Alternatives
Paperspace alternative: dedicated GPUs on flat monthly terms
Paperspace is now part of DigitalOcean, which points new users to its GPU Droplets. If your GPUs run most of the month, a dedicated server at a fixed monthly price is another option. Here is a fair comparison.
FullGPU engineering
4 min read
Choose FullGPU if…
- Your GPUs run most of the month and you want one flat price per server.
- You want whole GPUs on hardware that no other customer shares.
- You want current GPUs such as B200 or B300 on a one-month term.
- You want a written delivery date and a 99.9% SLA with service credits.
Choose Paperspace if…
- You work in notebooks or machines whose compute billing stops when powered off.
- You want per-second GPU billing, spot plans or 12-month reservations in one cloud.
- Your applications, databases and storage already run on DigitalOcean.
If you are searching for a Paperspace alternative, you have probably noticed the change: Paperspace is now part of DigitalOcean, its core products still run, and new users are encouraged to sign up through DigitalOcean instead. It is a good moment to ask what your workload actually needs. If your GPUs run most of the month, a dedicated server at a flat monthly price can be simpler than usage billing. This page compares the options as of October 2026.
Paperspace and DigitalOcean today
DigitalOcean folded the Paperspace brand into its own in 2024. According to DigitalOcean, core Paperspace products are still available, and new users are encouraged to sign up through DigitalOcean to access its GPU and AI products. For new GPU capacity, the main option there is GPU Droplets: virtual machines with one or eight GPUs, billed per second with a minimum billing period. DigitalOcean also offers 12-month reserved contracts, spot plans and contract-only Bare Metal GPUs with eight GPUs per server.
Why teams look for a Paperspace alternative
Usage billing suits notebooks and short experiments. It fits less well when a model serves traffic all day or a fine-tuning queue never empties, because the bill then tracks hours you would pay for anyway. A few details also matter at that stage:
- GPU Droplets keep billing while they are powered off, until they are destroyed.
- GPU Droplets run on shared physical hosts, and DigitalOcean notes there may be minor resource fluctuations; its single-tenant Bare Metal GPUs are sold by contract only.
- Each GPU Droplet includes an outbound transfer allowance, and additional outbound transfer is billed per GiB.
FullGPU vs Paperspace at a glance
| Criterion | FullGPU | Paperspace (DigitalOcean) |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | Flat monthly price per server, billed in advance; per-GPU-hour equivalent published | Usage-based: GPU Droplets billed per second with a minimum billing period; Paperspace machines billed by usage |
| Minimum commitment | One month; cancel any month with no fee | None on demand; 12-month contracts for reserved GPU Droplets; Bare Metal GPUs by contract |
| Hardware tenancy | Whole physical GPUs for one customer: bare-metal 8-GPU servers or a dedicated VM with the full GPU passed through; no vGPU, MIG or time-sharing | GPU Droplets are VMs with 1 or 8 GPUs on shared physical hosts; Bare Metal GPUs are single-tenant 8-GPU servers under contract |
| GPU lineup focus | B300, B200, H200, H100, MI355X, RTX PRO 6000, L40S and RTX 5090; GB300 NVL72 on request | On demand: H100, H200, L40S, RTX 4000 Ada, RTX 6000 Ada and AMD MI300X; B300, MI325X and MI350X on contract; B300, MI350X and MI355X as spot plans |
| Data transfer and egress | 20 TB/month (single-GPU) or 50 TB/month (8-GPU) included, no egress fees, fair use; inbound not counted | GPU Droplets: outbound allowance per Droplet, then billed per GiB; inbound free. Paperspace Machines: no ingress or egress charges |
| Payment methods | Visa, Mastercard, American Express; Bitcoin (on-chain and Lightning), ETH, USDT, USDC and LTC at the same USD price | Cards, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Alipay, Link, ACH for qualifying US customers, and stablecoins with limited availability |
| Support | 24/7 engineers; 99.9% monthly availability SLA with service credits | DigitalOcean: free 24/7 ticket support, with 24/7 chat on Standard and Premium plans. Paperspace: free ticket support seven days a week, Enterprise support by contract |
| Best for | Steady workloads that run most of the month: inference, long training and fine-tuning runs | Notebooks, experiments and teams already on DigitalOcean that want self-serve, usage-billed GPUs |
Paperspace and DigitalOcean details come from their public websites and documentation in October 2026 and can change, so check their current terms before you decide.
When Paperspace or DigitalOcean is the better choice
- You work mostly in notebooks and start machines only when you need them; compute billing for Paperspace machines stops when they are powered off.
- You want per-second billing, spot capacity or a 12-month reservation, managed through the DigitalOcean API or the doctl CLI.
- Your applications, databases and storage already run on DigitalOcean and you want GPUs in the same account.
Notebooks on a dedicated server
Leaving hosted notebooks does not mean giving up Jupyter. On a FullGPU server you have root over SSH, so you can run JupyterLab or a remote editor against the GPU through an SSH tunnel; see our remote development guide. The difference is that the environment persists: models, datasets and checkpoints stay on local NVMe all month, and the GPU is yours whether a notebook is open or not. Local storage is not backed up by us, so keep copies of anything you cannot recreate.
What FullGPU offers, and what it does not
Every server includes whole GPUs that no one else uses, from a single RTX 5090 or L40S to B200 and B300, plus 8-GPU NVIDIA HGX and AMD Instinct MI355X servers. The price is flat, billed monthly in advance with no setup fee, and each plan shows its per-GPU-hour equivalent on our pricing page. Bandwidth is included with no egress fees: 20 TB per month on single-GPU servers and 50 TB on 8-GPU servers, under fair use. We commit to 99.9% monthly availability with service credits, engineers answer 24/7, and you pay by card or crypto at the same USD price.
We do not offer per-second billing, spot capacity, serverless endpoints or hosted notebooks. Servers are ordered through a request handled by our team, which confirms the configuration, price, location and delivery date in writing before you pay; if we miss that date, you can cancel for a full refund. Use the VRAM calculator to pick a GPU and the GPU cost calculator to check whether monthly billing fits your hours.
Frequently asked questions
Is Paperspace still available?
According to DigitalOcean, core Paperspace products are still available, and new users are encouraged to sign up through DigitalOcean for its GPU products. Check their current terms, as the lineup keeps changing.
Can I run Jupyter notebooks on a FullGPU server?
Yes. You have root access over SSH, so you can run JupyterLab or another notebook server and reach it through an SSH tunnel. Your files stay on the server's local NVMe for the whole month.
Does FullGPU bill per second or per hour?
Neither. We bill a flat monthly price per server, in advance, with a one-month minimum and no cancellation fee. If you use a GPU only a few hours a week, usage billing will usually cost less.
Which GPUs can I rent from FullGPU?
Single-GPU plans with RTX 5090, L40S, RTX PRO 6000, H100, H200, B200 or B300, and 8-GPU servers with HGX H100, H200, B200 or B300, AMD Instinct MI355X or RTX PRO 6000. GB300 NVL72 racks are available on request.
Can I pay with crypto?
Yes. We accept Bitcoin (on-chain and Lightning), Ethereum, USDT, USDC and Litecoin, as well as Visa, Mastercard and American Express, at the same USD price and with the same invoice.
Dedicated GPUs, billed monthly
Whole GPUs from $449/mo, root access, bandwidth included. Card or crypto.
See GPUs & pricing Talk to an engineer