Is Modal worth the price?
Modal's pricing is quite generous, especially with the Starter tier offering $30 in free credits monthly, effectively making it free for many individual developers.
The jump to the Team tier at $250/month provides significant scaling for growing teams, though the value of the included credits ($100) is less proportionally. This structure is best for individual developers and small to medium-sized teams scaling their ML workloads.
Pricing Plans
Starter
$0
- $30/month free credits
- 3 workspace seats
- 100 containers + 10 GPU concurrency
- 1-day log retention
- Real-time metrics
Team
$250
- $100/month free credits
- Unlimited seats
- 1,000 containers + 50 GPU
- 30-day logs
- Custom domains
- Deployment rollbacks
Enterprise
Custom
- Volume discounts
- Unlimited GPU concurrency
- ML engineering services
- Private Slack support
- Okta SSO, HIPAA
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Usage beyond free credits incurs charges
Enterprise features require custom quotes
Limited log retention on Starter tier
Which Plan Do You Need?
Individual developers exploring ML
Small teams scaling ML projects
Enterprises needing custom ML solutions
How Modal Compares to Competitors
Compared to AWS SageMaker, which has a complex pay-as-you-go model with many components, Modal's tiered pricing is much simpler and more predictable. While SageMaker offers a free tier, Modal's $30/month free credit in the Starter tier is a clear, upfront benefit. For larger teams, Modal's Team tier at $250/month offers a more consolidated package than piecing together services from cloud providers.
Modal Pricing FAQ
How much does Modal cost?
Modal starts at $250/month on the Team plan. A free plan is also available with limited features.
Does Modal have a free plan?
Yes. Modal offers a free plan called "Starter". It includes: $30/month free credits, 3 workspace seats, 100 containers + 10 GPU concurrency.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Modal?
Yes. Popular alternatives to Modal include Northflank, Vercel, Luminal, d-Matrix. Free alternatives include Northflank, Vercel, Paperspace. Compare them side-by-side on Toolradar.
Cheaper alternatives to Modal
Direct competitors with similar features. Many offer free tiers or lower per-seat pricing.
