How does per-minute GPU billing work on CloudGPU?

Short answer: CloudGPU bills a rented GPU per minute, rounded up, with a 1-minute minimum. While an instance runs, each started hour is pre-authorised from your prepaid balance, and any unused minutes go back to your balance when you destroy the instance.

The rules in plain terms

  • Unit: one minute. Usage is rounded up to the next full minute.
  • Minimum: 1 minute. A very short session is billed as 1 minute.
  • Start of billing: the billing rules are in the terms at https://cloudgpu.app/terms. An instance takes about 2 minutes to start; for exactly when the billing clock starts, check the terms or ask CloudGPU support.
  • Pre-authorisation: while an instance runs, 1 hour is pre-authorised from your prepaid balance.
  • Unused time goes back to your balance: when you destroy the instance, the unused minutes of the pre-authorised hour go back to your balance.
  • No subscription: you top up a prepaid balance and spend it as you go.
  • Balance at zero: instances are automatically destroyed when your balance reaches zero, so keep enough balance for the job.

A worked example (no prices needed)

This example illustrates the rounding rule only. Suppose an instance has been billable for 37 minutes and 10 seconds when you destroy it. That is rounded up to 38 minutes. The rest of the pre-authorised hour (22 minutes) goes back to your balance.

If an instance is billable for only 20 seconds, you pay for 1 minute (the minimum).

Why per-minute billing helps

  • Short experiments (testing a model, a one-off ComfyUI render, a quick fine-tune smoke test) do not cost a full hour.
  • You can destroy an instance as soon as a batch job finishes.
  • You still need to destroy the instance yourself: a running GPU keeps billing even if it is idle.

Practical tips

  1. Keep a note of when you started each instance and set a reminder to destroy it.
  2. Copy results out of the instance before you destroy it.
  3. The first model download takes extra time while the instance is running, and running time is billed, so pre-plan large downloads.
  4. Check the live price table at https://cloudgpu.app/pricing for current rates; this page does not quote prices.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a minimum charge per session?

Yes. The minimum is 1 minute. Usage is billed per minute, rounded up.

How long does an instance take to start?

About 2 minutes.

What happens to the unused part of the pre-authorised hour?

1 hour is pre-authorised while the instance runs. Unused minutes go back to your balance when you destroy the instance.

What happens if my balance runs out?

Instances are automatically destroyed when your balance reaches zero, and data on local instance storage is permanently deleted when an instance is destroyed (https://cloudgpu.app/terms).

Do I need a subscription?

No. You top up a prepaid balance and pay as you go.

Sources (read 2026-10-23, Asia/Shanghai)

The Deploy page lists the cards you can start. Prices are on https://cloudgpu.app/pricing and are not repeated here.

Last updated: 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai).