Vast AI

Decentralized GPU Cloud Marketplace — The Cheapest Way to Run AI Compute

The consensus on Vast AI: Choose Vast AI if you want perfect Glassdoor scores and generous equity at a tiny GPU marketplace — but expect startup chaos.

2018

Founded

Los Angeles

Headquarters

~30

Employees

Bootstrapped

Profitable

Culture Overview

What it's really like to work at Vast AI

Founded in 2018 by Jake and Travis Cannell, Vast AI operates the world’s largest decentralized GPU cloud marketplace — connecting 1,400+ GPU providers across 500+ locations with AI researchers and companies who need cheap compute. With ~30 employees managing 17,000+ GPUs, the culture is intensely engineering-driven and flat. Everyone reports directly to the CEO, and the team is bootstrapped, profitable, and moving fast. Expect a high-ownership, startup-intensity environment where technical depth matters more than titles.

Glassdoor Ratings

Vast AI Glassdoor Ratings & Employee Reviews

5.0

Overall Glassdoor Score

Based on ~2 reviews

ⓘ Very small sample size — ratings based on only 2 Glassdoor reviews. Take with a grain of salt.

Culture & Values 5.0

Compensation & Benefits 5.0

Senior Management 5.0

Career Opportunities 5.0

Work-Life Balance 3.8

Overall Rating 5.0

100% Business Outlook

100% CEO Approval (Jake Cannell)

Employee Review Themes

Working at Vast AI: Pros & Cons

✓ What employees love

✓ Front-row seat to the AI compute revolution — demand for GPU cloud is surging
✓ Strong compensation and generous equity stakes for a bootstrapped startup
✓ Direct access to leadership — all technical roles report to the CEO
✓ Bootstrapped and profitable — no VC pressure or burn-rate anxiety
✓ Mission-driven around democratizing GPU compute and making AI accessible

✗ What could be better

✗ Processes are still being defined — expect ad hoc workflows at this stage
✗ Intense workload — the team explicitly values high output and long hours
✗ Small team (~30 people) means wearing many hats and broad responsibilities
✗ Limited career ladder and role specialization at this company size

Engineering Culture

How the engineering team works

Tech Stack

Python C++ CUDA Docker Kubernetes PostgreSQL

GPU Marketplace

Decentralized marketplace connecting 1,400+ GPU providers across 500+ locations globally. 17,000+ GPUs available including NVIDIA H100, A100, RTX 4090, and AMD support. Prices 60-80% cheaper than hyperscalers.

Open Source

Maintains vast-cli, vast-sdk, base images, and serverless workers on GitHub. Fork of SkyPilot for multi-cloud GPU orchestration. MIT licensed. Learn more →

Team Structure

Flat hierarchy — all engineers report directly to CEO Jake Cannell. SOC 2 Type II certified. On-site culture across LA and SF offices with emphasis on deep technical work.

Open Positions

Join the Vast AI team

Explore all 9 open roles below. Every listing links directly to the original posting.

See all 9 Vast AI jobs →

Community Sentiment

What the community says about Vast AI

Mixed Sentiment 1 mentions from Hacker News & Reddit · Updated 2026-04-21

“I found RunPod server less to be better It’s more reliable than vast AI. You can write your own request handler and custom logic and deploy via a docker image, and you pay only for the time you use GPUs, there might be cold start issues but if latency is a big factor you can...”

Reddit r/MachineLearning · 8 upvotes · 2025-11-23 View thread →

Sentiment data refreshed daily from public Hacker News and Reddit discussions. See all company profiles →