GPU rental earnings calculator

Formula: gross $/mo = market $/hr × 730 h × utilization % × cards. With electricity:power $/mo = watts ÷ 1000 × $/kWh × 730 h × utilization % (draw counted only while rented; idle draw ignored, so the real power bill is slightly higher). Marketplace fees, internet, cooling and hardware wear are not included: this is gross, not profit.

Gross earnings are your card's hourly market rate times the hours it is actually rented. The rate is set by supply and demand on marketplaces like Vast.ai, RunPod Community Cloud and SaladCloud; utilization is the variable that dominates the outcome, and for most hosts it is far below 100%. The calculator above anchors the rate to the cheapest verified spot/community rental price we track for your card today, which is what renters actually pay for capacity like yours.

Three reasons. First, marketplaces take a cut of what the renter pays, and the split varies by platform, so the renter-facing rate is a ceiling, not your payout. Second, utilization: your card only earns while someone is renting it, and idle hours earn nothing. Third, costs: electricity, internet, hardware wear and your time all come out of the gross number. This calculator shows gross earnings with an optional electricity deduction; platform fees are not included because they differ per marketplace.

It depends almost entirely on your electricity price and how many hours the card actually gets rented. With cheap power and steady demand for a sought-after card, hosting can offset part of the hardware cost over time. With expensive power or low utilization, the margin can shrink to nothing. Run your own numbers above, then compare against the rent-vs-buy calculator to see the other side of the same market.

Cards renters actually want: recent consumer flagships with plenty of VRAM tend to command the strongest marketplace rates relative to their purchase price. The live rates seeded into the calculator are re-verified daily, so the dropdown itself is an up-to-date ranking of what each card currently fetches per hour on spot and community tiers.