GPU comparison

L40S vs A100

Specifications and current cloud pricing, side by side.

Ada LovelacevsAmpereUpdated 33 days ago

The L40S wins for the most common use case of mixed precision inference and fine tuning because its 362.05 TFLOPS dense FP16 exceeds the A100 value of 312 TFLOPS dense FP16 while operating at a lower 350W TDP.

L40S from $0.97/GPU/hrA100 from $0.68/GPU/hr

Right now, from live stock

  • Cheapest right now: A100 at $0.68/hr on LeaderGPU

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  • Most providers in stock: A100 (12)

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  • Best $ per TFLOPS FP16 dense right now: A100 ($0.0022 per TFLOPS-hour at 312 TFLOPS)

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Specifications Compared

SpecL40SA100
TDP350W400W
VRAM48 GB40-80 GB
CUDA Cores18,1766,912
FP8 (dense)733 TFLOPSNot published
Memory TypeGDDR6HBM2e
ArchitectureAda LovelaceAmpere
FP16 (dense)362.05 TFLOPS312 TFLOPS
Form FactorsPCIeSXM4, PCIe
INT8 (dense)733 TOPS624 TOPS
InterconnectPCIe 4.0NVLink, PCIe 4.0, InfiniBand
Tensor Cores568432
FP32 Performance91.6 TFLOPS19.5 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance1.4 TFLOPS9.7 TFLOPS
Memory Bandwidth864 GB/s2,039 GB/s
FP8 (with sparsity)1,466 TFLOPSNot published
FP16 (with sparsity)733 TFLOPS624 TFLOPS
INT8 (with sparsity)1,466 TOPS1,248 TOPS

Performance Analysis

The L40S delivers 362.05 TFLOPS dense FP16 compared to 312 TFLOPS dense FP16 on the A100 which translates to faster matrix operations in training and inference pipelines that rely on dense precision. The A100 provides 2039 GB/s memory bandwidth versus 864 GB/s on the L40S allowing larger batch sizes in memory intensive tasks. FP32 throughput stands at 91.6 TFLOPS for the L40S against 19.5 TFLOPS for the A100 indicating stronger general compute capability on the newer card. Sparsity figures follow the same pattern with the L40S at 733 TFLOPS FP16 with sparsity versus 624 TFLOPS FP16 with sparsity on the A100.

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.

L40S

ProviderRegionGPUsPer GPU / hrInstance / hrDeploy
Massed Computeus-central-34$0.97$3.88Deploy
QuantaCloudus-midwest-21$1.09—Deploy
RunPodglobal1$1.09—Deploy
Orilille-41$1.55—Deploy
VERDAFIN-HEL1$1.77—Deploy

6 providers in stock, 19 offers (cheapest per provider shown). All L40S offers, price history and alerts

A100

ProviderRegionGPUsPer GPU / hrInstance / hrDeploy
LeaderGPUThe Netherlands8$0.68$5.42Deploy
Vast.aiCzechia, CZ1$0.73—Deploy
ThunderComputeUSA2$1.09$2.18Deploy
Massed Computeus-east-11$1.38—Deploy
QuantaCloudus-east-18$1.50$11.97Deploy

12 providers in stock, 36 offers (cheapest per provider shown). All A100 offers, price history and alerts

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When to Choose the L40S

The L40S suits environments that prioritize 91.6 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 350W TDP limits. Its 362.05 TFLOPS dense FP16 and 733 TFLOPS FP8 dense make it preferable for inference workloads that fit within 48 GB GDDR6 capacity and PCIe interconnect constraints.

When to Choose the A100

The A100 fits scenarios that demand 2039 GB/s memory bandwidth and NVLink interconnect options. Its support for up to 80 GB HBM2e VRAM enables larger models in training or inference compared to the fixed 48 GB on the L40S.

Use Cases

LLM Training
A100

The A100 supplies 2039 GB/s memory bandwidth and up to 80 GB VRAM which support larger training batches than the L40S 864 GB/s and 48 GB configuration.

LLM Inference
L40S

The L40S provides 362.05 TFLOPS dense FP16 and 733 TFLOPS FP8 dense which exceed the A100 dense FP16 figure of 312 TFLOPS.

Fine-tuning
L40S

The L40S achieves 91.6 TFLOPS FP32 and 362.05 TFLOPS dense FP16 at 350W TDP making it efficient for adaptation workloads.

Stable Diffusion
L40S

The L40S FP8 dense performance reaches 733 TFLOPS which surpasses A100 tensor capabilities in this precision.

Scientific Computing
L40S

The L40S delivers 91.6 TFLOPS FP32 compared to 19.5 TFLOPS FP32 on the A100 for general numeric workloads.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the FP16 dense performance difference between L40S and A100?▾

The L40S reaches 362.05 TFLOPS dense FP16 while the A100 reaches 312 TFLOPS dense FP16. This gap favors the L40S in dense tensor operations.

How does memory bandwidth compare on L40S versus A100?▾

The L40S provides 864 GB/s memory bandwidth whereas the A100 provides 2039 GB/s. Higher bandwidth on the A100 supports larger data movements.

Which GPU has lower power consumption L40S or A100?▾

The L40S operates at 350W TDP while the A100 operates at 400W TDP. The L40S therefore consumes less power under load.

What interconnect options exist on each GPU?▾

The L40S uses PCIe 4.0 only. The A100 supports NVLink in addition to PCIe 4.0 and InfiniBand.

Which is cheaper to rent, the L40S or the A100?▾

Cloud rental prices for both the L40S and A100 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 L40S have compared to the A100?▾

The L40S has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory. The A100 has 40 to 80 GB of HBM2e memory.

Can I find L40S and A100 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 L40S and the A100?▾

The L40S uses the Ada Lovelace architecture (2023) while the A100 uses Ampere (2020). The L40S delivers 1.2x the dense FP16 throughput (362.05 vs 312 TFLOPS, both without sparsity) while the A100 has 2.4x the memory bandwidth of the L40S.

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 L40S and the A100. 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.

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