TensorDock vs Banana
A detailed comparison to help you choose between TensorDock and Banana.
Quick Verdict
3.8/5
TensorDock
0 reviews
1.2/5
Banana
0 reviews
TensorDock is rated higher (3.8 vs 1.2). TensorDock is a GPU compute marketplace with per-second billing — H100 SXM5 from $2.80/hour and A100 from $1.50/hour (A100 PCIe 80GB) on its published rate card. 100+ locations in 20+ countries, on-demand provisioning. Banana was an ML inference hosting platform (Docker-based, Potassium framework). The service shut down permanently on March 31, 2024; do not purchase. Alternatives: Replicate, Modal, RunPod, Beam, Baseten.
TensorDock Affordable GPU cloud compute without long-term contracts | Banana DEFUNCT — serverless GPU inference platform sunset Feb 2024, shut down March 31, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.8 (0 reviews)✓ | 1.2 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | usage-based | usage-based (historical; shut down 2024-03-31) |
| Starting price | From $0.1/mo✓ | From $2024/mo |
| Best for | Cost-conscious ML engineers, researchers and studios running training with checkpointing, batch inference or rendering, especially where consumer GPUs like the RTX 4090 fit the workload | Nobody — the platform shut down on March 31, 2024. Use Replicate, Modal, RunPod, Beam, or Baseten for serverless GPU inference. |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 2 vCPU | — |
| RAM | 4 GB | — |
| Storage | 20 GB | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | 99.99% | — |
| Data-center count | 100 | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | €0.05 | — |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €0.03 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | 100+ marketplace locations in over 20 countries (US, EU, Asia-Pacific); tier 3/4 data centers plus community hosts | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | hourly billinggpu availableeu datacenterus datacenter | gpu availableus datacenterapi access |
| Visit TensorDock → | Visit Banana → | |
TensorDock
Pros
- + Among the lowest published GPU rates anywhere: RTX 4090 at $0.35/hr, H100 SXM5 at $2.85/hr typical
- + A la carte, per-second billing for vCPU, RAM and NVMe — pay only for the configuration you need
- + Breadth: 45 GPU models across 100+ locations in 20+ countries, with an API for automation
- + Published rate card and transparent explanation of why the same GPU has multiple prices
- + Host vetting, host SSH access revoked, and a 99.99% uptime standard for listed hosts
Cons
- - Marketplace variance: host redundancy and quality differ, with cheaper listings often least redundant
- - Email-only support with multi-hour response windows; no contractual SLA with credits
- - Prepaid balance model deletes servers when the balance reaches zero
- - Published rate card is stamped July 2024 and carries a no-guarantee disclaimer
- - Fewer managed niceties (templates, serverless) than RunPod, Lambda or hyperscalers
Banana
Pros
- + Historical: developer-friendly Docker/Potassium deployment with scale-to-zero GPU autoscaling
- + Historical: per-second GPU billing with no charge while idle
- + Historical: warm pools and model caching reduced cold starts for popular models
- + The founder published an unusually candid shutdown account and migration guidance
Cons
- - Permanently shut down on March 31, 2024 — the service cannot be purchased or used
- - Pricing was opaque even while alive ($1,200/month Team tier, per-GPU costs unpublished)
- - No published uptime SLA and no independent benchmarks
- - Startup platform risk realized: GPU economics forced closure within two months' notice
- - Third-party listings of its pricing and features conflict and cannot be verified against a live product
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