Start Here
Twelve-chapter comprehensive profile of Vast.AI — the original GPU marketplace. Read end-to-end for the full picture; jump to a specific chapter when you need it.
Scope & audience
This guide covers Vast.AI as a company and as a market actor — its model, supply and demand sides, pricing mechanics, economics, customer segments, competitive positioning, and outlook. Calibrated against the 2026 state of the industry, including the rise of enterprise neoclouds and the emergence of compute futures markets.
Key framings to carry
- Vast is a marketplace, not a cloud. Understanding what this implies — variable supply quality, bid-based pricing, low margins, scaling dynamics — is the framing that makes the rest of the guide click.
- The supply moat is the corpus of providers. Vast's defensibility isn't technology; it's that thousands of GPU owners list on it. Competitor marketplaces face the cold-start problem; Vast doesn't.
- Customer segment ceiling matters. Vast wins indie ML and research; the marketplace model has trouble penetrating enterprise where uptime SLAs and SOC compliance matter. That ceiling is the bear case.
Reading order
Section A (orient + the company), then Section B (the marketplace mechanics — the load-bearing chapters), then Section C (economics and operations), then Section D (positioning and outlook). Read in order if you're new to the space. Skip to Section D if you already know how Vast works and want the strategic take.