Baseten vs Modal Pricing (2026)

Which one is cheaper?

One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.

Can I use either one for free?

Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.

How do they charge?

Both use a usage-based model, so the comparison is straightforward — it comes down to features and limits at each price point.

Which one is a better deal?

Depends on what you need. Baseten: Landing on custom quotes for anything beyond entry-level puts Baseten in the mid-to-premium bracket, competing for teams with real production ML workloads rather than hobbyists. They're not trying to win on sticker price — they're betting that volume discounts and dedicated deals close bigger accounts than a public price list would. Modal: Modal isn't competing on sticker price — it's positioned as infrastructure for serious ML/GPU workloads, so the real comparison is against running your own Kubernetes/GPU cluster or paying cloud providers directly, not against cheap PaaS tools. The surcharge structure signals they're chasing teams who value developer experience and fast iteration over teams hunting for the rock-bottom compute rate.

Still deciding? See the best Baseten alternatives or the best Modal alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.