NVIDIA A100
Data Center AI GPU
A100 Pricing Guide: From $1.10/hr Cloud to $20K Purchase
The NVIDIA A100 is the workhorse of AI training and inference, offering excellent price-performance for most machine learning workloads. Compare A100 40GB vs 80GB pricing, specs, and find the best cloud deals.
A100 Quick Facts
A100 40GB vs 80GB: Which Should You Choose?
A100 40GB
From $1.10/hrBest For:
Most AI training, inference, research
A100 80GB
From $1.40/hrBest For:
Large models, big batches, memory-intensive tasks
A100 Cloud Pricing Comparison
Real-time A100 Prices
Compare A100 40GB and 80GB rental prices across providers
| Provider | A100 40GB | A100 80GB | Availability | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lambda Labs | $1.10/hr | $1.40/hr | Good |
|
 RunPod | $1.89/hr | $2.18/hr | Limited |
|
 Google Cloud | $2.45/hr | $2.93/hr | Good |
|
 AWS | $3.20/hr | $4.10/hr | Good |
|
A100 Use Cases & Cost Analysis
Medium-Scale AI Training
Train transformer models up to 7B parameters efficiently
Memory Needs:
40GB sufficient, 80GB for larger batches
Examples:
- GPT-2 style models
- BERT variants
- Image classification
Research & Development
Academic research and experimental AI projects
Memory Needs:
40GB for most research, 80GB for large experiments
Examples:
- Paper implementations
- Novel architectures
- Ablation studies
Production AI Inference
Serve multiple models with high throughput
Memory Needs:
40GB for single models, 80GB for multi-model serving
Examples:
- Recommendation systems
- NLP APIs
- Computer vision services
A100 Technical Specifications
Architecture | Ampere |
Process Node | TSMC 7nm |
Transistors | 54.2 billion |
Streaming Multiprocessors | 108 (40GB) / 108 (80GB) |
CUDA Cores | 6,912 |
Tensor Cores | 432 (3rd gen) |
RT Cores | None (data center GPU) |
Base Clock | 1065 MHz |
Memory Clock | 1215 MHz (40GB) / 1512 MHz (80GB) |
Compute (FP16) | 312 TFLOPS |
Compute (Sparsity) | 624 TFLOPS |
Power Consumption | 400W (PCIe) / 400W (SXM4) |
Form Factor | SXM4, PCIe |
Launch Date | May 2020 |
End of Life | Still in production |
A100 Pricing FAQ
How much does an NVIDIA A100 cost?
NVIDIA A100 40GB costs $10,000-$15,000 to purchase, while the 80GB version costs $15,000-$20,000. Cloud rental is much more affordable, starting at $1.10/hr for 40GB and $1.40/hr for 80GB models at Lambda Labs with academic pricing.
Should I choose A100 40GB or 80GB?
A100 40GB is sufficient for most AI training tasks, including models up to 7B parameters. Choose 80GB if you need larger batch sizes, multi-model serving, or training models above 7B parameters. The 80GB version costs about 30% more but provides double the memory.
Is A100 still worth it in 2025?
Yes, A100 remains excellent value for most AI workloads. While H100 offers higher performance, A100 provides 2-3x better price-performance for training models under 7B parameters. It's the sweet spot for researchers, startups, and production inference.
Ready to Access A100 GPUs?
Compare real-time A100 pricing across all cloud providers and find the best deal for your AI projects.