Rent GPUs by the hour: Spot and On-demand

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Spot or On-demand

• Spot VMs are interruptible: a reservation that starts on the node ends the VM.
• On-demand VMs are never interrupted by reservations. They run until you stop them, the seller stops them, or the listing ends. Only nodes with no reservation before the listing ends offer On-demand, so it can be scarcer or cost more.

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Choose a location

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Buy at the market price

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Your spot VMs

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Paying for spot hours

1. Ornn credits pay first.
2. Your saved card pays whatever credits do not cover.

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How spot ends

• You stop it. Click Stop VM on the reservation in Nodes. Its VMs shut down and its GPUs go back on the book.
• You cancel during startup. The cancellation remains in effect while setup finishes. Any resulting VMs are stopped, and the GPUs return to the book after cleanup.
• The seller ends it. The seller can withdraw the listing, but not while your VM runs with a preemption notice; they take its node back instead.
• The seller takes the node back. The seller can preempt the node your VM runs on. The node stops selling at once, and your VM keeps running until its preemption notice has passed, then it stops.
• A reservation needs its GPUs (Spot only). Reserved windows always take priority over Spot. When a buyer’s reserved window starts and needs GPUs your Spot VMs are using, the Spot reservation ends. On-demand VMs are never ended this way.
• The listed capacity ends.
• The VMs cannot start. If provisioning fails or the VMs are not ready before the first prepaid hour ends, the run ends and unused prepayment returns as Ornn credits.
• An hour cannot be paid. If your card is declined for any hour, including the first, the spot run ends: its VMs are stopped and the GPUs return to the book. Update your card in Billing before you buy again.

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Preemption notice

• Every member of your organization gets an email with the time the VM stops.
• The VM’s serial console shows a line starting with [ORNN-PREEMPT], for example:
  [ORNN-PREEMPT] This VM will be stopped at 2026-10-21T05:00:00Z.
  

• Serial console log. Open the reservation in Nodes and select the Serial console log.
• System journal. Run journalctl -t ornn -f.
• Logged-in terminals. The line is broadcast to open SSH sessions.
• Machine-readable file. /run/ornn/preemption.json holds the stop time:
  {
    "kind": "preemption",
    "noticeId": "…",
    "stopAt": "2026-10-21T05:00:00Z",
    "message": "[ORNN-PREEMPT] This VM will be stopped at 2026-10-21T05:00:00Z."
  }
  

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Use the API

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1. Read the book and quote a bid

ornn market books --sale-type spot
ornn market book --gpu-slug nvidia_h100_sxm --region us-east-11
ornn market quote --gpu-slug nvidia_h100_sxm --nodes 2

export ORNN_API_URL="https://api.ornn.com"

curl --fail-with-body "$ORNN_API_URL/v1/markets/books?saleType=spot" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORNN_API_KEY"

curl --fail-with-body \
  "$ORNN_API_URL/v1/markets/books/nvidia_h100_sxm/quote?nodes=2&orderType=market&saleType=spot" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORNN_API_KEY"

import os
import requests

API = "https://api.ornn.com"
http = requests.Session()
http.headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {os.environ['ORNN_API_KEY']}"

books = http.get(f"{API}/v1/markets/books", timeout=30)
books.raise_for_status()
print(books.json()["orderBooks"])

quote = http.get(f"{API}/v1/markets/books/nvidia_h100_sxm/quote",
                 params={"nodes": 2, "orderType": "market"},
                 timeout=30)
quote.raise_for_status()
for node in quote.json()["nodes"]:
    print(node["pricePerGpuHourMicroUsd"], node["gpus"], node["interruptsAt"])

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2. Place a bid

ornn market bid --gpu-slug nvidia_h100_sxm --nodes 2 --sale-type on-demand --region us-east-11 \
  --idempotency-key <key> --yes --format json

export BID_KEY="$(uuidgen)"

curl --fail-with-body -X POST "$ORNN_API_URL/v1/markets/orders" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORNN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $BID_KEY" \
  --data '{"gpuSlug": "nvidia_h100_sxm", "saleType": "on-demand", "region": "us-east-11", "nodes": 2, "orderType": "market"}'

import uuid

bid_key = str(uuid.uuid4())  # reuse only to retry this exact bid
response = http.post(
    f"{API}/v1/markets/orders",
    headers={"Idempotency-Key": bid_key},
    json={"gpuSlug": "nvidia_h100_sxm", "nodes": 2, "orderType": "market"},
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
order = response.json()["order"]
print(order["orderId"], order["status"], order["fillIds"])

• filled: the bid bought everything it asked for.
• resting: a limit bid is waiting on the book for the rest; its fills so far are running.
• cancelled: the rest of the bid was withdrawn. A market bid cancels whatever was not for sale (cancelReason: unfilled_market_order); what it bought keeps running, and nothing is charged for the rest.

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3. Follow the fills

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4. Cancel a bid or stop VMs

ornn market cancel --order-id <order-id> --yes
ornn market end --fill-id <fill-id> --yes

curl --fail-with-body -X DELETE "$ORNN_API_URL/v1/markets/orders/<order-id>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORNN_API_KEY"

curl --fail-with-body -X POST "$ORNN_API_URL/commerce/reservations/<fill-id>/stop" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORNN_API_KEY"

response = http.delete(f"{API}/v1/markets/orders/{order['orderId']}", timeout=30)
response.raise_for_status()
print(response.json()["order"]["status"])

for fill_id in order["fillIds"]:
    response = http.post(f"{API}/commerce/reservations/{fill_id}/stop", timeout=30)
    response.raise_for_status()
    print(response.json()["endsAt"], response.json()["pendingOperation"])

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What’s next

Relist capacity

Sell time on your reservation at your own asking price.

Billing and payment

Save a card and see how spot hours and reservations are billed.