Beam

What makes Beam different

Beam is a serverless GPU cloud platform specifically designed for AI/ML workloads that need to scale from zero to thousands of containers instantly. Unlike traditional cloud providers that require manual infrastructure management, Beam automatically handles container orchestration, GPU allocation, and scaling based on demand. The platform abstracts away Kubernetes complexity while providing direct access to high-performance GPUs.

The platform’s architecture is built around ephemeral compute - containers spin up in seconds when needed and shut down immediately after tasks complete, ensuring you only pay for actual compute time. This approach eliminates the need to provision and manage long-running GPU instances, making it particularly cost-effective for sporadic or burst workloads that would otherwise require expensive always-on GPU resources.

Pricing model

Beam uses a pure usage-based model where you pay only for actual compute seconds consumed. Pricing starts at $0.0001 per second for CPU workloads and varies by GPU type - H100 instances cost approximately $0.008 per second, while A100 instances run around $0.003 per second. The platform includes automatic cost optimization through intelligent container scheduling and instant shutdown of idle resources.

Unlike traditional cloud pricing that charges for entire hours or requires reserved instances, Beam’s sub-second billing means a 30-second inference job only costs for those 30 seconds. This granular pricing model can result in 70-90% cost savings compared to keeping GPU instances running continuously.

When it fits

• AI/ML inference workloads that need rapid scaling from zero to handle traffic spikes • Batch processing jobs like model training, data processing, or video rendering that run sporadically • Startups and research teams that need GPU access without upfront infrastructure investment • Applications requiring automatic deployment of machine learning models via REST APIs • Workloads that benefit from sub-second billing rather than hourly GPU instance charges

When it doesn’t

Beam isn’t suitable for workloads requiring persistent storage or long-running stateful applications. Traditional web applications or databases that need constant uptime would be better served by conventional cloud infrastructure.

Inclusion criteria

Beam meets all three inclusion criteria: transparent usage-based pricing is clearly displayed on their website, self-service signup is available without sales contact, and they maintain a public status page at status.beam.cloud showing system uptime and incident history.