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Turn your audience into earnings! Share your unique Vast.ai referral link (or a public template link), and when someone creates a new client account and buys credits, you get 3% of everything they spend — for the lifetime of their account. Better yet, you can cash out 75% of those referral credits via Stripe Connect, PayPal, or Wise.
In order to receive payouts for referrals you MUST create a new account. You are unlikely to be able to receive payouts to any bank account outside Vast if the account you are using for referrals has ever rented instances or hosted machines

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How It Works

  1. Share Your Link – Post it on your site, in videos, blogs, or wherever your audience is.
  2. They Join & Buy Credits – New users sign up through your link and purchase credits.
  3. You Earn – Get 3% of their lifetime spend as referral credits.
  4. Cash Out or Spend – Use credits on Vast, or withdraw up to 75% as cash.
If someone spends 1,000overtime,youget1,000 over time, you get 30 in referral credits — forever.

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Payout Rules — Important!

To receive cash payouts (outside of Vast), you must use a dedicated referral account:
  • If you’ve ever rented instances or hosted machines on an account, you cannot cash out until your referral earnings exceed your lifetime instance spend.
  • If you just want credits to rent Vast instances, you can use your main account.
Why a separate account?
It keeps your referral earnings clear and makes sure you’re payout-eligible.
Example:
  • You’ve earned $300 in referral credits.
  • Lifetime charges on your account: $855.
  • Since 300<300 < 855, you can’t cash out until referral earnings exceed $855.
  1. Create a new account for referrals.
  2. Go to Settings → Referral Link.
Referral Link

Account Settings

  1. Copy the link.
  2. Share it!
Note: You can’t refer yourself or any account connected to you — those won’t earn rewards.

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Using Templates for Referrals

Want to make referrals even easier? Use Templates page to create your template. A template can pre-load:
  • A Docker image
  • Launch mode(s)
  • Onstart script
  • Environment variables
Example: The Stable Diffusion template loads the image, sets up Automatic1111 WebUI, starts Jupyter, and preps the environment — ready to go. Create your own template for a use case, set it to public, then share its template referral link. The link will have this format:
Note: You can’t refer yourself or any account connected to you — those won’t earn rewards.
Your audience clicks → Vast loads with your settings → they sign up → you earn. Where to use it: GitHub repos, videos, blog posts — anywhere your audience needs a “click and run” setup.

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Bigger Opportunities

For large-scale referral or marketing collaborations, reach us at support@vast.ai.

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Common Questions

Open your Templates page -> My Templates. On each template card, click the three-dot menu and select Copy Referral Link. This gives you a ready-to-share link that includes your referral ID and the template ID — perfect for sharing with your audience.
Three-dot menu

Template Card