Comparison
GPUBox vs Vast.ai
Different products, different procurement stories. Vast.ai is a global GPU compute marketplace with a Secure Cloud tier. You rent containers by the hour from a pool of hosts (datacenter partners and individual operators) and run anything you can package. It's the right answer when you want raw container control, broad GPU choice, or the lowest GPU-hour price.
GPUBox is narrower by design. We host curated models on UK-domiciled hardware we own and operate, behind an OpenAI-compatible API. One UK counterparty (Mobile Paradigm Consultancy Ltd), one English-law contract, one published UK GDPR Article 28 DPA. The pitch is base_url = "https://api.gpubox.ai/v1" with a clean procurement story underneath, not a cheaper marketplace.
Product category
GPUBox
OpenAI-compatible inference API. You call /v1/chat/completions, /v1/audio/transcriptions, /v1/embeddings. We host curated models on hardware we own.
Vast.ai
GPU compute marketplace. GPU Cloud (rent-by-the-hour), Serverless, and Clusters. You bring containers and run anything you can package.
Execution surface
GPUBox
API-only. Driver-only access to the GPU. No arbitrary Docker, no SSH, no Jupyter. Curated models behind a stable URL.
Vast.ai
Full container control. Docker, SSH, Jupyter, custom CUDA. You install the runtime, you pick the model, you scale it.
Counterparty model
GPUBox
Single UK supplier. Mobile Paradigm Consultancy Ltd (England & Wales), UK VAT registered, contracting under English law.
Vast.ai
Marketplace. You contract with Vast plus, indirectly, the host that wins your offer. Hosts include both datacenter partners and individual operators.
Hardware operator
GPUBox
GPUBox owns and operates every GPU that runs your workload. We do not rent capacity from third-party cloud GPU providers.
Vast.ai
Mixed. Datacenter partners go through identity verification on Secure Cloud; the open marketplace tier is a pool of host-supplied machines. Vast disclose host ID and location on each offer.
Region control
GPUBox
United Kingdom only by default. One UK location during the beta. No silent reroutes, no multi-region pool.
Vast.ai
Geography is a per-offer attribute. Filterable by country and Secure Cloud label. EU-region compute is available on request per Vast's compliance page.
Data residency commitment
GPUBox
Inference happens on UK-domiciled hardware operated by a UK company. Data does not leave UK jurisdiction without your action.
Vast.ai
Depends on the offer you accept. Standard marketplace offers can be hosted in any country a host operates in. Buyers select the region per rental.
Governing law
GPUBox
English law, English courts. Standard UK B2B contract surface.
Vast.ai
Per Vast's published Terms (US-counterparty) plus, in marketplace mode, an indirect rental relationship with the host.
DPA
GPUBox
UK GDPR Article 28 DPA published at /dpa, with named-subprocessor disclosure (Stripe, Cloudflare, Resend, GitHub) and IDTA / SCCs where required.
Vast.ai
Vast publishes a DPA. Vast's compliance page also references SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR support, and HIPAA / BAA on the Secure Cloud tier.
Audit log
GPUBox
Per-call audit log retained 30 days minimum, with tenant id, model id, request id, status, and unit count.
Vast.ai
Usage and billing logs in the dashboard. Per-request inference logging is the renter's responsibility (you are running the runtime).
Acceptable Use
GPUBox
Driver-only architecture forbids arbitrary CUDA, crypto mining, model training that bypasses our serving stack, and a published list of prohibited use cases. See /aup.
Vast.ai
Marketplace ToS apply. Hosts can also set their own use restrictions per offer.
Pricing model
GPUBox
Per-call. £1.00 per 1M chat tokens (blended), £0.005 per audio minute, £0.05 per 1M embeddings tokens. No GPU-hour math.
Vast.ai
Per-hour GPU rental, plus storage and bandwidth. Live transparent pricing per offer. Generally lower headline £/hr than running the same workload through an inference API.
Currency and billing
GPUBox
GBP. VAT-compliant invoicing for UK and EU. Naira top-up via Paystack on the roadmap for Nigerian customers (gpubox.ng).
Vast.ai
USD primarily. Prepaid credits. Crypto payment accepted per Vast's billing docs.
Capacity ceiling
GPUBox
Single RTX 5090 in production today. Capacity-planned, not auto-elastic. Email us for dedicated reserved capacity.
Vast.ai
Marketplace inventory at scale. Burst into multi-GPU clusters and serverless tiers as host availability allows.
Resilience model
GPUBox
Single-site appliance during beta. Maintenance windows announced. No multi-region failover today; redundancy on the roadmap.
Vast.ai
Multi-host pool means a failed host can be replaced by re-renting elsewhere. On-demand instances per Vast's docs cannot be pre-empted; interruptible instances can be outbid.
Support shape
GPUBox
Direct engineering email, target 5 working days on security questionnaires. No tiered ticket system. Beta-stage product.
Vast.ai
Marketplace support plus paid tiers on Secure Cloud. Vast publishes documented support and console.
Setup time
GPUBox
Change one URL in your existing OpenAI SDK. Three lines. No template, no warm-up tuning.
Vast.ai
Choose an offer, pick a Docker template (vLLM, Ollama, custom), spin up the instance, expose the endpoint. Minutes per instance.
Buyer profile
GPUBox
UK-incorporated buyers, regulated industries, anyone whose procurement requires a single named UK counterparty for the inference layer.
Vast.ai
Researchers, AI engineers, and teams who want broad GPU choice, raw container control, or the lowest GPU-hour price.
Pick GPUBox if
- Your buyer requires a single named UK counterparty for the inference layer.
- OpenAI-compatible API in three lines is the integration shape you want.
- UK data residency and English-law contract matter to procurement.
- Curated chat / audio / embeddings models cover your use case.
- GBP invoicing matters for accounts payable.
- Per-call audit log retained 30 days is part of your evidence pack.
Pick Vast.ai if
- You need raw container control (Docker, SSH, Jupyter, custom CUDA).
- You need a model GPUBox doesn't host or fine-tuning today.
- Lowest GPU-hour cost is the dominant variable for your workload.
- You need to burst into multi-GPU clusters or serverless capacity.
- Region selection per workload matters more than UK-only sovereignty.
- Crypto payment or USD-denominated billing fits your operations.
Frequently asked
Is GPUBox cheaper than Vast.ai?
No. Headline GPU-hour cost on Vast's marketplace will almost always be lower than per-token inference on GPUBox once you factor in utilisation. We do not compete on price. We compete on a single UK counterparty, English-law contract, hardware we own, and an API surface that takes three lines to integrate.
Can I run any model on GPUBox like I can on Vast?
No. GPUBox is API-only. You call our hosted models (Qwen2.5-32B-Instruct, Whisper-large-v3-turbo, BGE-M3) via the OpenAI-compatible surface. There is no Docker, no SSH, no Jupyter, no arbitrary CUDA. If you need to run a model we don't host, Vast is the better fit today; fine-tuning of supported models lands with our Factory product.
Why would I pay more for GPUBox over Vast.ai's Secure Cloud?
The pitch isn't 'we're more compliant than Vast.' Vast publishes a DPA, lists SOC 2 Type 2 on its compliance page, and offers HIPAA support on Secure Cloud. The pitch is shape: Vast is a broader compute platform with marketplace and clusters. GPUBox is a narrower product, a UK-domiciled inference API on hardware we own, with a per-call audit log retained for 30 days. If your buyer wants a single named UK supplier and an English-law DPA without a marketplace layer underneath, GPUBox is the simpler procurement story.
What about latency for customers in Lagos or Nairobi?
Honest answer: GPUBox runs in a single UK location today. Round-trip latency from West or East Africa to the UK adds tens to low hundreds of milliseconds versus US-hosted inference. For chat completions that is usually masked by streaming, but for tight synchronous loops it matters. Vast can place workloads closer to the buyer through host selection. Naira billing via Paystack and a closer-to-customer expansion are on the roadmap on the gpubox.ng track.
What happens if your single GPU goes offline?
We post the maintenance window, requests fail closed, you retry when service resumes. Multi-region failover is on the roadmap and will land before we close beta. Vast's marketplace gives you the option to re-rent on a different host if a host goes offline; that flexibility is a real advantage today.
Do you accept crypto?
No. GBP card and invoice only. Vast's billing docs publish a crypto payment path for renters who want it.
Vast.ai product details cited from vast.ai/compliance, vast.ai/data-processing-agreement, and docs.vast.ai. Pricing claims are directional; both providers publish live rates.
Try the drop-in for yourself.
Email us for a same-day API key. First £20 of usage is on us.