# AWS P5 vs Thunder Compute: Pricing, Specs, and the Cheapest Way to Train (May 2026)

Last update:

April 1, 2026

2 mins read

**TL;DR**

- Need a massive, multi-node H100 cluster? [AWS P5](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/p5/) gives you 8× H100s per node, 3,200 Gbps networking, and 30.7 TB NVMe. Price: ~$55-66/hr depending on region.
- Want the cheapest, no-commitment way to fine-tune or serve models? [Thunder Compute](/content/pricing/index.html) offers A100 80 GB for $0.78/hr, billed per second with persistent storage and one-click VS Code.
- AWS adds separate costs for storage and data egress — up to [0.08/GB/month for EBS](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/) and [0.09/GB for egress](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/) after 100 GB.
- AWS requires quotas and has a 60-second billing minimum. Thunder Compute doesn't.

**What each platform is best at**

- **AWS P5**: Multi-node H100 clusters, ultra-fast networking, and deep AWS integration.
- **Thunder Compute**: Low-cost A100 80 GB with persistent storage, per-second billing, snapshots, and fast setup — perfect for prototyping, fine-tuning, and inference.

## Pricing Snapshot (May 2026)

| Provider | SKU | GPUs | Memory per GPU | Hourly price (node) | Approx per-GPU |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AWS | [P5 p5.48xlarge](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/p5/) | 8 × H100 | 80 GB | ~$55-66 | ~$6.8-8.25 |
| AWS | [P4de.24xlarge](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/p4/) | 8 × A100 | 80 GB | $40.96 | $5.12 |
| AWS | [P4d.24xlarge](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/p4/) | 8 × A100 | 40 GB | $32.77 | $4.10 |
| Thunder Compute | [A100 80 GB](/content/pricing/index.html) | 1 × A100 | 80 GB | $0.78 | $0.78 |

Note: AWS pricing varies by region and is subject to quotas. Thunder Compute pricing is flat and usage-based.

## Specs Comparison

|  | AWS P5 | AWS P4de | Thunder Compute |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GPUs | 8 × H100 | 8 × A100 | 1 × A100 |
| GPU Memory | 640 GB | 640 GB | 80 GB |
| System RAM | 2 TiB | 1.125 TiB | 32 GB (customizable) |
| Storage | 30.7 TB NVMe (ephemeral) | 8 TB NVMe (ephemeral) | Persistent block storage |
| Billing | Per-second (60s min) | Per-second (60s min) | True per-second |
| Storage Cost | [EBS $0.08/GB](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/) | Same | $0.15/GB/month |
| Snapshots | [Standard $0.05/GB](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/), [Archive $0.0125/GB](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/) | Same | $0.075/GB (compressed) |
| Egress | [First 100GB free, then $0.09/GB](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/) | Same | Custom / bring-your-own CDN |

## Quick cost calculations

- 8× A100 80 GB Equivalent Thunder Compute: 8 × $0.78 = $6.24/hr
- AWS P4de: $40.96/hr
- Savings: Thunder Compute is ~6.6x cheaper
- 8× H100 AWS P5: ~$55–66/hr
- Thunder Compute's H100s: $1.38/hr × 8 = $11.04/hr

If you don't need P5-level networking, Thunder Compute is cheaper by a large margin for nearly all fine-tuning, eval, and model serving tasks.

## Storage and Persistence

- AWS: Ephemeral storage. To persist data, you'll need to add [EBS volumes](https://aws.amazon.com/ebs/pricing/) (0.08/GB/mo), pay for snapshots, and budget for [data egress](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/).
- Thunder Compute: Persistent storage by default. You can stop and resume without data loss. Snapshots and spec changes (RAM, disk, vCPU) are one click.

## Billing and Availability

- AWS: Per-second billing, but with a 60-second minimum. Many GPU families (like P5) require a quota request before use. See AWS quotas.
- Thunder Compute: No quotas. Start instantly. Full per-second billing with no minimums and no lock-in.

## When to Choose Each

Use AWS P5 if:

- You need UltraCluster networking
- You're running massively parallel H100 jobs
- You require tight AWS service integration

Use Thunder Compute if:

- You want the cheapest A100 80 GB
- You need persistent storage and snapshots
- You want no lock-in and a simple interface

## Get Started

- Spin up an A100 80 GB at $0.78/hr with persistent storage and per-second billing on [Thunder Compute](/content/pricing/index.html).
- If needed, migrate to [AWS P5](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/p5/) later for high-scale training.