What is the difference between Groq and Runpod?

Groq and Runpod 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: Groq or Runpod?

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 Groq and Runpod?

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 38 different GPU models across both Groq and Runpod, with 0 models available from both providers.

Groq vs Runpod

Compare GPU and LLM inference API pricing between Groq and Runpod. Find the best rates for AI training, inference, and ML workloads.

Groq

Provider 1

GPUs Available

Visit Website

Runpod

Provider 2

GPUs Available

Visit Website

Comparison Overview

Total GPU Models

Groq GPUs

Runpod GPUs

Direct Comparisons

GPU Pricing Comparison

Total GPUs: 38Both available: 0Groq: 0Runpod: 38

Showing 15 of 38 GPUs

Last updated: 10/8/2026, 6:23:13 PM

GPU Model ↑	Groq Price	Runpod Price	Price Diff ↕	Sources
A100 PCIe 80GB 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.19/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A100 PCIe 80GB 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.19/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
A100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.39/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.39/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
A100 SXM 40GB 40GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.00/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A100 SXM 40GB 40GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.00/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
A40 48GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.49/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A40 48GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.49/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
B200 180GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$5.98/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
B200 180GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $5.98/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H100 NVL 94GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$2.59/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H100 NVL 94GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $2.59/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.99/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.99/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$2.69/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $2.69/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H200 141GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$3.59/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H200 141GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $3.59/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
HGX B300 288GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$6.94/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
HGX B300 288GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $6.94/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
L4 24GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.49/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
L4 24GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.49/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
L40 40GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.69/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
L40 40GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.69/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
L40S 48GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.79/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
L40S 48GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.79/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
MI300X 192GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$2.39/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
MI300X 192GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $2.39/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
RTX 3070 8GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.13/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
RTX 3070 8GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.13/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API

A100 PCIe 80GB 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.19/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A100 PCIe 80GB 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.19/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
A100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.39/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.39/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
A100 SXM 40GB 40GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.00/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A100 SXM 40GB 40GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.00/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
A40 48GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.49/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
A40 48GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.49/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
B200 180GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$5.98/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
B200 180GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $5.98/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H100 NVL 94GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$2.59/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H100 NVL 94GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $2.59/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$1.99/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H100 PCIe 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $1.99/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$2.69/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H100 SXM 80GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $2.69/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
H200 141GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$3.59/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
H200 141GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $3.59/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
HGX B300 288GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$6.94/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
HGX B300 288GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $6.94/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
L4 24GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.49/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
L4 24GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.49/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
L40 40GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.69/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
L40 40GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.69/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
L40S 48GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.79/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
L40S 48GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.79/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
MI300X 192GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$2.39/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
MI300X 192GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $2.39/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API
RTX 3070 8GB VRAM • Runpod	Not Available	$0.13/hr★ Best	—	Runpod API
RTX 3070 8GB VRAM • Not Available Runpod $0.13/hour Updated: 10/8/2026 ★Best Price Runpod API

LLM API Pricing Comparison

Total models: 4Both available: 0Groq: 3Runpod: 1

Showing 4 of 4 models

Prices per 1M tokens · Last updated: 10/8/2026, 6:23:13 PM

Model ↑	Groq	Runpod	Input Diff ↕
GPT-OSS-120B OpenAI	$0.150 in $0.600 out	Not available	—
GPT-OSS-20B OpenAI	$0.075 in $0.300 out	Not available	—
Qwen 3 32B Alibaba	Not available	$10.00 in $10.00 out	—
Qwen3.8 27B Alibaba	$0.800 in $4.00 out	Not available	—

Features Comparison

Groq

LPU-Powered Inference
Custom Language Processing Units run inference, with 256 LPUs and 128 GB of on-chip SRAM per rack
OpenAI-Compatible API
Drop-in replacement for the OpenAI API at api.groq.com/openai/v1, including a Responses API
Layered Platform
GroqMetal bare-metal infrastructure, GroqCore inference stack, and GroqAssured enterprise governance, each including the layers below
Multimodal Endpoints
Text generation plus speech-to-text, text-to-speech, OCR and image recognition, and content moderation models
Agentic Systems and Built-In Tools
Compound systems that combine models with web search, code execution, remote MCP tools, and Google Workspace connectors
Service Tiers
Performance, flex, and batch processing tiers, plus prompt caching, structured outputs, and LoRA inference

Runpod

Secure Cloud GPUs
Access to a wide range of GPU types with enterprise-grade security
Pay-as-you-go
Only pay for the compute time you actually use
API Access
Programmatically manage your GPU instances via REST API
Fast cold-starts
Pods typically ready in 20-30 s
Hot-reload dev loop
SSH & VS Code tunnels built-in
Spot-to-on-demand fallback
Automatic migration on pre-empt

Pros & Cons

Groq

Advantages

High published token speeds (500 t/s on GPT-OSS 120B, 1,000 t/s on GPT-OSS 20B)
OpenAI-compatible API for easy integration
Competitive pricing for open-weight models
Free tier available for testing

Considerations

Small model catalog: production text models are limited to OpenAI GPT-OSS
Focus on inference only - no training capabilities
Several models are preview-only and may be discontinued at short notice

Runpod

Advantages

Competitive pricing with pay-per-second billing
Wide variety of GPU options
Simple and intuitive interface

Considerations

GPU availability can vary by region
Some features require technical knowledge

Compute Services

Groq

Runpod

Pods

On‑demand single‑node GPU instances in Secure Cloud (data‑center hosted) or lower‑cost Community Cloud, with flexible templates and storage.

Serverless

Pay‑per‑second endpoints with automatic scaling for production AI/ML applications.

Instant Clusters

Fully managed multi‑node GPU clusters with high‑speed networking between nodes.

Pricing Options

Groq

Pay-per-token

Token-based pricing with separate input/output rates; audio models are billed per hour and speech models per character

Batch and flex processing

Alternative service tiers for throughput-tolerant or bursty workloads instead of the standard on-demand tier

Enterprise capacity

Dedicated capacity and enterprise-only models quoted through sales

Free tier

Rate-limited free access for development and testing

Runpod

Secure Cloud

Pods hosted in vetted data centers; higher reliability tier

Community Cloud

Pods on vetted community hosts at lower rates than Secure Cloud

Spot

Interruptible capacity at reduced prices

Serverless

Pay-per-second billing for endpoint execution time, with automatic scaling and no charge when idle

Clusters

Per-hour or per-second billing for multi-node GPU clusters with no commitment, scaling up to 64 GPUs

Reserved Clusters

Discounted rates for 1, 3, 6, or 12+ month commitments on dedicated clusters with guaranteed availability and SLA-backed uptime; quoted by sales

Public Endpoints

Usage-based billing for pre-deployed model APIs, charged per request, per token, or per 1000 characters depending on the model

Getting Started

Groq

Get Started

1
Create an account
Sign up at console.groq.com with email or OAuth
2
Get API key
Generate an API key from the console dashboard
3
Make API calls
Use the OpenAI-compatible endpoint with your preferred model

Runpod

Get Started

1
Create an account
Sign up for Runpod using your email or GitHub account
2
Add payment method
Add a credit card or cryptocurrency payment method
3
Launch your first pod
Select a template and GPU type to launch your first instance

Support & Global Availability

Groq

Global Regions

13 data centers across four continents, including sites in the US (Liberty Lake, St Paul, Dallas, Houston), Canada (Kamloops, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Calgary), Finland, the UK, Australia, and Saudi Arabia

Support

Documentation and API reference, developer community, production readiness guides, and enterprise onboarding via sales

Runpod

Global Regions

31 global regions worldwide

Support

Documentation site, support request form, public status page, and a community Discord