Free GPU Cloud
Six verified ways to get free GPU time - Kaggle, Hugging Face ZeroGPU, Lightning AI, Paperspace, Thunder Compute, AMD - with weekly quotas and session caps.
Free GPU time exists, but every source rations it differently: weekly hour quotas, minutes per day, interruptible machines, or a small student credit. The table below lines up six verified sources so you can match one to your workload. To check how many hours you have left this week, use the free GPU quota tracker. For larger compute grants, see the startup AI credits hub.
| Option | What is free | Card | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaggle Free GPU and TPU Notebooks | Free Kaggle notebooks: 30 hours/week of GPU and 20 hours/week of TPU | no card | Catch: Phone verification is required to unlock GPU/TPU accelerators; weekly quotas reset weekly and can vary with demand, and sessions are capped at 9-12 hours. |
| Hugging Face ZeroGPU Free GPU Access on Spaces | ZeroGPU dynamically allocates NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPUs to Gradio | no card | Catch: Hosting needs a verified email and a 30+ day account; free users get 5 GPU minutes a day, Gradio only. Outside ZeroGPU, new Gradio or Docker Spaces need PRO. |
| Lightning AI Free Plan | Up to 30 free credits (about 80 GPU hours) and 1 free Studio | no card | Catch: Only 5 free credits on registration out of up to 30, credits expire after 12 months, and GPU machines are interruptible. |
| Paperspace Gradient Free GPU Notebooks | Free basic GPU notebooks and 5 GB storage on Paperspace | card | Catch: Free-tier machines are basic instances only — paid GPU instances bill per hour on top of the plan, storage overage is $0.29/GB/month, and only public projects are included. |
| Thunder Compute Student Credit | $20 in free GPU credit for US university students | no card | Catch: Only students enrolled at a US university signing up with a university email qualify, and the credit works only on A6000 ($0.35/hr) and L40 ($0.79/hr) GPUs. |
| AMD AI Developer Program | $100 AMD Developer Cloud credits plus 1 month of DeepLearning.AI, free | no card | Catch: The page publishes no credit-expiry date or formal eligibility criteria; sweepstakes entries and perks are governed by AMD's program terms. |
The 6 options, in detail
Kaggle Free GPU and TPU Notebooks
Free Kaggle notebooks: 30 hours/week of GPU and 20 hours/week of TPU
- Up to 30 hours/week GPU (resets weekly, sometimes higher with demand)
- Up to 20 hours/week TPU (TPU v3-8), 9-hour max session
- 12-hour max execution per CPU/GPU session
- Phone verification required to enable accelerators
Catch: Phone verification is required to unlock GPU/TPU accelerators; weekly quotas reset weekly and can vary with demand, and sessions are capped at 9-12 hours.
Hugging Face ZeroGPU Free GPU Access on Spaces
ZeroGPU dynamically allocates NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPUs to Gradio
- Free account: 5 minutes/day GPU quota, medium queue priority; resets 24h after first GPU usage
- Unauthenticated visitors: 2 minutes/day, low priority
- PRO 40 min/day; Team member 40 min/day; Enterprise 60 min/day
- Hosting: max 2 ZeroGPU Spaces on free accounts (verified email, account 30+ days old)
Catch: Hosting needs a verified email and a 30+ day account; free users get 5 GPU minutes a day, Gradio only. Outside ZeroGPU, new Gradio or Docker Spaces need PRO.
Lightning AI Free Plan
Up to 30 free credits (about 80 GPU hours) and 1 free Studio
- 5 free credits on registration; up to 30 free credits total
- Credits expire after 12 months
- ~80 GPU hours on interruptible machines at the 30-credit level
- 1 free Studio
Catch: Only 5 free credits on registration out of up to 30, credits expire after 12 months, and GPU machines are interruptible.
Paperspace Gradient Free GPU Notebooks
Free basic GPU notebooks and 5 GB storage on Paperspace
- No expiration stated for the Free plan
- Free GPU covers basic instances only; other instances billed at hourly rates
- 5 GB storage included; $0.29/GB/month overage
- Auto-shutdown with a 12-hour limit; notebooks can be restarted
Catch: Free-tier machines are basic instances only — paid GPU instances bill per hour on top of the plan, storage overage is $0.29/GB/month, and only public projects are included.
Thunder Compute Student Credit
$20 in free GPU credit for US university students
- US university students only, with a university email
- Credit works only on A6000 and L40 GPUs
- Added automatically at signup after domain verification
- Abuse or fraud may result in credit removal or account suspension
Catch: Only students enrolled at a US university signing up with a university email qualify, and the credit works only on A6000 ($0.35/hr) and L40 ($0.79/hr) GPUs.
AMD AI Developer Program
$100 AMD Developer Cloud credits plus 1 month of DeepLearning.AI, free
- $100 in AMD Developer Cloud credits
- 1 month complimentary DeepLearning.AI membership
- Monthly sweepstakes entry for an AMD Radeon GPU or Ryzen AI PC
- Private Discord channel with AMD engineers
Catch: The page publishes no credit-expiry date or formal eligibility criteria; sweepstakes entries and perks are governed by AMD's program terms.
Frequently asked questions
- Where can I get a free GPU?
- Kaggle is the most generous standing option: up to 30 hours a week of GPU (P100 or 2x T4) and 20 hours a week of TPU v3-8, after phone verification. Hugging Face ZeroGPU gives 5 minutes a day for Gradio Spaces, and Lightning AI’s free credits cover about 80 GPU hours on interruptible machines.
- Can I get a free GPU without a credit card?
- Yes - every option here except Paperspace skips the card. Kaggle asks for phone verification instead to unlock accelerators.
- Are there free GPU credits for students?
- Thunder Compute adds $20 of GPU credit automatically for US university students who sign up with a university email. The AMD AI Developer Program includes $100 in AMD Developer Cloud credits.
- Can I train large models on a free GPU?
- Only small jobs. Kaggle caps sessions at 12 hours, ZeroGPU functions default to 60 seconds, and Lightning AI’s free machines are interruptible. Use these for experiments and fine-tunes, not long training runs.