Understand your GPU economics
What is your break-even price?
Your break-even price per GPU-hour is your monthly power, other costs and depreciation, divided by the hours your GPUs are actually rented, adjusted for the platform's fee.
By Flash · Last updated · All amounts in USD
How the calculation works
Each month has 730 hours in this model. Divide percentages by 100 before using them. Load and idle power are entered in watts, then divided by 1,000 to convert to kilowatts. All GPUs use the same assumptions.
- Rented GPU-hours
- Number of GPUs × 730 × utilisation. Idle hours per GPU are 730 × (1 − utilisation).
- Rental revenue
- Listing price per GPU-hour × number of GPUs × 730 × utilisation.
- Platform fees
- Rental revenue × platform fee percentage.
- Power cost
- ((Rented hours per GPU × load watts) + (idle hours per GPU × idle watts)) ÷ 1,000 × number of GPUs × price per kWh.
- Monthly depreciation
- Purchase price per GPU × number of GPUs ÷ (depreciation years × 12).
- Cash profit
- Rental revenue − platform fees − power cost − other monthly costs.
- Fully loaded profit
- Cash profit − monthly depreciation.
- Break-even price per GPU-hour
- (Power cost + other monthly costs + depreciation) ÷ rented GPU-hours ÷ (1 − platform fee). It is undefined at zero utilisation or a 100% platform fee.
- Break-even utilisation
- First add the cost of keeping every GPU idle for 730 hours, other monthly costs and depreciation. Divide that by 730 × number of GPUs × (listing price after the fee − the extra power cost per rented hour). Extra power cost is (load watts − idle watts) ÷ 1,000 × price per kWh. Multiply by 100 for a percentage. Above 100% is not attainable. If extra rental hours cannot cover these costs, break-even is not reachable.
- Payback period
- Total GPU purchase price ÷ monthly cash profit, in months. There is no payback when cash profit is zero or negative and the purchase cost is positive. With no purchase cost, payback is zero months.
- Sensitivity table
- Recalculate fully loaded profit at 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% utilisation, using your listing price and prices 20% below and above it. At a zero listing price, the illustrative prices are $0, $0.01 and $0.02.
Illustrative example, not market prices
Two GPUs, one monthly estimate
Suppose you have two RTX 4090 GPUs purchased for $1,500 each, listed at $0.50 per GPU-hour and rented for 60% of the month. Assume a 20% platform fee, electricity at $0.12 per kWh, 450 W under load, 50 W idle, $20 of other monthly costs and four-year depreciation. These are illustrative inputs, not a price quote or a forecast.
- Rental revenue
- $438.00
- Platform fees
- $87.60
- Power cost
- $50.81
- Other monthly costs
- $20.00
- Cash profit
- $279.59
- Depreciation
- $62.50
- Fully loaded profit
- $217.09
- Break-even / GPU-hour
- $0.190
- Break-even utilisation
- 17.8%
- Payback
- 10.7 months
Follow the hours
Each GPU rents for 438 hours and idles for 292 hours. Together they deliver 876 rented GPU-hours. Their combined electricity use is 423.4 kWh.
Cash profit is $279.59. After $62.50 of depreciation, the monthly fully loaded profit is $217.09.
Why utilisation matters more than price
A high listing price only earns revenue when somebody rents the GPU. Depreciation and fixed costs continue through empty hours. Lower utilisation spreads those costs over fewer paid hours, raising the break-even price for every hour you do sell.
This is not a universal rule that utilisation always outweighs price. In the revenue formula, the same proportional change in price or utilisation has the same effect on revenue. Renting more hours also changes power cost. Use the sensitivity table to see whether a lower rate and more bookings would improve your own profit.
How depreciation changes your profit (3 vs 4 vs 6 years)
For an illustrative $1,500 GPU with no residual value, three years means $41.67 of monthly depreciation, four years means $31.25, and six years means $20.83. A shorter period lowers fully loaded profit and raises break-even, while cash profit and payback stay the same.
A longer period does not make the GPU last longer or guarantee demand. Choose a useful life you can justify and test the shorter scenario too. For more context, read how GPU server depreciation works.
Idle power: the hidden cost
Available does not mean powered off. At an illustrative 50 W idle draw, 292 idle hours and $0.12 per kWh, one GPU costs $1.75 in idle electricity that month. More empty hours mean more idle cost, even with no rental revenue.
These defaults cover the GPU board only. CPU, memory, disks, fans, networking, cooling and power supply losses also consume energy. Add their monthly cost to other costs, or use measured per-GPU allocated wattages. Do not count the same electricity in both fields.
GPU power defaults and sources
Load defaults use NVIDIA's rated reference board power or maximum board power for the exact variant shown. Actual draw varies by workload, power limit and card maker. Idle values are conservative illustrative planning allowances chosen for this calculator, not manufacturer claims or measured upper bounds. Edit both fields using your own readings. No preset contains a price.
| GPU | Load | Idle assumption | Rated power source |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB) | 170 W | 25 W | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB) specifications↗ |
| GeForce RTX 3090 | 350 W | 40 W | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 specifications↗ |
| GeForce RTX 4090 | 450 W | 50 W | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 specifications↗ |
| GeForce RTX 5090 | 575 W | 60 W | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 specifications↗ |
| RTX A6000 | 300 W | 40 W | NVIDIA RTX A6000 specifications↗ |
| RTX 6000 Ada Generation | 300 W | 40 W | NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation specifications↗ |
| L4 | 72 W | 20 W | NVIDIA L4 specifications↗ |
| L40S | 350 W | 50 W | NVIDIA L40S specifications↗ |
| A100 80 GB PCIe | 300 W | 60 W | NVIDIA A100 80 GB PCIe specifications↗ |
| H100 80 GB PCIe | 350 W | 70 W | NVIDIA H100 80 GB PCIe specifications↗ |
GPU rental profit questions
What is a good utilisation rate for GPU rentals?
There is no single good rate for every GPU or host. A useful target is a rate above your fully loaded break-even utilisation, with room for downtime and changing demand. Use your own rented GPU-hours divided by available GPU-hours. The 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% scenarios here are illustrative, not marketplace averages.
How do I calculate my break-even price per GPU-hour?
Add monthly power cost, other monthly costs and depreciation. Divide by rented GPU-hours, then divide by one minus the platform fee as a decimal. Rented GPU-hours equal the number of GPUs times 730 hours times utilisation as a decimal. With no rented hours, there is no finite break-even rental price.
Should I depreciate GPUs over 3 or 6 years?
Use a planning life that reflects how long you expect the GPU to earn revenue. Three years allocates its purchase cost faster and raises monthly break-even. Six years reduces the monthly charge but assumes a longer useful life. The calculator uses straight-line depreciation with no residual value. This is an economic planning estimate, not a tax depreciation schedule.
Does idle power matter?
Yes. A GPU can draw power while it is available but not rented. Idle power costs continue during those hours and raise the price needed to cover costs. Preset idle wattages are conservative planning assumptions, not measured specifications. Replace them with your own measurements and account for the rest of the server separately.
How do platform fees affect profit?
The calculator treats the platform fee as a percentage of gross rental revenue. A higher fee reduces the amount you keep from each rented hour and raises break-even. Check your platform's current fee. Add fixed charges to other monthly costs. At a 100% fee you keep no rental revenue, so no listing price can cover positive costs.
What is the difference between cash profit and fully loaded profit?
Cash profit is rental revenue less platform fees, power and other monthly costs. Fully loaded profit also deducts depreciation. Depreciation is not a monthly cash payment, but it allocates the GPU purchase cost over its planned useful life. Payback uses cash profit, so changing the depreciation period does not change payback.
Are my calculator inputs saved or sent to Flash?
No. Calculations run in your browser without an account, cookies or local storage. Share results puts your inputs in the link fragment, after the # character, which is not sent to the web server. Anyone you give that link to can see its inputs. The page emits interaction event names without calculator values and does not load an analytics collector.