The basic formula
Monthly GPU cost = price per GPU-hour × number of GPUs × hours per day × days per month
For a service that runs around the clock, count a month as about 730 hours (365 days × 24 hours ÷ 12 months).
Worked example
The numbers below are assumptions to show the method. They are not any provider's price.
- Price per GPU-hour: assume $2.00
- GPUs: 1
- Usage: 8 hours a day, 22 days a month
Monthly cost = 2.00 × 1 × 8 × 22 = $352
Running the same GPU all month costs 2.00 × 730 = $1,460. Simply shutting the instance down when idle changes the bill a lot.
Costs that are easy to miss
- Storage: disk and volume charges often continue while the instance is stopped.
- Data transfer: downloading results or models can incur egress fees.
- Tax: Korean businesses should add 10% VAT to the budget.
- Exchange rate: USD billing changes in KRW terms as the rate moves.
- Idle time: GPU charges keep running during data prep and debugging.
Checks that cut the budget
- Make sure you are not renting more VRAM than the job needs.
- Compare providers offering the same GPU at a lower price per GPU-hour.
- Run short tests on cheaper GPUs and use high-end GPUs only for the main run.
- Set up auto-shutdown or a schedule to stop instances.
Find the lowest price per GPU-hour for your GPU on the Perhour price table, then plug it into the formula above.
How to Check on Perhour
Find the lowest price per GPU-hour on the all GPU cloud prices table, or inspect specific hardware rates on the H100 price and RTX 4090 price pages to model your monthly budget.