Vast.ai vs Apify
Side-by-side comparison to help you choose the best tool.
Vast.ai
freemiumVast.ai is a decentralised GPU marketplace that connects AI researchers and developers with GPU compute sourced from a global network of independent providers - including data centres and individuals with spare GPU capacity - at prices significantly lower than traditional cloud providers. Users can search, filter, and rent GPU instances by price, location, reliability score, and hardware specifications, making it one of the most cost-practical options for AI training and inference. Vast.ai supports Docker-based workloads and offers both on-demand and interruptible instance types.
Apify
freemiumApify is a cloud web scraping and automation platform providing a marketplace of pre-built scrapers (Actors) for major websites plus infrastructure for building custom scrapers. Its Apify Store has 1,500+ ready-made scrapers for Amazon, LinkedIn, Google, and others. With an API-first design and integrations with LangChain and LlamaIndex, Apify is a key data acquisition layer for AI applications.
| Feature | Vast.ai | Apify |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | freemium | freemium |
| Category | - | - |
| Rating | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| Best For | Cost-conscious AI researchers, hobbyists, and startups who prioritise price over guaranteed uptime for training and experimentation. | Developers and businesses needing reliable web data collection for AI training, research, and LLM applications using pre-built or custom scrapers |
| Views | 129 | 113 |
| Attribute | Vast.ai | Apify |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Type | freemium | freemium |
| Free Trial | No | No |
| API Available | No | No |
| Mobile App | No | No |
| Rating | 4.1 | 4.4 ✓ |
| Founded | - | - |
| Team Size | - | - |
| Deployment | - | - |
| Popularity (Views) | 129 ✓ | 113 |
Pros
- Among the cheapest GPU compute available anywhere
- Large inventory of diverse GPU types including rare models
- Transparent provider reliability scores help with vendor selection
Cons
- Provider reliability varies — not suitable for critical production workloads
- Less polished UX compared to managed cloud platforms
Pros
- Largest marketplace of ready-made scrapers
- Enterprise-grade reliability and scaling
- Deep AI framework integrations
Cons
- Credits-based pricing adds up for high volume
- Pre-built scrapers can break when sites change
- Decentralised GPU marketplace with global providers
- Advanced filtering by price, GPU type, reliability, and location
- Interruptible and on-demand instance types
- Docker container support for any workload
- Significantly lower prices than major cloud providers
- 1,500+ pre-built website scrapers
- Cloud infrastructure for custom scrapers
- AI/LLM data extraction
- LangChain & LlamaIndex integration
- Scheduled & triggered scraping
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