# Arrakis vs RunPod RunPod rents GPU pods and serverless endpoints from its own Secure Cloud and a Community Cloud of third-party hosts, billed by the second. Arrakis searches several independent GPU markets at once for the lowest live price and rents on one prepaid balance, with a spend cap on every agent token. ## Side by side As of 31 Oct 2026, 17:40 UTC, the lowest price for the NVIDIA B300 on Arrakis is $4.60 per GPU-hour, with 73 GPUs available on 10 machines. | | Arrakis | RunPod | |---|---|---| | B300 per GPU-hour | Live: [GPU prices](/gpus.html.md) | $6.94 (Community Cloud); $8.99 on Secure Cloud | | B200 per GPU-hour | Live: [GPU prices](/gpus.html.md) | $5.98 (Community Cloud); $7.99 on Secure Cloud | | H100 per GPU-hour | Live: [GPU prices](/gpus.html.md) | $1.99 (H100 PCIe, Community Cloud); $2.89 on Secure Cloud | | Billing | By the hour; a started hour counts in full | Per second | | How you pay | Prepaid balance: card, Link or Apple Pay | Prepaid credits | | Root SSH and any Docker image | Yes | Yes, as root in a container | | Serverless endpoints, billed per request | No: each model gets a GPU of its own | Yes: Runpod Serverless, per second of worker time | | Hosted models, billed per output | No: deploy any Hugging Face model yourself | Yes: Public Endpoints, billed per output | | MCP server for AI agents | Yes, remote at /mcp | Yes, official: manages pods and serverless | | Spend cap on each API key | Yes, on every token | No: one spend limit for the whole account | | Automatic shutdown | Yes: every rental has a removal time | No built-in timer | | Interruptible machines | Yes, where hosts offer them | No: spot pods were retired | | Searches several GPU markets | Yes | No: its own Secure and Community clouds | Facts about other providers come from their own pages, checked on October 31, 2026. Prices and features change: check them before you choose. Arrakis is not affiliated with them. ## Which fits you - **RunPod fits better.** You want billing by the second, serverless endpoints that scale to zero, or RunPod's Community Cloud H100 list price, which can be below what Arrakis finds at a given hour. - **Arrakis fits better.** You want one balance across several independent markets, an agent that can't pass its spend cap, a removal time on every machine, or your own model served with your own engine options. ## Moving to Arrakis Your Docker image, SSH keys and scripts move as they are: Arrakis boots any public or private image with root SSH, and serves your own model with your own engine options. Start with one machine in the console, or point your agent at /mcp with a capped token. ## Questions **Is Arrakis cheaper than RunPod?** Sometimes. On October 31, 2026, RunPod listed an H100 PCIe at $1.99 an hour on its Community Cloud and $2.89 on its Secure Cloud. Arrakis shows the lowest live price across the markets it connects, which moves by the hour, and bills whole hours where RunPod bills by the second. Compare both when you rent. **Can an AI agent rent GPUs on both?** Yes: both run an MCP server. Arrakis also gives each agent token its own spend cap and requires a removal time on every rental; RunPod has one spend limit for the whole account and no built-in shutdown timer. ## Sources - - - - - - - -