{
    "name": "Cloud GPU Training Cost Calculator",
    "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/cloud-gpu-training-cost-calculator",
    "markdown": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/cloud-gpu-training-cost-calculator.md",
    "category": "Software, cloud & AI",
    "description": "Estimate the cost of a model training job from GPU count, run time, runs, your price per GPU-hour, a buffer for failed runs, storage and data transfer.",
    "summary": "Training cost is mostly GPU-hours: GPUs × wall-clock hours × runs, times the hourly price. Add a buffer for restarts and failed experiments, then storage and egress.",
    "also_called": [
        "GPU-hour cost calculator",
        "Model training cost calculator"
    ],
    "applies_to": "Worldwide",
    "last_updated": "2026-10-29",
    "computation": "Results are computed in the visitor’s browser on the HTML page. This API describes the calculator; it does not compute results.",
    "inputs": [
        {
            "name": "gpu_count",
            "label": "Number of GPUs",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "8"
        },
        {
            "name": "runtime_hours",
            "label": "Wall-clock hours per run",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "24",
            "unit": "h"
        },
        {
            "name": "gpu_rate",
            "label": "Price per GPU-hour",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "2.50"
        },
        {
            "name": "runs",
            "label": "Number of runs",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "3"
        },
        {
            "name": "buffer",
            "label": "Buffer for restarts and idle time",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "10",
            "unit": "%",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "storage_gb",
            "label": "Datasets and checkpoints stored",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "500",
            "unit": "GB",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "storage_price",
            "label": "Storage price per GB-month",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "0.02",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "storage_months",
            "label": "Months of storage",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "2",
            "unit": "months",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "egress_gb",
            "label": "Data transferred out",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "100",
            "unit": "GB",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "egress_price",
            "label": "Egress price per GB",
            "type": "number",
            "default": "0.09",
            "optional": true
        },
        {
            "name": "currency",
            "label": "Currency",
            "type": "currency",
            "default": "USD"
        }
    ],
    "outputs": [
        {
            "key": "total_cost",
            "label": "Total cost",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "compute_cost",
            "label": "GPU compute",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "gpu_hours",
            "label": "GPU-hours billed",
            "format": "number"
        },
        {
            "key": "storage_cost",
            "label": "Storage",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "transfer_cost",
            "label": "Data transfer",
            "format": "currency"
        },
        {
            "key": "cost_per_run",
            "label": "Average cost per run",
            "format": "currency"
        }
    ],
    "formula": {
        "text": "GPU-hours = GPUs × Hours × Runs × (1 + Buffer%);  Compute = GPU-hours × Rate;  Total = Compute + GB × Storage price × Months + Egress GB × Egress price",
        "variables": {
            "Hours": "wall-clock time of one run",
            "Buffer%": "extra time for restarts, debugging and idle GPUs",
            "Rate": "price per GPU-hour"
        }
    },
    "worked_example": {
        "inputs": {
            "gpu_count": "8",
            "runtime_hours": "24",
            "gpu_rate": "2.50",
            "runs": "3",
            "buffer": "10",
            "storage_gb": "500",
            "storage_price": "0.02",
            "storage_months": "2",
            "egress_gb": "100",
            "egress_price": "0.09",
            "currency": "USD"
        },
        "steps": [
            "GPU-hours: 8 × 24 × 3 × 1.10 = 633.6.",
            "Compute: 633.6 × 2.50 = 1,584.",
            "Storage 500 × 0.02 × 2 = 20; egress 100 × 0.09 = 9; total 1,613."
        ],
        "result": "Three 24-hour runs on 8 GPUs at an example 2.50 per GPU-hour cost about 1,613 including storage and egress."
    },
    "interpretation": "GPU time usually dwarfs everything else, so the levers are fewer or shorter runs, better utilisation, and cheaper capacity such as spot or committed-use pricing if your job tolerates it.",
    "assumptions": [
        "GPUs are billed for the full wall-clock time of each run.",
        "The storage amount is held for the whole storage period."
    ],
    "limitations": [
        "CPU instances, networking between nodes, licences and engineering time are not included.",
        "Spot or pre-emptible capacity can be interrupted; increase the buffer if you use it."
    ],
    "rules": null,
    "faqs": [
        {
            "question": "How do I estimate the hours?",
            "answer": "Run a short job, measure throughput (samples or tokens per second) and divide your total training data by it. Then add evaluation and checkpointing time."
        },
        {
            "question": "Does doubling GPUs halve the time?",
            "answer": "Rarely exactly. Communication overhead means scaling is less than linear, so the GPU-hours often rise slightly when you add GPUs."
        }
    ],
    "sources": [],
    "related": [
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            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/llm-token-cost-calculator"
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        {
            "name": "Cloud Storage Cost Calculator",
            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/cloud-storage-monthly-cost-calculator"
        },
        {
            "name": "Reserved Instance Savings Calculator",
            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/reserved-instance-savings-calculator"
        },
        {
            "name": "Data Transfer Time Calculator",
            "url": "https://calculators.geekmidst.com/calculators/data-transfer-time-calculator"
        }
    ],
    "disclaimer": null,
    "publisher": "GM¹X CalcVerse"
}