What is the Vast.ai startup program?
A credit matching program. Vast.ai matches your verified compute spend with credits, dollar for dollar, up to an amount it sets for your company. You apply, and its team finalizes the offer.
The page is explicit about what it is not: “No upfront giveaways. No free trials.” The match is calculated on verified spend, and the page marks it “Credits matched on verified compute spend. Pending verification.”
The page publishes no maximum match amount. You are approved for a match “up to a set amount”, and the team reaches out “based on your company stage and use case”.
Vast.ai also claims low base prices: “H100s, H200s, B200s at up to 80% less than AWS, GCP, or Azure.” That is Vast.ai's own comparison, and it adds “No long-term contracts, no minimums.”
Examples on the startup page
- You spend $500 and you get $500 back
- You spend $1,000 and you get $1,000 back
- You spend $2,500 and you get $2,500 back
Source: Vast.ai Startup Program page (vast.ai/startup)
Who can join the Vast.ai startup program?
Companies that are already building. Vast.ai says the program fits teams actively training models, running inference or scaling a production workload, and does not fit teams still evaluating AI or wanting free compute with no committed spend.
The page publishes no funding limit, company age limit or country list. Offers are personalized: the team reviews every application and decides based on your company stage and use case.
Fit, per the startup page
- Good fit: actively training models, running inference, or scaling a production workload
- Not the right fit: still evaluating whether AI is right for your business, or looking for free compute with no committed spend
Source: Vast.ai Startup Program page (vast.ai/startup)
Is there a Vast.ai promo code, coupon or discount code?
Vast.ai does not publish a promo or coupon code on the pages we read, and we do not list one. What it does publish is startup credit matching, reserved instances at up to 50% off, interruptible instances that are 50%+ cheaper, and a referral program that pays the referrer.
The referral program pays the person who shares the link, not the person who signs up: “you get 3% of everything they spend, for the lifetime of their account”. The referral page lists no discount or credit for the new account, so it is not a coupon for you.
Reserved instances are Vast.ai's own long-term discount. The docs say they “allow you to get significant discounts (up to 50%) by pre-paying for GPU time”, and the pricing page lists “1, 3, or 6 month terms”.
Source: Vast.ai pricing page (vast.ai/pricing), Vast.ai docs: Referral Program (docs.vast.ai/guides/reference/referral-program), Vast.ai docs: Reserved Instances (docs.vast.ai/guides/instances/choosing/reserved-instances)
How does Vast.ai GPU pricing work?
Vast.ai is a marketplace: hosts set their own prices, so rates move with supply and demand, and you pay by the second for what you use. You buy credits up front and rentals draw them down.
The pricing page says prices are “set by supply and demand across 40+ data centers” and shows live per-GPU rates that “update hourly”, so we do not quote a GPU price here. Open the page for today's rate on the card you need.
There are three instance types: On-Demand (guaranteed uptime, no interruptions), Interruptible (preemptible and 50%+ cheaper) and Reserved (1, 3, or 6 month terms). Billing is “down to the second”.
Three charges, per the Vast.ai docs
- Active rental (GPU), charged per second while the instance is active
- Storage, charged every second the instance exists, even when it is stopped
- Bandwidth, charged for every byte sent or received
Source: Vast.ai docs: Pricing (docs.vast.ai/guides/instances/pricing), Vast.ai pricing page (vast.ai/pricing), Vast.ai docs: Billing (docs.vast.ai/guides/reference/billing)
How do I pay Vast.ai, and what happens when credits run out?
You prepay. You add credits with a card through Stripe or with crypto, and rentals draw them down. When the balance reaches zero your instances stop automatically, and storage keeps billing until you delete them.
Autobilling is available for cards: “Use the autobilling feature to have the system automatically top up your account using a saved credit card when it runs low.”
If no card is saved and the balance stays negative, Vast.ai says your instances and stored data will be destroyed to prevent indefinite unpaid usage.
Refunds are narrow: “After spending credits, there are absolutely no refunds.” For unspent credits you contact Vast.ai on the website chat to request a refund.
Source: Vast.ai docs: Billing (docs.vast.ai/guides/reference/billing)
