Modal vs Beam vs Replicate: Best Serverless GPU in 2026

Modal, Beam, and Replicate are the three leading serverless GPU platforms in 2026. Each takes a different approach — here's which to use and why.

Pricing Comparison (March 2026)

Cold Start Performance

• Modal: 2–8 sec (A10G), 5–15 sec (A100) — fastest due to aggressive container caching
• Beam: 4–15 sec (A10G), 6–20 sec (A100) — slightly slower than Modal
• Replicate: 15–60 sec (A10G), 20–90 sec (A100) — slowest but serves community models instantly

Developer Experience

Modal has the best DX — Python-native decorators, excellent local/remote parity, clean documentation:

• Deploy a GPU function in under 10 lines of Python
• Automatic container caching via Modal Volumes
• $30/month free tier to get started

When to Choose Each

• Modal: Production inference API needing low cold starts, batch processing jobs, maximum developer flexibility, best A10G/A100 serverless price
• Beam: Similar to Modal but slightly lower hourly pricing matters, EU-compliant serverless GPU compute
• Replicate: Quickly deploy existing open-source models, APIs for non-ML teams, leverage community model hub

When Serverless Loses to Persistent Instances

• High-traffic inference at >50% GPU utilization (persistent RunPod cheaper)
• Training jobs over 24 hours (serverless function time limits apply)
• Very large model loading (slow cold starts make persistent instances better)

Verdict: Modal wins 2026 on developer experience, cold starts, and A10G/A100 pricing. Beam for slightly lower cost. Replicate for community model hosting.