The decision is made on numbers, not on hardware: a pretty rig is not a profitable one. Estimate income, costs and payback before you buy.
The income formula
Monthly income = GPUs × $/hr × 730 (hours per month) × utilization. You set the price yourself and receive it IN FULL — Vast takes no cut from the host price. The platform markup is added on top for the client: they see a price about 33% above yours (measured on a real machine: $0.21/hr for the host → $0.28/hr for the client), and it is not deducted from your income. The main lever is utilization: 30–50% for a new host, 50–70% once verified. Calculate on your own rates, without a “minus 20%”.
| GPU | Host rate $/hr | Demand |
|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 | 0.30 – 0.42 | very high |
| RTX 4090 | 0.27 – 0.45 | high |
| RTX 5080 | 0.13 – 0.15 | medium |
| RTX 3090 | 0.10 – 0.17 | declining |
Prices float with demand and spot is cheaper than on-demand — check current rates on vast.ai before buying. The table shows the catalogue median for August 2026 converted to the host price; the client sees about 33% more.
Example: a 4×RTX 4090 rig
Investment ≈ 900,000 rub (4 cards + a server platform). At your $0.35/hr and 50% utilization the income is ≈ $511/mo ≈ 47,000 rub — and you keep all of it. Minus ~4,300 rub electricity (1.95 kW × 730 h × 50% × 6 rub/kWh) and ~700 rub VPS/tunnel → ≈ 42,000 rub/mo net, payback ≈ 21 months.
| Utilization | Profit/mo | Payback |
|---|---|---|
| 30% | ~25,000 rub | ~36 mo |
| 50% | ~42,000 rub | ~21 mo |
| 70% | ~60,000 rub | ~15 mo |
| $0.50 + 70% | ~88,000 rub | ~10 mo |