/payg route) rents single-node VMs by the hour. You choose 1, 2, 4, or 8 GPUs per VM, the VM runs until something ends it, and you prepay each hour as you go.
Spot capacity is the idle time on capacity that other customers and suppliers relisted. Every signed-in organization can use Spot; you do not need reservation approval.
Buy at the market price
Choose a GPU type and 1 GPU, 2 GPUs, 4 GPUs, or 8 GPUs. Each purchase is one VM on one node. Your order takes the lowest available asking price that can fill that VM. Capacity belonging to your organization and asks without room for a whole VM are skipped. Some capacity is sold only as 8-GPU VMs, so smaller sizes can be unavailable. A 2- or 4-GPU VM also needs a matching group of GPUs free on one node, so a node with four free GPUs split between other VMs may not take a 4-GPU VM. The hourly price is the VM’s matched rate, including Ornn’s fees. No fee is added on top.1
Choose your capacity
Select a GPU type and choose 1 GPU, 2 GPUs, 4 GPUs, or 8 GPUs. The largest available size is selected initially for each GPU type. A size with no VM available is disabled. Availability updates automatically and is checked again before submission; these updates preserve your selected size.
2
Choose a VM boot disk
The VM boots the disk you choose. Quick Start lists ready-made Ornn disks; Your disks lists the disks your organization created or uploaded on Disks. Disk choices show their base image and its OS logo in its brand color when identified. Unrecognized or missing OS metadata uses a generic disk icon. If Your disks is empty, click Create a disk to open the creation modal without leaving the form. Your new disk is selected when you finish. The form starts on your organization’s newest disk, or the newest Ornn disk if your organization has none. A disk that has not been built yet is built when the VM first launches, which can take up to several minutes; a note under the disk choices says so before you buy.
3
Review the price
The form shows the hourly rate and First charge for the first hour. The first-hour charge is rounded. There is no fixed lifetime total; each later hour is prepaid separately.Estimated time until interrupted shows when the VM is scheduled to end, or no scheduled end. A future reservation or removal of the listing can interrupt your VM sooner.
4
Review payment and buy
Click Buy now to open payment details. Your Ornn credits are used first, then your saved card. Add a card inline if your credits do not cover the first hour, or use Change to replace a saved card. The summary shows your machine image, estimated hourly charge, credits applied, and the remaining amount billed in the first hour. Click Checkout to submit.Checkout stays disabled while availability or payment details cannot be confirmed. If the price increases or capacity changes before submission, review the updated order before continuing. Unfilled market orders are cancelled.
Your spot VM
A filled bid is a spot reservation in Nodes, listed with your other reservations. Its reservation detail page shows the VM’s startup progress until it is ready. Manage it there like any VM: SSH keys, connection details, and the disk it boots. Each spot VM is an isolated VM on one node. A VM that uses every GPU on its node has the node to itself. A smaller VM gets its GPUs and a matching share of the node’s CPUs, memory, and disk; other customers’ VMs can use the node’s other GPUs. Disk capacity is based on the filesystem used to store VM disks, which may be separate from the host OS disk. Each VM starts from the disk chosen at purchase. A created disk that has not been built yet is built on that first launch, which takes longer.Paying for spot hours
Each hour is prepaid when it starts. Billing uses the hourly rate agreed for your reservation; later changes to the listing’s advertised price do not change that rate. Reservation details and usage reports use that agreed rate too. Listing changes also leave existing reservations’ agreed terms unchanged.- Ornn credits pay first.
- Your saved card pays whatever credits do not cover.
How spot ends
A running spot reservation has no end date. Once it stops, its end date records when it ended. A spot VM runs until one of these happens:- You stop it. Click Stop VM on the reservation in Nodes. The VM shuts down and its GPUs go back on the book.
- You cancel during startup. The cancellation remains in effect while setup finishes. Any resulting VM is stopped, and its GPUs return to the book after cleanup.
- The seller ends it. Whoever relisted the node can stop its Spot VM or delist the listing. Delisting stops running Spot VMs.
- A reservation starts on the node. Reserved windows always take priority over spot. When a buyer’s reserved window on that node begins, the spot VM ends.
- The relisted capacity ends.
- The VM cannot start. If provisioning fails or the VM is not ready before its 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: a running VM is stopped and its GPUs return to the book. Update your card in Billing before you buy again.
Use the API
You can bid on Spot with an API key, the Ornn CLI, or the MCP server instead of the console. Every member of your organization can bid; approval is not required. Prices are integer micro-USD per GPU-hour:2500000 is $2.50. They are the same prices the Spot page shows, and a bid’s price is the most you pay. The Spot API reference lists every field and error.
The API cannot save a card. A bid is not refused when no card is saved, but an unpaid first hour blocks VM startup. Save a card in Billing before bidding unless your Ornn credits cover the hours. Check for a saved card through the API: the response is {"saved": true} when one is saved.
1. Read the book and quote a bid
gpuSlug names the GPU type. The quote places nothing. It returns one fill per bid that would fill now, with the price you would pay and interruptsAt, the next scheduled end on that node: a sold reservation (reservation) or the end of the relisted capacity (listing_end). Fewer fills than bids means the rest would wait (limit) or be cancelled (market). The quote has no CLI command.
2. Place bids
One bid buys one VM on one node withgpus of 1, 2, 4, or 8. Other sizes are refused with invalid_gpus. To run several VMs, place one bid per VM. A limit bid fills at the lowest ask at or below your price, or waits on the book. Trades execute at the resting order’s price: a new bid pays the existing ask; a new ask crossing your waiting bid fills at your bid price. For example, a $2/GPU-hour ask crossing an existing $2.50/GPU-hour bid executes at $2.50/GPU-hour, including fees. That matched rate is saved on your reservation. A market bid fills now or is cancelled. Some capacity is sold only as 8-GPU VMs, so a smaller bid can wait or be cancelled while an 8-GPU bid fills.
Every bid needs an Idempotency-Key header. Use a new key for each bid and keep it: if the response is lost, send the same request with the same key to get the original order back instead of placing a second bid. The CLI generates a key for you unless you pass --idempotency-key.
201; a retry with the same key returns 200 and the original order. Check order.status:
running: the bid filled. ItsorderIdis also its spot reservation ID.resting: a limit bid is waiting on the book.cancelled: a market bid found nothing to fill (cancelReason: unfilled_market_order). Nothing is charged.
3. Follow the fill
Poll Get a Spot order or List your Spot orders until a resting bid isrunning. Then read the spot reservation with Get a reservation, using the orderId. The reservation can take a moment to appear. While it runs, its endsAt is null. A fill does not mean the VM is ready: follow startup and connect as described in VM access.
4. Cancel a bid or stop a VM
status: cancelled. Cancelling a running bid ends the spot reservation and stops its VM: status: ended with endReason: stopped_by_buyer. When a run ends for another reason, endReason says why: preempted_by_reservation, listing_ended, stopped_by_seller, payment_failed, or provisioning_failed.
Stopping a running bid also works while its VM is still provisioning. The order’s ended status acknowledges the stop request; VM cleanup completes asynchronously.
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.