RTX 5090
4 configs · 4 configs
|
$1.19 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.60 /GPU/hr On-demand | 50% cheaper on Salad |
|
RTX 4090
3 configs · 4 configs
|
$0.34 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.44 /GPU/hr On-demand | 23% cheaper on Runpod |
|
RTX 3090
3 configs · 4 configs
|
$0.22 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.20 /GPU/hr On-demand | 9% cheaper on Salad |
|
RTX 5080
1 config · 4 configs
|
$0.39 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.32 /GPU/hr On-demand | 18% cheaper on Salad |
|
RTX 3080
1 config · 4 configs
|
$0.17 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.15 /GPU/hr On-demand | 9% cheaper on Salad |
|
RTX 4080
1 config · 4 configs
|
$0.27 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.27 /GPU/hr On-demand | Identical |
|
RTX 3090 Ti
1 config · 4 configs
|
$0.27 /GPU/hr On-demand | $0.22 /GPU/hr On-demand | 19% cheaper on Salad |
|
RTX 3070
1 config · 4 configs
|
$0.13 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.12 /GPU/hr On-demand | 12% cheaper on Salad |
|
A5000
3 configs · 4 configs
|
$0.16 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.25 /GPU/hr On-demand | 36% cheaper on Runpod |
|
RTX 3080 Ti
1 config · 4 configs
|
$0.18 /GPU/hr On-demand · sold out | $0.20 /GPU/hr On-demand | 8% cheaper on Runpod |
Runpod bills on-demand; Salad bills on-demand and spot. The line under each price names the billing type shown.
Services
Managed services each provider offers.
| Service | Runpod | Salad |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Runpod | Salad |
|---|---|---|
| SOC 2 | Type II | Type I, platform only |
| ISO 27001 | Yes | -- |
| HIPAA | Yes | -- |
| GDPR | 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 | Runpod | Salad |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2022 | 2018 |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Locations | 33 | -- |
| Example customers | Civitai, Cognition, Cursor, Hugging Face, Perplexity, Replit | Discord, Stability AI, Blend, undetectable.ai, Civitai |
| Website | www.runpod.io | salad.com |
Alternatives to consider
Compare Runpod and Salad against other cloud providers.
Our data for Runpod was last updated on Nov. 11, 2026, and for Salad on Nov. 11, 2026.