H100 SXM5 or A100 SXM4?
Both are dedicated, both are monthly, both open without an identity check. What separates them is memory, bandwidth and $1,666 a month — and which of those matters depends entirely on what you intend to run.
- $6,061/moH100 SXM5, one card
- $4,395/moA100 SXM4, one card
- 80 vs 80 GBmemory per card
- 1.6×bandwidth gap
The short answer
Which one, and when
- Pick the H100 SXM5
- when throughput matters. Same 80 GB, but 64% more memory bandwidth — which is what sets generation speed — for $1,666/month more.
- Pick the A100 SXM4
- when the H100 SXM5 offers you nothing you need. Same memory, comparable bandwidth, $1,666/month cheaper.
- Neither, if
- your model does not fit on a single card of either. Sharding costs synchronisation at every layer — see the interconnect guide before buying a multi-GPU node.
Side by side
| H100 SXM5 | A100 SXM4 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Hopper | Ampere | Hopper is a different generation |
| Memory per card | 80 GB HBM3 | 80 GB HBM2e | Identical |
| Memory bandwidth | 3,350 GB/s | 2,039 GB/s | 1.64× in favour of the H100 SXM5 |
| Form factor | SXM on an HGX board | SXM on an HGX board | Same |
| Node sizes | 4×, 8× | 4×, 8× | Up to 640 GB in one node |
| From, per month | $6,061 | $4,395 | $1,666/month apart |
Price at every node size
| Node | H100 SXM5 | A100 SXM4 | Total VRAM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 × GPU | $6,061/mo | $4,395/mo | 320 GB / 320 GB | H100 SXM5 A100 SXM4 |
| 8 × GPU | $11,509/mo | $8,355/mo | 640 GB / 640 GB | H100 SXM5 A100 SXM4 |
What each one holds on a single card
At 8k context, best precision that fits. This is the difference that decides a purchase — not the specification sheet.
Only the H100 SXM5
Nothing. Every model the H100 SXM5 holds on one card, the A100 SXM4 holds too — the difference between them is speed, not capability.
Only the A100 SXM4
Nothing. The H100 SXM5 holds everything the A100 SXM4 does.
Cost per GB and per TB/s
Two ratios that cut through the specification sheet. The first tells you what memory costs; the second what speed costs.
| Card | $/GB of VRAM, per month | $/TB per second, per month | Better at |
|---|---|---|---|
| H100 SXM5 | $75.76 | $1,809 | Bandwidth |
| A100 SXM4 | $54.94 | $2,155 | Memory |
These ratios rank cards; they do not choose one. A card that is cheaper per gigabyte is worthless if it has too few gigabytes to hold your model at all — capacity is a threshold, not a slope. Use them to break a tie between two cards that both fit.
H100 SXM5 against A100 SXM4, in short
Is the H100 SXM5 worth the extra money over the A100 SXM4?
Which one is faster for LLM inference?
Do both come as multi-GPU nodes?
Can I rent either without an identity check?
Other comparisons
Both are racked and waiting, in all 6 data centres.
Whichever you pick, it is monthly, paid in crypto, opened without an identity check and delivered in under 5 minutes.