Paperspace Alternative
The Paperspace alternative
for developers.
Instant provisioning. Zero egress. Fractional GPU from 12.5%. Per-minute billing. And - uniquely - a licensable platform.
Why ML teams pick PodStack over Paperspace
No charges to pull model weights, datasets, or inference results back out.
Pay for exactly the minutes you use. No rounding up to the hour on short jobs.
12.5%-100% of an H100. Paperspace only sells full GPUs.
License the same stack and run it inside your own DCs. Paperspace does not offer this.
PodStack vs Paperspace - feature by feature
| Feature | PodStack | Paperspace |
|---|---|---|
| Platform stack | Proprietary, purpose-built for GPU | Paperspace Gradient / Core |
| Platform license | Available - license + run in your own DC | No - managed only |
| Fractional GPU | 12.5% - 100% via PodVirt | Full GPU only |
| Per-minute billing | Yes | Per-hour |
| Egress fees | Zero | Charged |
| ML templates | vLLM, Unsloth, ComfyUI, PyTorch one-click | Gradient templates |
| Developer tooling | CLI, SDK, REST API, podstack.yaml | CLI + API |
| Pricing | Custom - talk to sales | Public on-demand rates |
Pricing built around your workload
PodStack pricing is customised to your GPU mix, fraction sizes, and committed usage - with per-minute billing and zero egress fees, you only pay for what you actually use. Tell us your workload and get a quote the same day.
Migrating from Paperspace
- Step 1Push your Docker image
docker tag my-llm:latest registry.podstack.ai/<org>/my-llm:latest docker push registry.podstack.ai/<org>/my-llm:latest - Step 2Sync model weights and datasets
aws s3 sync ./weights/ s3://my-bucket/weights/ \ --endpoint-url https://s3.podstack.ai - Step 3Launch a Pod
podstack pod create -f podstack.yaml
Frequently asked questions
Why look for a Paperspace alternative?+
Paperspace (now part of DigitalOcean) bills per hour, charges for egress, and sells full GPUs only. For teams running inference or sub-utilised training, that means paying for capacity and data transfer you don't need. PodStack offers fractional GPU from 12.5%, per-minute billing, zero egress - and is itself licensable.
Is PodStack built on open-source like Kubernetes?+
No. PodStack is a proprietary, purpose-built platform - our own control plane, scheduler, and virtualisation layer (PodVirt) designed specifically for fractional GPU sharing. This is why we can offer 12.5% fractional GPU and sub-second scaling.
Can we license the PodStack platform to run our own GPU cloud?+
Yes. PodStack is sold both as a managed cloud and as a licensable platform. Enterprises and operators can license the full PodStack stack and deploy it in their own data centres. Paperspace / DigitalOcean does not offer this.
Is PodStack cheaper than Paperspace?+
PodStack pricing is customised to your workload rather than published as flat rates. With zero egress, per-minute billing, and fractional GPU, the all-in cost for sub-utilised workloads is typically lower. Talk to sales for a quote matched to your usage.
What security certifications does PodStack have?+
PodStack runs on operator-owned hardware in ISO 27001 certified data centres, with DPDP compliance covered for teams that need it.
How do I migrate from Paperspace to PodStack?+
Three steps: (1) push your Docker image to PodStack's registry, (2) sync model weights and datasets to a PodStack S3-compatible bucket, (3) launch a Pod via the portal or with `podstack pod create -f podstack.yaml`. Most teams migrate in under an hour.
Does PodStack support PyTorch, vLLM, Unsloth, ComfyUI like Paperspace Gradient?+
Yes. One-click templates for PyTorch, vLLM, Unsloth, ComfyUI, and TensorFlow. BYO Docker also supported.
Fractional. Per-minute. Zero egress.
Launch a Pod in 60 seconds - or talk to us about licensing.
Open Portal →