Modal free credits
creditsserverlessmodalgpu
A serverless compute platform where you deploy Python functions that can attach GPUs, billed at per-second rates. Official site
Modal free tier, the facts
| Amount | $30 per month |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Monthly free tier |
| Expiry | Monthly allowance on the Starter plan; rollover of unused credit is not stated officially |
| Payment method required | Yes |
| Withdrawable as cash | No |
| What I ran on it | Not tested yet |
Good for
- Bursty GPU inference or batch jobs where idle cost should be zero
- Trying serverless GPU workflows with a monthly allowance instead of a one-time credit
Not for
- A persistent SSH box you administer yourself: Modal deploys functions, not servers
- Running without any payment method on file: their docs require one to use Modal
Modal’s Starter plan includes $30 per month of free credits, labeled “included compute” on the pricing page. The plan itself costs $0 plus whatever compute you use beyond the credits. This is a monthly allowance, not a one-time signup grant. You must have a payment method on file to use Modal at all, per their billing docs. Checked against the official pricing and billing pages on 2026-08-20.
What the $30 covers
Officially it is “free credits”, “free compute”, or “included compute”. Modal’s pricing page lists GPU, CPU, memory, and storage as separate line items, but does not itemize which of those the $30 applies to. So the honest answer on coverage specifics is: not stated officially. I will not write “$30 of free GPU” because no official page says that. Whether unused credit rolls over to the next month is also not stated officially.
Billing granularity
Modal’s pricing page shows per-second rates. As one example, an Nvidia H100 was listed at $0.001097 per second as of 2026-08-20. Their billing docs say Modal is serverless, you pay only for compute you use or request, and there are “no minimum usage-time increments”. Note the docs phrase it that way rather than using the words “billed per second”, so I mirror both statements separately.
The payment method requirement
The billing docs say: you must have a payment method on file in order to use Modal. The official word is “payment method”, not “credit card”. There is no officially described way to consume the monthly credits without one, which is why this entry is marked as requiring a payment method.
The Team plan, for completeness
Modal’s Team plan costs $250 plus compute per month and includes $100 per month of credits. If you are evaluating Modal alone, the Starter plan is the free tier; the Team figures are here so you do not mistake the $100 for a signup offer.
What I have done with it
Not tested yet. I have not personally burned through a month of the allowance, so this page reports only what the official pages state. Once I run a real workload on it, this section will describe what $30 of included compute covered in practice.
If you want a persistent server instead of functions, see the DigitalOcean free credits entry, or read how to choose between a VPS, GPU cloud, serverless, or a sandbox. Every grant I track is listed on the credits index.
Related entries
Sources
Last checked:All numbers on this page come from the official pages above, checked on the date shown. If a figure is not stated there, this page says "Not stated officially" instead of guessing.