RunPod cold starts hit 324s median for 32B models — one team's GPU alternative comparison
Kind_Taste_3985 · reddit · 2026-10-28
A developer shares why they moved image-gen workloads off RunPod: RunPod's own writeup put 32B model cold starts at 324s median before tuning (91s after), mostly from weight loading, torch.compile, and CUDA graph capture. Network volumes tied to one datacenter also made GPU availability a bottleneck.
Their comparison:
- Vast: cheapest, but marketplace hardware and availability vary
- Lambda / CoreWeave: steadier rented capacity
- Owning a box (B3IQ): pay for the whole machine, but off-take contracts let you rent idle compute
Cold starts don't matter for bursty work; steady all-day inference is what forced the rethink.
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