Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Vast.ai VS Google Kubernetes Engine

Compare Vast.ai VS Google Kubernetes Engine and see what are their differences

This page does not exist

Vast.ai logo Vast.ai

GPU Sharing Economy: One simple interface to find the best cloud GPU rentals.

Google Kubernetes Engine logo Google Kubernetes Engine

Google Kubernetes Engine is a powerful cluster manager and orchestration system for running your Docker containers. Set up a cluster in minutes.
  • Vast.ai Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-08
  • Google Kubernetes Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-05

Vast.ai features and specs

  • Cost-effectiveness
    Vast.ai offers competitive pricing by providing access to a large pool of GPUs from various providers, allowing users to find and select cost-effective hardware that suits their budget and computational needs.
  • Flexibility
    The platform offers a wide range of hardware options from different providers, allowing users to select the most suitable GPU configurations for their specific workloads and easily switch between them as needed.
  • Scalability
    Vast.ai enables users to scale their computational resources up or down easily, accommodating varying workload demands without the necessity to own or maintain physical hardware.
  • Ease of Use
    Vast.ai provides a user-friendly interface and straightforward setup process, making it accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise.

Possible disadvantages of Vast.ai

  • Variable Performance
    Since the GPUs are rented from a variety of providers, there can be inconsistencies in performance, reliability, and availability, which might affect workload execution.
  • Limited Control
    Users have limited control over the physical hardware as it is shared with other users, which may lead to potential security and privacy concerns.
  • Provider Dependence
    The availability and cost of resources can fluctuate based on the number of providers offering hardware on the platform, potentially leading to variability in cost and resource access over time.
  • Network Latency
    Tasks that are sensitive to latency may experience delays due to the network overhead associated with distributing workloads across remote hardware providers.

Google Kubernetes Engine features and specs

  • Managed Service
    GKE is a fully managed service, which means Google takes care of tasks like provisioning, maintenance, and updates of the cluster, reducing the operational burden on users.
  • Scalability
    GKE offers robust scalability options, allowing you to easily scale your applications up or down based on demand. This is facilitated through auto-scaling features for both nodes and pods.
  • Integration with Google Cloud Services
    GKE integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services such as Cloud Storage, BigQuery, and more, providing a streamlined experience for leveraging multiple cloud tools.
  • Security
    GKE offers advanced security features like private clusters, and integrates with Google Cloud IAM, which allows for fine-grained access control, helping to secure your Kubernetes environment.
  • Ease of Use
    GKE's comprehensive dashboard, command-line interface, and supporting documentation make it easy to deploy, manage, and monitor Kubernetes clusters.
  • Global Reach
    With GKE, you can deploy clusters across multiple regions and zones, giving you the ability to build highly available, geographically dispersed applications.

Possible disadvantages of Google Kubernetes Engine

  • Cost
    While GKE offers extensive features, it can be more expensive compared to other Kubernetes solutions, especially when additional services and high-availability features are utilized.
  • Limited Customization
    As a managed service, GKE has some limitations in terms of customization and control over the underlying infrastructure compared to self-managed Kubernetes environments.
  • Complexity
    Despite its ease of use features, GKE still requires a certain level of expertise to efficiently manage Kubernetes clusters, which can be a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Dependence on Google Cloud
    Using GKE ties you to the Google Cloud ecosystem, which may limit flexibility if you decide to migrate to a different cloud provider or adopt a multi-cloud strategy.
  • Resource Constraints
    Like all cloud services, GKE nodes can be subject to resource limits and quotas imposed by Google Cloud, which can impact performance if not properly managed.
  • SLA and Downtime
    While Google Cloud offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs), there is still a risk of downtime which could affect your applications. Additionally, relying on a third-party provider means issues may take time to resolve.

Analysis of Vast.ai

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Vast.ai is a strong option for individuals and businesses seeking affordable and efficient access to GPU computing power. Its marketplace model offers flexibility and cost-effectiveness, making it an attractive alternative to traditional cloud service providers for many computational tasks.

Why this product is good

  • Vast.ai is considered a good choice for many due to its competitive pricing model, which makes use of spare GPU resources, allowing users to access high-performance computing at lower costs. This platform is beneficial for those needing significant computing power without investing in expensive hardware. Additionally, its user-friendly interface and automated matchmaking between users and providers simplify the process of acquiring and utilizing computational resources.

Recommended for

    Vast.ai is particularly recommended for researchers, data scientists, machine learning practitioners, animators, and anyone else requiring high-performance GPU resources for tasks such as deep learning, data analysis, scientific research, and rendering. It's ideal for those with sporadic or project-based needs who want to minimize fixed costs.

Analysis of Google Kubernetes Engine

Overall verdict

  • Overall, many users find GKE to be a powerful and reliable platform for container orchestration, especially when leveraging other Google Cloud Platform services.

Why this product is good

  • Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is considered good because it is a managed environment for deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications using Google infrastructure. It offers seamless integration with other Google Cloud services, robust cluster management, strong security features, auto-scaling capabilities, and a strong focus on performance and reliability. It also benefits from Google's expertise in Kubernetes, as Google was a primary contributor to the Kubernetes project.

Recommended for

  • Organizations adopting a microservices architecture.
  • Developers looking for a managed Kubernetes solution.
  • Teams that need seamless integration with other Google Cloud services.
  • Companies aiming to efficiently scale their applications with auto-scaling features.
  • Enterprises that require robust security features and compliance with industry standards.

Vast.ai videos

Using Vast.ai to set up a machine learning server

Google Kubernetes Engine videos

Getting Started with Containers and Google Kubernetes Engine (Cloud Next '18)

More videos:

  • Review - Optimize cost to performance on Google Kubernetes Engine
  • Tutorial - Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) | Coupon: UDEMYSEP20 - Kubernetes Made Easy | Kubernetes Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Vast.ai and Google Kubernetes Engine)
Cloud Computing
40 40%
60% 60
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
VPS
100 100%
0% 0
Custom Search Engine
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Vast.ai and Google Kubernetes Engine. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Vast.ai and Google Kubernetes Engine

Vast.ai Reviews

We have no reviews of Vast.ai yet.
Be the first one to post

Google Kubernetes Engine Reviews

Top 12 Kubernetes Alternatives to Choose From in 2023
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a prominent choice for a Kubernetes alternative. It is provided and managed by Google Cloud, which offers fully managed Kubernetes services.
Source: humalect.com
11 Best Rancher Alternatives Multi Cluster Orchestration Platform
Google Kubernetes Engine is a CaaS (container as a service) platform that lets you easily create, resize, manage, update, upgrade, and debug container clusters. Google Kubernetes Engine, aka GKE, was the first managed Kubernetes service, and therefore, it is highly regarded in the industry.
Top 10 Best Container Software in 2022
If you need a speedy creation of developer environments, working on micro services-based architecture and if you want to deploy production grade clusters then Docker and Google Kubernetes Engine would be the most suitable tools. They are very well suited for DevOps team.
7 Best Containerization Software Solutions of 2022
If you’re looking for a managed solution to help you deploy and scale containerized apps on your virtual machines quickly, Google Kubernetes Engine is a great choice.
Source: techgumb.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vast.ai should be more popular than Google Kubernetes Engine. It has been mentiond 225 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Vast.ai mentions (225)

  • Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database
    Right, I saw that. ChatGPT does the same. My question is how you can confirm the entity you're referencing in each source is actually the entity you're looking for? An example I ran into recently is Vast (https://www.vastspace.com/). There are a number of other notable startups named Vast (https://vast.ai/, https://www.vastdata.com/). I understand Clay, which your Websets product is clearly inspired by, does a... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Running Your Own LLMs in the Cloud: A Practical Guide
    Vast.ai operates as a marketplace where users can both offer and rent GPU instances. The pricing is generally quite competitive, often lower than RunPod, especially for low-end GPUs with less than 24GB of VRAM. However, it also provides access to more powerful systems, like the 4xA100 setup I used to run Llama3.1-405B. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Nvidia pursues $30B custom chip opportunity with new unit
    There are already ways to get around this. For example, renting compute from people who aren't in datacenters. Which is already a thing: https://vast.ai. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • A SETI-like project to train LLM on libgen, scihub and the likes?
    By "SETI" I assume you mean the SETI@Home distributed computing project. There's a two-way market where you can rent out your GPU here: https://vast.ai/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: What's the best hardware to run small/medium models locally?
    - https://vast.ai/ (linked by gchadwick above). - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

Google Kubernetes Engine mentions (49)

  • Google Cloud Unveils A4 VMs with NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for AI
    Integration with Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), which supports up to 65,000 nodes per cluster, facilitating robust AI infrastructure. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Deploy Gemini-powered LangChain applications on GKE
    In my previous post, we explored how LangChain simplifies the development of AI-powered applications. We saw how its modularity, flexibility, and extensibility make it a powerful tool for working with large language models (LLMs) like Gemini. Now, let's take it a step further and see how we can deploy and scale our LangChain applications using the robust infrastructure of Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and the... - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Securing Applications Using Keycloak's Helm Chart
    Kubernetes cluster: You need a running Kubernetes cluster that supports persistent volumes. You can use a local cluster, like kind or Minikube, or a cloud-based solution, like GKE%20orEKS or EKS. The cluster should expose ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) for external access. Persistent storage should be configured to retain Keycloak data (e.g., user credentials, sessions) across restarts. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Simplify development of AI-powered applications with LangChain
    In a later post, I will take a look at how you can use LangChain to connect to a local Gemma instance, all running in a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • 26 Top Kubernetes Tools
    Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is another managed Kubernetes service that lets you spin up new cloud clusters on demand. It's specifically designed to help you run Kubernetes workloads without specialist Kubernetes expertise, and it includes a range of optional features that provide more automation for admin tasks. These include powerful capabilities around governance, compliance, security, and configuration... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Vast.ai and Google Kubernetes Engine, you can also consider the following products

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

Golem - Golem is a global, open sourced, decentralized supercomputer that anyone can access.

Amazon ECS - Amazon EC2 Container Service is a highly scalable, high-performance​ container management service that supports Docker containers.

ElasticSearch - Elasticsearch is an open source, distributed, RESTful search engine.

Docker - Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.