Reserved Instance Discounts

reserved instance discounts at vast ai at vast ai, we’re always working to make cloud computing more efficient and cost effective our feature — reserved instance discounts — helps you save up to 50% or more on long term compute needs while giving providers more consistent revenue why use reserved instance discounts with on demand instances , you pay only for the time you use (pay as you go) can stop the contract at any time note if you stop the instance, the gpu will be released and may be rented by another user if you want to keep using it, you will need to wait until the gpu becomes free again for users with predictable, long term needs , on demand isn’t always the most cost efficient choice reserved instance discounts let you pre paid commit in advance, fixed term reserve for 1, 3, or 6 months (or custom durations via cli), trading flexibility for significant savings, best for long term projects continuous workloads stable, predictable gpu needs warning if you stop a reserved instance, the gpu will be released and can be rented by someone else there’s no benefit to stopping it tip depositing more funds recalculates your discount — larger deposits generally mean bigger discounts how it works you can convert an on demand instance into a reserved instance with a lower hourly rate by pre paying ways to reserve step 1 — rent the instance go to search page find a gpu that meets your requirements, click the rent button this creates an on demand instance step 2 — convert to a reserved instance go to the instances page on your instance card, find the green discount badge save badge click the badge — a new window will open with the available pre paid periods (e g , 1 month, 3 months, 6 months) reserved discount select your preferred period and confirm the system calculates deposit and discount automatically your instance is now reserved at the discounted rate when an instance is converted to a reserved instance, you will see saved % badge on the instance card to indicate the reserved discount is active this lets you quickly identify which of your running instances are benefiting from pre paid rates add credits to your account (if needed) create an instance, get the instance id cli vastai show instances run the following command, where id is the id of instance to prepay for amount is amount of instance credit prepayment (default discount func of 0 2 for 1 month, 0 3 for 3 months) cli vastai prepay instance id amountvava an example cli vastai prepay instance 24973511 50 prepaid for 0 546 months of instance 24973511 applying $50 0 credits for a discount of 3 5000000000000004% add a reserved instance discount to this instance to save money on your hourly rate by adding a reserved instance discount to an instance you will allocate credits to the instance from your account these credits will be used to pay for the instance's hourly rate if you run out of credits, you will be charged the hourly rate for the instance extending a reserved instance you can extend your reservation via same flow as above via save badge on instance card more flexibility — deposit any amount you choose for example vastai prepay instance 24973511 50 prepaid for 0 546 months of instance 24973511 applying $50 0 credits for a discount of 3 5000000000000004% important every time you add credits, your discount is recalculated avoid adding small amounts mid term — you could end up with a worse rate for example if you have a 3 month reservation and add 2 weeks of credit with only 2 weeks left, your discount could drop refunds you can cancel (destroy) a reserved / prepaid instance to get part of your deposit back refund = remaining deposit minus total discount already received example on demand $1/hr → $720/month reserved (1 month) $576/month cancel immediately → refund = $576 cancel after 15 days → remaining = $288 → refund = $216 (after discount penalty) cancel at the end → refund = $0 you will see the refund on the billing page > invoices table refund common questions how can i preview the reserved instance price before renting? yes — you can check the reserved price before committing go to the search page switch the on demand filter to the reserved filter reserved filter set the duration filter (e g , 1 month), if needed hover over the rent button — you’ll see a breakdown, including a reserved cost section price if you like the price, click rent and follow the steps to convert it to a reserved instance can i switch an existing on demand instance to reserved? yes, if there is an available discount go to the instances page, click the discount badge on your instance card, choose a period, and confirm can i extend a reserved instance? yes — you can extend it anytime via the same discount badge in the instances page, as long as the instance still has an active discount period you can use the cli for custom amounts what happens if i cancel / delete a reserved instance early? you’ll receive a partial refund of your unused pre paid balance, minus the total discount received so far you will see the refund on billing page what happens if i stop a reserved instance? if you stop the instance, the gpu will be released like any other instance and may be rented by another user summary of benefits save up to 50% or more on predictable workloads lock in stable costs for up to 6 months flexible options to reserve and extend via gui or cli