Spheron Overview
Spheron is an aggregated GPU cloud that pools capacity from multiple providers and exposes it through a single API and dashboard, at 60-80% lower cost than traditional cloud providers.
What is Spheron?
Spheron is not a blockchain network. It is a GPU cloud platform that aggregates capacity from multiple providers across North America and Europe and exposes it through a unified API and dashboard. You get a single interface across six providers without managing separate accounts, contracts, or billing relationships.
Key Features
VM Access
Get full root access to your instances from the moment they are deployed. You can install custom drivers, configure the operating system, and set up your software stack exactly the way you need it, with no container restrictions or sandboxed environments.
Bare Metal Performance
Bare metal instances give your workloads direct access to the physical hardware, with no hypervisor or virtualization layer in between. This means consistent, predictable performance and full utilization of GPU memory and compute resources for your training and inference jobs.
Cluster Options for High-Speed Interconnection
Deploy multi-GPU clusters with high-speed NVLink and InfiniBand interconnects between nodes. Cluster instances are purpose-built for large-scale distributed training workloads that require fast node-to-node communication and low-latency data transfer across multiple GPUs.
Aggregated Provider Network
Access GPUs from multiple providers including Voltage Park, DataCrunch, TensorDock, Sesterce, Spheron AI, and Massed Compute through a single dashboard and API. Switching between providers does not require separate accounts, contracts, or billing relationships.
Hardware Variety
Choose from a wide range of GPU hardware to match your workload:
- High-end: H100 SXM5 machines with NVLink and InfiniBand for large-scale training
- Mid-tier: A100 GPUs for production workloads
- Budget-friendly: RTX 4090 and other PCIe GPUs for development and testing
Shared Volumes and Persistent Storage
Create persistent storage volumes that exist independently from your instances. Attach a volume to a running instance, detach it without losing data, and reattach it to a different instance later. Volumes support multi-instance attachment for shared datasets and model checkpoints across your team.
Reserved GPU Nodes
Reserve dedicated GPU nodes for long-term commitments to get better rates and guaranteed availability. Reserved instances are ideal for teams with predictable, sustained compute needs who want to lock in access and reduce per-hour costs compared to on-demand pricing.
Flexible Billing and Cost Savings
Pay only for what you use with per-second billing and no minimum commitments. Spot instances offer the same GPU hardware at lower prices when you can tolerate occasional interruptions. Combined with 60-80% savings over traditional cloud providers, Spheron significantly reduces your total infrastructure spend.
Team Coordination
Manage GPU access for your entire team from a shared account. Teams share credits, SSH keys, and API keys across members. Role-based access controls let you assign owner, admin, or member permissions so each person has the right level of access for their responsibilities.
Cost Savings
Spheron reduces GPU costs by 60-80% compared to traditional cloud providers:
- RTX 4090: ~$0.52/hr (significant savings vs. traditional cloud providers; check current prices in the dashboard)
- Traditional clouds: Typically charge 3-4x more for equivalent GPU resources
- No hidden fees: Zero ingress/egress charges, transparent billing
Performance Notes
- Cluster (bare metal): No hypervisor layer means direct NVLink access and no virtualization overhead for multi-GPU training
- Dedicated/Spot (VM): High-performance VMs with guaranteed GPU access; suitable for single-node training and inference
Platform Advantages
Reliability
Six providers across multiple regions mean you can redeploy to a different provider if one has availability issues. No single datacenter dependency.
Scalability
Deploy a single GPU instance or a multi-node H100 cluster. Scale up or down between deployments; no reserved capacity required.
Security
Choose providers with specific compliance certifications for your workload: Voltage Park (SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, ISO 27001), DataCrunch (ISO 27001, GDPR), Sesterce (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001), and Massed Compute (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II).
Deployment
- Dashboard and REST API for deployment
- Real-time metrics and monitoring
- Pay-per-second billing with no hidden fees
How Spheron Compares
| Feature | Spheron | Traditional Clouds | Other GPU Clouds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root Access | ✅ Full by default | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Container-only (some) |
| Architecture | ✅ Bare metal (Cluster) / VM (Dedicated, Spot) | ❌ Virtualized | ⚠️ Mixed |
| Provider Model | ✅ Aggregated | ❌ Single vendor | ❌ Single vendor |
| High-end GPUs | ✅ SXM + NVLink | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Limited |
| Pricing | ✅ 60-80% cheaper | ❌ Premium | ⚠️ Moderate |
Use Cases
- LLM training and fine-tuning: Single-GPU to 8x H100 NVLink runs with PyTorch DDP or DeepSpeed
- Production inference: Dedicated instances that won't be interrupted mid-request
- Distributed training: Multi-node Cluster instances with InfiniBand or Ethernet interconnects
- Development and testing: RTX 4090 Spot instances at ~$0.52/hr for prototyping and iteration
- Research: EU data-resident instances (DataCrunch, Sesterce) for GDPR-compliant workloads
Platform Primitives
Understand how the platform works before deploying at larger scales:
- Instance Types: Spot, Dedicated, and Cluster trade-offs
- Regions & Providers: GPU availability by provider and region
- Networking: Port access, SSH tunneling, and public IPs
- Teams: Shared credits, SSH keys, and role-based access
Next Steps
- Getting Started - Deploy your first instance in 5 minutes
- Quick Start - Launch pre-configured models
- Templates & Images - Copy-ready startup scripts for common stacks
- Cost Optimization - GPU tier selection and spend strategies
- Reserved GPUs - Lock in long-term GPU access for better rates
- Billing - Understand pricing and payment options