A100 80GB vs L40S: Which GPU Should You Choose?

A100 80GB and L40S trade larger memory and NVLink against native FP8 support; establish which constraint your job actually has.

Updated 2026-10-07 · refreshed every 12 hours

Choose A100 80GB when the workload needs its larger memory or NVLink. Choose L40S when its memory is sufficient and your software needs native FP8; compare current job costs after establishing fit.

Run a bounded test with the same model, precision, batch size and sequence length on each feasible option. Record peak memory, billed runtime and completed work; use the actual checkout rate to compare compute cost per completed job.

Does the job need more device memory, native FP8, or NVLink? Choose A100 80GB for a fitting BF16 workload that needs its larger memory or a verified NVLink configuration. Choose L40S for native FP8 only if its memory and your software both fit.

Which option meets your deadline and job budget in a representative test? Measure completion time first. The A100 80GB-to-L40S modeled cost-per-job ratio is 0.55; it uses specification-based assumptions and does not establish real runtime or a deadline.

Can the exact configuration launch under the rental terms your job needs? Confirm the GPU count, topology and availability at checkout. Use spot only after testing checkpoint recovery; if the required configuration cannot launch, reassess fit before substituting another GPU.

Today's prices

USD/hr · 1x GPU · prices grouped by provider and purchase model

Provider	A100 80GB	L40S
Vast.ai	$0.38	$0.80
Hyperstack	$1.35 · Not reported	Not offered
Jarvislabs	$1.49 · Not reported	Not offered
RunPod	$1.59	$1.09
DataCrunch	$1.85	$1.59
Crusoe	$2.00 · Not reported	$1.50 · Not reported

Where the two parts differ

Specification	A100 80GB	L40S
Memory	80 GB HBM2e	48 GB GDDR6
Memory bandwidth	2039 GB/s	864 GB/s
Dense BF16	312 TFLOPS	362 TFLOPS
Dense FP8	FP8 unsupported	733 TFLOPS
NVLink	600 GB/s	No NVLink
TDP	400 W	350 W

Prices are refreshed every 12 hours. Marlin matches your requirements across supported providers. Try Marlin →

0.47×

A100 80GB-to-L40S on-demand hourly price ratio. Below one favors the first GPU on hourly rate; above one favors the second.

0.55×

A100 80GB-to-L40S modeled cost-per-job ratio. Below one favors the first under the stated model; validate with measured runtime.

$277/mo

Continuous-use monthly baseline for one A100 80GB at its current on-demand minimum; scale the budget to your billed hours.

What your workload needs

Find your parameter count on the model's Hugging Face card. Serving maps to the inference rows, training to the fine-tuning rows. 1 listed workload is omitted because neither card has a currently eligible on-demand configuration at the required GPU count.

Workload	VRAM needed	A100 80GB	L40S	Cheapest today
7B Q4 inference	4 GB	1-GPU configuration: $0.38/hr (In stock; observed 2026-10-07; price basis: Marketplace quote)	1-GPU configuration: $0.80/hr (In stock; observed 2026-10-07; price basis: Marketplace quote)	A100 80GB: 1 GPU at $0.38/hr
13B Q4 inference	8 GB	1-GPU configuration: $0.38/hr (In stock; observed 2026-10-07; price basis: Marketplace quote)	1-GPU configuration: $0.80/hr (In stock; observed 2026-10-07; price basis: Marketplace quote)	A100 80GB: 1 GPU at $0.38/hr
70B QLoRA	46 GB	1-GPU configuration: $0.38/hr (In stock; observed 2026-10-07; price basis: Marketplace quote)	1-GPU configuration: $0.80/hr (In stock; observed 2026-10-07; price basis: Marketplace quote)	A100 80GB: 1 GPU at $0.38/hr
70B FP8 training	154 GB	unsupported	No eligible 4-GPU configuration	No currently eligible on-demand configuration for L40S 4-GPU configuration

What the numbers say

A100 80GB gives a larger single-GPU memory budget, while L40S offers native FP8 support. FP8 is a separate software-and-precision requirement: it does not make a workload fit when its total runtime memory exceeds the device capacity. Confirm both constraints before comparing prices.

A100 80GB has an on-demand minimum of $0.38/hr and L40S has an on-demand minimum of $0.80/hr. The A100 80GB-to-L40S on-demand price ratio is 0.47. When both configurations meet the same requirements, compare the current rates rather than assuming that either GPU is always cheaper. Spot listings have different interruption terms and are not the basis of that ratio.

For a BF16 job that fits either GPU, run the same model and batch on both. If the job requires native FP8, test the L40S software path; if it needs NVLink, verify an A100 configuration that exposes the required links. A GPU feature alone does not confirm the topology of a rental.

How to test the comparison

Hold the workload constant
Compare the same model, precision, batch size, sequence length and output-quality target. Changing these between GPUs changes the question being tested.
Measure the result you need
For serving, record latency and throughput at the intended concurrency. For training, record time for the same completed work. Check peak memory and failures in both cases.
Price the complete run
Multiply the full configuration's checkout rate by billed runtime. Compare storage, transfers and restart costs separately. A datasheet-based ratio is a screening model, not this measurement.

Before you rent

Data egress fees are omitted from headline GPU rates; verify them on the provider’s network pricing page before renting.

Exceeding one GPU’s VRAM forces a multi-GPU configuration, increasing the number of billed accelerators.

Interruptible spot rentals can stop mid-job, causing non-checkpointed work to restart and consume additional GPU time.

Billing granularity can make short experiments cost more than their runtime suggests; each provider’s pricing page lists the minimum charge that determines the billed amount.

Marlin matches your workload requirements to the lowest-priced suitable GPU across supported providers.

Memory fit and cost-per-job comparisons are models. Datasheet peaks do not establish application throughput; verify the listed configuration with your own workload. https://vast.ai/pricing · https://www.paperspace.com/pricing · https://datacrunch.io/pricing · https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/Data-Center/a100/pdf/nvidia-a100-datasheet-us-nvidia-1758950-r4-web.pdf · https://resources.nvidia.com/en-us-l40s/l40s-datasheet-28413 · https://www.runpod.io/pricing · https://lambda.ai/service/gpu-cloud · https://www.hyperstack.cloud/gpu-pricing · https://jarvislabs.ai/pricing

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