What is the difference between Akamai Cloud and Beam?

Akamai Cloud and Beam are both cloud GPU providers offering different pricing models, features, and GPU availability. Use our comparison tool to see real-time pricing and feature differences.

Which is cheaper: Akamai Cloud or Beam?

Pricing varies by GPU model and usage requirements. Check our real-time comparison table to find the best deals for your specific needs.

Can I switch between Akamai Cloud and Beam?

Yes, both providers offer flexible cloud GPU services. However, consider factors like data transfer costs, setup time, and specific features when switching between providers.

How many GPU models are available for comparison?

We track pricing for 6 different GPU models across both Akamai Cloud and Beam, with 0 models available from both providers.

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Akamai Cloud vs Beam

Compare GPU pricing between Akamai Cloud and Beam. Find the best rates for AI training, inference, and ML workloads.

Akamai Cloud

Provider 1

GPUs Available

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Beam

Provider 2

GPUs Available

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Comparison Overview

Total GPU Models

Akamai Cloud GPUs

Beam GPUs

Direct Comparisons

GPU Pricing Comparison

Total GPUs: 6Both available: 0Akamai Cloud: 3Beam: 3

Showing 6 of 6 GPUs

Last updated: 9/22/2026, 8:57:53 PM

GPU Model ↑	Akamai Cloud Price	Beam Price	Price Diff ↕	Sources
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Beam	Not Available	$3.50/hr★ Best	—	Beam
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Not Available Beam $3.50/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Beam
Quadro RTX 6000 24GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud	$1.50/hr★ Best	Not Available	—	Akamai Cloud
Quadro RTX 6000 24GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud $1.50/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Not Available Akamai Cloud
RTX 4000 Ada 20GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud	$0.52/hr★ Best	Not Available	—	Akamai Cloud
RTX 4000 Ada 20GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud $0.52/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Not Available Akamai Cloud
RTX 4090 24GB VRAM • Beam	Not Available	$0.69/hr★ Best	—	Beam
RTX 4090 24GB VRAM • Not Available Beam $0.69/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Beam
RTX 5090 32GB VRAM • Beam	Not Available	$1.09/hr★ Best	—	Beam
RTX 5090 32GB VRAM • Not Available Beam $1.09/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Beam
RTX PRO 6000 96GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud	$3.00/hr★ Best	Not Available	—	Akamai Cloud
RTX PRO 6000 96GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud $3.00/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Not Available Akamai Cloud

H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Beam	Not Available	$3.50/hr★ Best	—	Beam
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Not Available Beam $3.50/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Beam
Quadro RTX 6000 24GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud	$1.50/hr★ Best	Not Available	—	Akamai Cloud
Quadro RTX 6000 24GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud $1.50/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Not Available Akamai Cloud
RTX 4000 Ada 20GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud	$0.52/hr★ Best	Not Available	—	Akamai Cloud
RTX 4000 Ada 20GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud $0.52/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Not Available Akamai Cloud
RTX 4090 24GB VRAM • Beam	Not Available	$0.69/hr★ Best	—	Beam
RTX 4090 24GB VRAM • Not Available Beam $0.69/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Beam
RTX 5090 32GB VRAM • Beam	Not Available	$1.09/hr★ Best	—	Beam
RTX 5090 32GB VRAM • Not Available Beam $1.09/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Beam
RTX PRO 6000 96GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud	$3.00/hr★ Best	Not Available	—	Akamai Cloud
RTX PRO 6000 96GB VRAM • Akamai Cloud $3.00/hour Updated: 9/22/2026 ★Best Price Not Available Akamai Cloud

Features Comparison

Akamai Cloud

RTX-Class GPU Plans
Workstation and Blackwell-generation RTX cards exposed as predictable GPU Linodes
Global Akamai Backbone
GPU instances available across the broader Akamai compute and CDN footprint
Predictable Monthly Pricing
Flat monthly pricing on GPU Linodes with hourly fallback

Beam

Pay-per-millisecond Billing
Only charged when your code runs, no charges for cold starts or server spin-up
Sub-second Cold Starts
Memory snapshots and GPU checkpoint restore bring containers back in seconds, which Beam reports as up to 35x faster than a traditional cold boot
Secure Sandbox Environments
Run untrusted code safely in isolated environments for AI agents and code interpreters
Stateful, Persistent Runtimes
Pause and resume sessions while maintaining filesystem, memory, and running processes
Elastic GPU Scaling
Scale to zero when idle, burst to thousands of containers in seconds
Custom Docker Images
Bring your own Docker images for full environment control, including running the Docker daemon inside containers

Pros & Cons

Akamai Cloud

Advantages

Predictable flat-rate pricing model
Global region coverage inherited from the Akamai network
Blackwell-generation RTX PRO 6000 available alongside older RTX SKUs

Considerations

Catalog focused on RTX cards; H100/H200/B200 are not part of the public lineup
Limited multi-GPU and large-cluster offerings versus dedicated neoclouds
Less optimized for frontier-scale training

Beam

Advantages

Pay-per-millisecond billing with no charges for cold starts
Ultrafast boot times with sub-second cold starts via memory snapshots
GPU selection spanning RTX 4090 through B200, plus InfiniBand cluster nodes
On-demand machines priced flat per machine, including vCPU, RAM, and NVMe storage

Considerations

Serverless GPUs other than the RTX 4090 require a committed-spend agreement
GPU container concurrency is capped on the lower plan tiers
Multi-node InfiniBand clusters are sales-only with no published pricing

Compute Services

Akamai Cloud

Beam

Inference Endpoints

Deploy high-performance inference endpoints with custom models

Custom model hosting on GPU or CPU
Pre-loading models for fast response times

Sandboxes

Secure code execution environments for AI agents

Run untrusted LLM-generated code safely
Snapshot and restore complete system state

Task Queues

Run large-scale workloads with distributed processing

Audio processing pipelines
Data processing at scale

Pricing Options

Akamai Cloud

Monthly GPU Linodes

Flat monthly pricing for GPU-equipped virtual machines

Hourly Billing

Hourly billing fallback when instances run for less than a month

Beam

Pay-per-millisecond

Serverless GPU, CPU, and sandbox usage billed by the millisecond with no minimum charges

Committed Spend

Serverless access to GPUs beyond the RTX 4090 is arranged through a committed-spend agreement

On-Demand Machines

Flat hourly price per machine that already includes the vCPU, RAM, and NVMe storage

Reserved Clusters

Multi-node InfiniBand clusters reserved monthly or yearly, quoted through sales

Bring Your Own Cloud

Per-vCPU and per-GB management fee on top of compute billed directly by your own cloud provider

Storage

Persistent volumes and snapshots included up to a capacity threshold, then billed per GB per month

Monthly Plans

Developer plan free with usage, Team plan with a monthly base fee plus usage, and a contact-sales Growth tier

Free Monthly Credits

All plans include monthly free credits that refresh each month

Volume Discounts

Discounts available for high monthly usage, arranged through sales

Getting Started

Akamai Cloud

Get Started

1
Create an account
Sign up at the Akamai Cloud / Linode console
2
Choose a GPU Linode plan
Select RTX 4000 Ada, Quadro RTX 6000 or RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell with the desired GPU count
3
Deploy and connect
Provision the instance via console, CLI or API and connect over SSH

Beam

Get Started

1
Create an account
Sign up on the Beam platform to receive monthly free credits
2
Set up Python environment
Create a virtual environment and install the Beam SDK
3
Authenticate with API token
Configure your API token to connect to Beam
4
Deploy your first app
Run a function locally, then deploy it as a web endpoint with the Beam CLI

Support & Global Availability

Akamai Cloud

Global Regions

Global region coverage across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia

Support

Documentation, community resources and 24/7 paid support tiers

Beam

Global Regions

30+ regions spanning the US, EU, Asia-Pacific, and Canada, with workloads routed across clouds and regions in real time

Support

Documentation, public Slack community, and a status page; live chat support on paid plans and a private Slack channel on the top tier