Modal
Modal is a serverless cloud for AI workloads: run inference, batch jobs, fine-tuning, sandboxes and GPU notebooks from Python code, billed per second.
About this tool
Modal provides cloud compute for building, training and deploying AI applications. Instead of configuration files, everything is defined in Python: you decorate a function, specify its container image and GPU type, and Modal runs it in the cloud, scaling the number of containers up and down with demand. Billing is per second of actual compute, so idle capacity is not charged.
Typical workloads include low-latency inference for open-weight or custom models, massively parallel batch jobs, fine-tuning and reinforcement learning runs across one or many GPUs, and secure sandboxes for executing AI-generated code at scale. GPU-backed notebooks support collaborative experimentation. Modal also offers OpenAI-compatible endpoints for popular open models.
What you can do
Infrastructure as Python
Containers, dependencies and GPU types are declared in code, without separate configuration files.
Serverless autoscaling
Functions scale out automatically with traffic and back down when idle, billed per second.
Sandboxes
Create large numbers of isolated sandboxes to run code generated by AI agents safely.
Training and fine-tuning
Run supervised fine-tuning, LoRA or reinforcement learning jobs on modern NVIDIA GPUs.
Who is it for?
- A startup serves an open-weight model behind an autoscaling inference endpoint.
- A research team runs thousands of parallel evaluation jobs overnight.
- A coding-agent company executes generated code inside isolated sandboxes.
Before you choose
GPU access requires a payment method on file, even when using the monthly free credits.
Per-second GPU billing is efficient for bursty workloads, but steady 24-hour usage may cost more than reserved capacity; check the rates before committing.
Frequently asked questions
Does Modal have a free tier?
Yes. The Starter plan includes $30 of free compute credits each month, and Team plans include $100 per month.
Which GPUs does Modal offer?
Modal lists NVIDIA GPUs ranging from T4 and L4 up to A100, H100, H200, B200 and B300, each billed per second of use.
Do I need Docker or Kubernetes knowledge?
No. Modal defines container environments and hardware in Python code and handles the underlying infrastructure for you.
Check the official website for current features, pricing, and terms.
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