Comparison
Cumulus vs Modal
Both platforms offer serverless GPU inference. Here's how they compare on the metrics that matter.
Performance
Cold Start Performance
Cumulus
12.5s
12.5s
Modal
60s
60s
4.2x Faster
Tested with Flux 2 Schnell diffusion model. Cumulus achieves 12.5-second cold starts compared to Modal's 60 seconds — making your models ready to serve 4x faster.
* Based on internal testing with memory snapshots and torch.compile() enabled on Modal.
Details
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cumulus | Modal |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Start Time | 12.5s | 60s |
| Scale to Zero | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-Second Billing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom Containers | ✓ | ✓ |
| GPU Selection | Automatic | Manual |
| On-Premises Option | ✓ (Cumulus OS) | — |
| Pricing Model | Pay-per-compute | Pay-per-compute |
| Free Tier | Contact us | $30/mo credits |
| YC Backed | ✓ (W26) | ✓ |
Why Cumulus
Why Teams Choose Cumulus
Fastest Cold Starts
12.5s cold starts mean your users wait less. In production, every second of latency matters.
On-Premises + Cloud
Cumulus OS lets you run the same platform on your own GPU clusters. Modal is cloud-only.
Backed by YC & NVIDIA
Cumulus is backed by Y Combinator (W26) and part of the NVIDIA Inception Program.
Get Started
Ready to switch?
Experience faster cold starts and on-premises flexibility. Get in touch to see how Cumulus compares for your workloads.