Picked RunPod over AWS Lambda for my AI image processing - zero regrets

I had to choose between AWS Lambda and RunPod for handling a bunch of AI image generation jobs last month. Everyone in my dev group swore by Lambda because it's the safe choice. But I went with RunPod because it had dedicated GPU instances for way cheaper. Lambda gets crazy expensive when you have long-running jobs. My first batch of 500 images cost me $12 on RunPod versus probably $40+ on Lambda. The setup took me 2 hours and I had to tweak some Python scripts. Has anyone else tried a less popular cloud option and ended up saving money?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkerrodriguez2d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah Lambda would've wrecked your budget on those long GPU tasks, I learned that the hard way doing batch stable diffusion runs last year. RunPod's per-hour GPU pricing is just way more realistic for heavy workloads.

the_mia2d ago

Wait is that right about RunPod being cheaper for heavy workloads? I was running some A100 jobs a few months ago and RunPod's sustained pricing actually added up fast compared to Lambda's per-hour on the 80GB cards. Lambda's rates are higher per hour but I found they don't spike as bad on long runs. Maybe it depends on the GPU type though.