Specifications Compared
| Spec | A16 | L40 |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 250W | 300W |
| VRAM | 16 GB | 48 GB |
| CUDA Cores | 1,280 | 18,176 |
| FP8 (dense) | Not published | 362 TFLOPS |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |
| FP16 (dense) | 17.9 TFLOPS | 181.05 TFLOPS |
| Form Factors | PCIe | PCIe |
| INT8 (dense) | 35.9 TOPS | 362 TOPS |
| Interconnect | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 |
| Tensor Cores | 40 | 568 |
| FP32 Performance | 4.5 TFLOPS | 90.5 TFLOPS |
| Memory Bandwidth | 200 GB/s | 864 GB/s |
| FP8 (with sparsity) | Not published | 724 TFLOPS |
| FP16 (with sparsity) | 35.9 TFLOPS | 362.1 TFLOPS |
| INT8 (with sparsity) | 71.8 TOPS | 724 TOPS |
Performance Analysis
The L40 FP16 dense figure of 181.05 TFLOPS exceeds the A16 FP16 dense figure of 17.9 TFLOPS by a factor of ten. The L40 FP16 with sparsity reaches 362.1 TFLOPS while the A16 FP16 with sparsity reaches 35.9 TFLOPS. This gap implies the L40 processes larger batches during inference or training steps that rely on FP16 dense operations. Memory bandwidth of 864 GB/s on the L40 versus 200 GB/s on the A16 allows the L40 to sustain higher throughput when data movement limits performance. FP32 comparison shows the L40 at 90.5 TFLOPS against the A16 at 4.5 TFLOPS. The L40 INT8 dense rating of 362 TOPS exceeds the A16 INT8 dense rating of 35.9 TOPS.
Current On-Demand Offers
Cheapest secure on-demand offer per provider that is reported in stock right now, per GPU per hour; multi-GPU instances show the whole-instance price alongside. Deploy opens the DeployGPU console for providers on the platform, otherwise the provider's own site. Stock is rechecked every minute.
A16
A16 is not offered on-demand by any provider we track right now. See the A16 rental page for last-seen listed prices and a price alert.
L40
| Provider | Region | GPUs | Per GPU / hr | Instance / hr | Deploy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ThunderCompute | USA | 1 | $0.79 | — | Deploy |
| Massed Compute | us-central-2 | 1 | $0.86 | — | Deploy |
| QuantaCloud | us-midwest-2 | 4 | $0.94 | $3.75 | Deploy |
| Hyperstack | CANADA-1 | 2 | $1.00 | $2.00 | Deploy |
4 providers in stock, 17 offers (cheapest per provider shown). All L40 offers, price history and alerts
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When to Choose the A16
The A16 suits inference tasks that fit within 16 GB VRAM and operate at lower power draw of 250W. Workloads that require only 17.9 TFLOPS FP16 dense or 4.5 TFLOPS FP32 benefit from the A16 without excess capacity. Scenarios with modest batch sizes avoid the need for the L40 higher bandwidth of 864 GB/s.
When to Choose the L40
The L40 fits training or inference that demands 48 GB VRAM and 181.05 TFLOPS FP16 dense performance. Applications that scale with 362.1 TFLOPS FP16 with sparsity or 90.5 TFLOPS FP32 gain from the L40 specifications. Higher memory bandwidth of 864 GB/s supports larger models that exceed A16 limits.
Use Cases
The L40 supplies 90.5 TFLOPS FP32 and 48 GB VRAM that exceed A16 values for model scale.
The L40 FP16 dense performance of 181.05 TFLOPS supports higher throughput than the A16 17.9 TFLOPS.
The L40 362.1 TFLOPS FP16 with sparsity and 864 GB/s bandwidth enable efficient updates beyond A16 capacity.
The L40 48 GB VRAM and 362 TFLOPS FP8 dense rating accommodate larger diffusion workloads than the A16.
The L40 90.5 TFLOPS FP32 delivers greater compute than the A16 4.5 TFLOPS for simulation tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the FP16 dense performance difference between A16 and L40?▾
The A16 lists 17.9 TFLOPS FP16 dense while the L40 lists 181.05 TFLOPS FP16 dense. This difference affects inference speed on compatible models.
Which GPU offers higher memory bandwidth?▾
The L40 reaches 864 GB/s while the A16 reaches 200 GB/s. Bandwidth influences achievable batch sizes during training.
What are the TDP values for the A16 and L40?▾
The A16 TDP is 250W and the L40 TDP is 300W. Power limits influence deployment density in data centers.
Do the A16 and L40 share the same interconnect?▾
Both GPUs use PCIe 4.0. Data transfer rates between host and device remain equivalent on this interface.
How do INT8 dense ratings differ?▾
The A16 provides 35.9 TOPS INT8 dense and the L40 provides 362 TOPS INT8 dense. Quantized inference benefits from the higher L40 rating.
Which is cheaper to rent, the A16 or the L40?▾
Cloud rental prices for both the A16 and L40 vary by provider, configuration, and availability. This page shows live pricing from 25+ providers updated every 60 seconds. Scroll to the Live Cloud Pricing section to compare current rates.
How much VRAM does the A16 have compared to the L40?▾
The A16 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The L40 has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory.
Can I find A16 and L40 GPUs available to rent right now?▾
Yes. This page shows real-time availability across 25+ cloud GPU providers. The Live Cloud Pricing section displays only in-stock offers with current pricing.
What is the main difference between the A16 and the L40?▾
The A16 uses the Ampere architecture (2021) while the L40 uses Ada Lovelace (2023). The L40 delivers 10.1x the dense FP16 throughput (181.05 vs 17.9 TFLOPS, both without sparsity) and 4.3x the memory bandwidth of the A16.
Rent these GPUs
Each GPU page lists every current on-demand offer by provider, per GPU-hour, updated every minute.
Related comparisons
How this page is made
- Specifications come from the NVIDIA, AMD and Intel datasheets for the A16 and the L40. Dense and sparse throughput are listed separately.
- Prices and availability are live: every offer shown is an in-stock, on-demand listing from a provider we track, rechecked every minute.
- The written comparison (overview, performance notes, when to choose each card, verdict, use cases and FAQ) was drafted with an AI model from the specification table above and passed an automated check that rejects any figure not in that table. It was last generated on . It contains no prices; those are always read live.
- Read how we collect the data, or report an error on this page.
Next steps
- Rent A16Every current offer by provider, daily price history and a price alert.
- Rent L40Every current offer by provider, daily price history and a price alert.
- GPU price indexHow on-demand prices for the major GPUs have moved, updated daily.
- All GPUsEvery GPU we track, with current lows and provider counts.