Confidential GPU Pricing: VoltageGPU vs Azure vs AWS Nitro (Real Numbers, April 2026)

This page compares public list prices, each dated and sourced: first like for like, confidential GPU against confidential GPU; then, because many searches ask for it, what an H200 costs at AWS and Azure without confidential computing.

One ground rule: the only fair comparison is GPU + confidential-compute attestation. Comparing a vanilla A100 to a TDX H200 is not a meaningful price comparison; it's a different product. Every line in this post is for a GPU SKU that ships with hardware-rooted attestation enabled.

TL;DR, The Pricing Table

The H200 number is the one that surprises people. At $8.08/hr it sits below Azure's H100 confidential VM list price ($8.90/hr): with newer silicon, more memory, and an Intel-signed attestation quote. Below, I'll explain why.

H200 Without Confidential Computing: AWS and Azure List Prices

For reference, since many readers search for it: the list price of an 8-GPU H200 instance at AWS and Azure, on demand, read on 23 October 2026. These instances have no confidential computing. Ours is a Confidential VM (Intel TDX, with NVIDIA confidential computing on), sold on demand when a node is free.

• AWS p5en.48xlarge (8x H200, US East N. Virginia, Linux): $63.296/hr, $7.91 per GPU-hour.
• Azure ND96isr H200 v5 (8x H200, pay as you go, Linux): $84.80/hr in East US 2, West US 2 and West US 3 ($10.60 per GPU-hour); $101.76/hr in North Europe; $106/hr in France Central and UK South.
• VoltageGPU 8x H200 Confidential VM: $64.62/hr, $8.08 per GPU-hour (live price on /pricing). On demand only: on 22 and 23 October no 8-GPU node was free.

Sources: AWS EC2 on-demand pricing (p5en.48xlarge) and the Azure Retail Prices API (Standard_ND96isr_H200_v5). Prices change; check them before you decide.

How We Charge Less Without Cutting the Wrong Corner

Three reasons our pricing isn't a trick:

1. No hyperscaler overhead. Azure's confidential VMs aren't just GPUs; you're also paying for a global enterprise sales motion, a compliance team you'll never speak to, and a 24/7 support tier you didn't ask for. That all ends up in the SKU. We don't carry it.
2. On demand, nothing else in the price. No reservation, no minimum term, per-second billing. The listed price is the VM; there is no support tier or bundle to pay for alongside it.
3. Fewer services, smaller team. We don't run a managed database, a sales force or a 24/7 enterprise desk. That keeps the price down, and it is also our main limit: see where they win.

Annual TCO, Real Numbers, Boring Math

A common workload pattern: 8 GPU-hours a day, 5 days a week, ~2,080 hours/year. That's roughly what a small clinical-summarization or contract-review pipeline burns. At those numbers:

# Annual TCO at 8 GPU-hours/day, 5 days/week (~2080 hrs/year).
# Rates: VoltageGPU Confidential VM H100 (10 Oct 2026, see /pricing for the live list)
# and Azure NCC H100 v5 list price (12 Sept 2026).

annual_hours = 2080

# H100 in confidential mode (NVIDIA CC on every line; CPU root differs: TDX here, SEV-SNP at Azure)
voltagegpu_h100 = 6.95 * annual_hours   # $14,456
azure_cc_h100   = 8.90 * annual_hours   # $18,512

print(f"VoltageGPU H100 TDX : ${voltagegpu_h100:>9,.0f}/yr")
print(f"Azure NCC H100 v5   : ${azure_cc_h100:>9,.0f}/yr")
print()
print(f"Saved vs Azure : ${azure_cc_h100 - voltagegpu_h100:>9,.0f}/yr  ({(1 - voltagegpu_h100/azure_cc_h100):.0%})")

Output (approximate, at the rates above):

• VoltageGPU H100 TDX: $14,456/yr
• Azure NCC H100 v5: $18,512/yr

Saved versus Azure: ~$4,056/yr (22%). And those numbers are before Azure's typical "BAA premium" for regulated sectors, which we discuss in the HIPAA piece. With BAA loading, the gap typically widens to 50%+.

It's Not Just Price, It's What You Actually Get

Cheap-but-shoddy is not what we're selling. The deliverable on every confidential Confidential VM includes:

• Intel-signed TDX attestation quote on demand, the same artifact a CNIL or HHS auditor would accept as Article 32 / 45 CFR § 164.312 evidence.
• TEE-IO PCIe encryption on H100/H200 (most hyperscaler CC SKUs do not yet expose this).
• EU-pinned regions by default (France, Germany), opt-in US.
• OpenAI-compatible API: drop-in for any existing OpenAI SDK code.
• Per-second billing (one hour prepaid, the unused part refunded on release) with hard credit caps so you can't be surprised by a $3,000 spike.

Where Azure and AWS Genuinely Win (Pratfall, Honest Edition)

Three places I'd still recommend a hyperscaler over us today, and won't insult your intelligence by pretending otherwise:

• You need 50+ adjacent managed services. If your architecture leans on Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, and the kitchen sink, the cost of stitching us into that environment may eat the savings. Stay where the rest of your stack lives.
• Your procurement requires SOC 2 Type II on day one. Hyperscalers have it. We're in progress with a Q4 2026 target. If a non-negotiable line in your RFP says "SOC 2 Type II," we're the wrong vendor until then.
• You want global edge inference under 50ms. Hyperscalers have hundreds of POPs. We have ~15 datacenter regions. For most batch and async LLM workloads this is irrelevant; for ultra-low-latency edge AI it is not.

For a typical regulated-industry team running async inference, summarization, document review, or coding-assist? The math says try us first, fall back to Azure if something breaks.

Who Should Care About These Numbers

• CTOs and AI leads in regulated sectors who keep getting Azure CC quotes back from their finance team and choking on them.
• FinOps and procurement teams running GPU cost-rationalization exercises across portfolios.
• AI startups selling into healthcare, legal, or fintech where confidential compute is on every customer's checklist.
• Solo builders who want a real H200 with a real attestation quote for $8.08/hr instead of a $14/hr enterprise quote with a 6-week procurement cycle.

If that sounds like you, three places to go next:

• Live prices updated every 5 minutes from the provider, no marketing markup.
• Pricing page the raw markup math, written down.
• Confidential Compute the H100, H200 and RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell lineup with TDX attestation, deploy in minutes.

Related reading

• What Intel TDX actually does: a deep-dive , the hardware mechanics behind every dollar in this comparison.
• GDPR & AI in 2026: why a DPA is not enough , the legal reason confidential GPUs are no longer optional in the EU.
• HIPAA AI inference without a BAA , the US healthcare equivalent: when a BAA stops being enough.
• EU AI Act August 2026: high-risk LLM compliance , how attestation quotes turn into regulator-grade evidence.

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