Best decentralised compute in 2026

Decentralised Compute evaluated across fetchable price per gpu-hour, verified vs self-reported supply, published utilisation and live availability, and recourse when a provider vanishes mid-job.

Akash Network

#1 of 7 · published ranking

Akash Network

79ChainChoice Score

Why it leads

Best in the pool on dc supply verification and dc utilisation disclosure

Cost

Not priced · No comparable price is published

7 compared Ranking-blind · 392 modules checked 2026-09-18Scored under methodology v2026.09.15 (2026-09-16)

Filter decentralised compute7 in the published ranking

Filters change eligibility, not methodology. A requirement can rule a provider out; nothing here changes the order the published criteria produce.

Your setup

Your location

Pick a country to see which decentralised compute serve it. Nothing is hidden — any that does not is listed with that reason.

Cost

Dc price transparency

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Trust & control

Dc supply verification

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Dc utilisation disclosure

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Dc failure recourse

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Whatever misses a requirement is listed under Excluded with the reason — nothing is hidden.

7 results

7decentralised compute · sorted by chainchoice score

ranked before any payout data is seen

#1 overallcomputed before any payout data is seenOverall

Akash Network

Cosmos-based compute marketplace; live GPU prices and inventory via public API

Leads the pool on Published Utilisation and Live Availability

79ChainChoice Score · first of 7

Catalog strengths

Published Utilisation and Live AvailabilityFetchable Price Per GPU-Hour

Why it leads

Best in the pool on dc supply verification and dc utilisation disclosure
4 points ahead of Nosana: +2.5 pts dc utilisation disclosure, +1.9 pts dc supply verification
Provider states broad availability

Evidence

4/4

criteria scored · no receipt file

Margin

+4

over Nosana, ranked #02

Rank stability

Firm

#1 holds when every published criterion is moved ±1

Tradeoff

−1

Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour — behind this pool's best

Jurisdiction

Global

no restricted market on record

Score breakdowntick = pool best

Dc price transparency7/10

Dc supply verification7/10

Dc utilisation disclosure9/10

Dc failure recourse3/10

Ranking-blind · a guided run tailors this to your size, custody & jurisdiction

#ProviderScoreEvidenceKey strengths

2−4

Nosana

no receipt file

Fetchable Price Per GPU-HourPublished Utilisation and Live Availability

3−13

io.net

no receipt file

Fetchable Price Per GPU-HourVerified vs Self-Reported Supply

4−3

Fluence

no receipt file

Fetchable Price Per GPU-HourVerified vs Self-Reported Supply

5−4

Aethir

no receipt file

Fetchable Price Per GPU-HourRecourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-Job

6−2

Golem Network

no receipt file

Verified vs Self-Reported SupplyPublished Utilisation and Live Availability

7−3

Render Network

no receipt file

Recourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-JobFetchable Price Per GPU-Hour

Ranking-blind — order computed before any payout data is joined

Below the table

How this ranking works

Everything the table draws on continues here: how firm the #1 is, the per-criterion arithmetic behind each score, who pays ChainChoice, and the full guide to choosing.

Direct answer

What is the best decentralised compute in 2026?

Akash Network ranks #1 overall for decentralised compute on ChainChoice. Cosmos-based compute marketplace; live GPU prices and inventory via public API. It holds that rank under an affiliate-blind methodology scored across 4 published, weighted criteria — the code that ranks providers physically cannot read affiliate payouts (CI-enforced), so a payout can't move a rank. The verdict re-computes on every fee change, incident, or regulatory action; full reasoning and the audit receipt are below.

Best picks

Best decentralised compute in 2026

The best compute network depends on whether you can get a price at all. Start with the two things this page scores hardest: can you fetch a price per GPU-hour without a sales call, and is the advertised supply verified or self-reported. Utilisation matters next — a large fleet sitting mostly idle can still be unavailable in the GPU class you need — and last, what recourse you have when a provider vanishes mid-job, which is the failure this market actually produces.

Best overall

Akash Network

Cosmos-based compute marketplace; live GPU prices and inventory via public API

Data checked Sep 2026

Cosmos-based compute marketplace; live GPU prices and inventory via public API. Strongest on published utilisation and live availability (9/10): console-api.akash.network/v1/gpu publishes live allocated-versus-allocatable counts network-wide and per GPU model (h100 53 of 69, a100 155 of 206 at 19:31 UTC on 15 Sep 2026), and /v1/gpu-prices adds available/total per model, with no key or login. Weakest on recourse when a provider vanishes mid-job (3/10): Akash's own core-concepts docs define a provider-terminated lease as 'Provider closed it', a permanent end state, with unused escrow returned to you; there is no SLA or credit.

Best for: Published Utilisation and Live Availability — 9/10

Why this score4 published criteria · leads 2 of 4

Published criterionWtScore, and the best hereGap/10Pts

Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour7.2−176.7

Verified vs Self-Reported Supply7.2·76.7

Published Utilisation and Live Availability4.8·95.8

Recourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-Job4.8−131.9

Σ methodology points21.1/32

Each bar is the score on that criterion’s own 0–10 scale, never rescaled to the pool. The dark line is the best any product here reached on that axis. Wt is the most the criterion can add to the 86-point weighted total. Pts is weight × score × 32; the sum is the methodology score, and each weighted point behind the leader costs 2.6 on the displayed score. how these are weighted

Why it ranks first

Why Akash Network leads this category right now

Best for

Published Utilisation and Live Availability — 9/10

Main tradeoff

The entire network was 426 GPUs at the 15 September 2026 read, and H100 capacity is 69 cards held by four providers. One operator withdrawing is a double-digit-percent capacity event, and there is no reservation or queue mechanism to protect an in-flight workload. Rates are bands of provider bids (h100 $2.04–$3.16/hr), not one firm rate.

Verify before signup

Live from Akash's own console API (fetched 15 Sep 2026, 19:31 UTC): h100 80Gi SXM5 — min $2.04, max $3.16, avg $2.58, med $2.55/hr, 4 providers, 69 cards / 15 available; a100 80Gi SXM4 — min $1.07, max $1.91, avg $1.70, med $1.84/hr, 7 providers, 206 cards / 50 available; h200 141Gi SXM5 — $4.44/hr flat, 2 providers, 40 cards / 16 available; rtx4090 24Gi — $0.28–$0.77/hr (med $0.34); rtx5090 32Gi — $0.57–$0.71/hr; gtx1050 2Gi — $0.05/hr. 26 NVIDIA models listed in USD and uakt, 4 of them with no price. Network-wide 426 GPUs / 140 available (~67% leased). Figures are live and move between fetches; quote them with the timestamp.

Recommendation summary

What should decide this category

How long does a single job run, and can it restart if a provider drops out?

Do you need a specific GPU class, and is it actually available today?

What recourse do you have if a supplier vanishes mid-job?

Quick picks

Strong options in this category

Start with the lead choice first, then use the shortlist only if you still need a challenger or stronger fit for a specific setup.

Best overall

Akash Network

Cosmos-based compute marketplace; live GPU prices and inventory via public API

Best for: Published Utilisation and Live Availability — 9/10

Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour · 30%

7/10

Verified vs Self-Reported Supply · 30%

7/10

Published Utilisation and Live Availability · 20%

9/10

Recourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-Job · 20%

3/10

Quick pick

Nosana

Solana GPU marketplace publishing per-model prices and live host availability

Solana GPU marketplace publishing per-model prices and live host availability. Strongest on fetchable price per gpu-hour (8/10): Firm per-model USD-per-hour rates on the public homepage with no login and no range-hedging: 4090 at $0.320/h, 5090 at $0.400/h, 3090 at $0.192/h. Rates are single values, not bands like the '$1.80-2.50/hr' in io.net's pricing guide. Weakest on recourse when a provider vanishes mid-job (2/10): No uptime percentage, service-credit schedule, or job-failure policy appears on the pricing or GPU-workloads pages. The marketplace is host-to-renter, so the counterparty is the individual node operator; nothing on the site commits Nosana to a remedy.

Best for: Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour — 8/10

Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour · 30%

8/10

Verified vs Self-Reported Supply · 30%

6/10

Published Utilisation and Live Availability · 20%

7/10

Recourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-Job · 20%

2/10

Quick pick

io.net

Solana GPU aggregator; public explorer shows per-model counts, hired vs idle and prices

Solana GPU aggregator; public explorer shows per-model counts, hired vs idle and prices. Strongest on fetchable price per gpu-hour (5/10): The public explorer lists firm USD rates per deployment type without a login (H100 80GB HBM3 at $1.19/hr Ray, $2.09/hr Container, $1.79/hr Baremetal, $1.99/hr VM), but io.net's own pages give three different H100 floors: $1.19 on the explorer and the /cloud widget, $1.80-2.50 in the pricing guide and $2.19 on the homepage. Weakest on recourse when a provider vanishes mid-job (2/10): The terms state 'Your sole remedy for dissatisfaction with the services is to stop using the services.', carry '4.3 No Refunds.' and provide the services on an 'as-is' and 'as-available' basis. The slashing clause acts on suppliers' rewards, and nothing flows to the renter. Published price: io.net's own pricing guide (fetched 15 Sep 2026; table dated 'February 2026'): H100 80GB '$1.80-2.50/hr' (auction, per-minute billing); A100 80GB '$0.80-1.40/hr'; RTX 4090 '$0.20-0.35/hr'; L40S '$0.90-1.30/hr'; AWS $6.88/hr, Azure $6.98/hr, GCP $5.62/hr for H100; '55-70% savings over hyperscalers'.

Best for: Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour — 5/10

Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour · 30%

5/10

Verified vs Self-Reported Supply · 30%

4/10

Published Utilisation and Live Availability · 20%

4/10

Recourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-Job · 20%

2/10

Quick pick

Fluence

CPU cloud that added GPU containers October 2025; publishes named comparisons

CPU cloud that added GPU containers October 2025; publishes named comparisons. Strongest on fetchable price per gpu-hour (5/10): One on-demand GPU model has a firm public rate: H200 at $2.80/hr on fluence.ai and /gpu-cloud, set against CoreWeave $6.30, AWS Cloud $7.90 and Google Cloud $10.84. Three more models (B300, B200, H100) show reserved-marketplace entry rates on auctions.fluence.network, and every other on-demand rate sits behind the signed-in console; the documented plans endpoint returns 401. Weakest on published utilisation and live availability (2/10): The reserved-capacity marketplace at auctions.fluence.network shows per-model listed availability before sign-up, but every region reads available equal to total ('6,212 /6,212 GPUS AVAILABLE'), so no leased share is disclosed; on-demand availability sits in the signed-in console. Published price: Homepage, now at fluence.ai (fetched 15 Sep 2026): NVIDIA H200 — 'Fluence $2.80/hr' against 'CoreWeave $6.30/hr', 'AWS Cloud $7.90/hr' and 'Google Cloud $10.84/hr' (the /gpu-cloud page shows the same four figures).

Best for: Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour — 5/10

Fetchable Price Per GPU-Hour · 30%

5/10

Verified vs Self-Reported Supply · 30%

3/10

Published Utilisation and Live Availability · 20%

2/10

Recourse When a Provider Vanishes Mid-Job · 20%

3/10

Frequently asked

Questions people ask before choosing compute

Why are advertised node counts not scored?

Because they are self-reported, and this category has a documented history of inflated supply. What is scored is the number the network's own API returns today, against the price you can fetch for it.

Is idle capacity the same as available capacity?

No. A large fleet sitting mostly idle can still be unavailable in the GPU class you need, which is why published utilisation is scored separately from raw supply.

What happens when a permissionless supplier disappears?

That is the criterion. A permissionless marketplace has no SLA behind an individual supplier, so what matters is whether the network re-schedules your job, refunds you, or leaves you to notice.

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How this ranking is built

Reviewed on a fetchable price per GPU-hour, supply verified against the network's own API, published utilisation, and recourse when a provider vanishes mid-job.

Data checked Sep 2026 · Independent rankings · We show our work

Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research