We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
Paid plans start at $20/mo. There's also a free plan.
Lightning AI has a free tier, but paid access starts at $20 per month when billed annually for Pro; monthly Pro is $50. Teams costs $119 per user per month annually or $140 monthly. Those prices include credits and capped capacity, not unlimited compute: additional GPU or CPU credits are pay-as-you-go, with compute listed at $0.51–$9.86 per hour. Check the machine rate, credit allowance and storage costs before comparing it with a general AI subscription.
01Every plan, line by line
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | — | $0 | Students and hobbyists |
| Pro | $20 | $50 | Developers and researchers |
| Teams | $119 | $140 | Research labs and teams |
| Enterprise | — | Quote | Security-first organizations |
Add-ons and overages
- Additional CPU/GPU credits: pay-as-you-go; Enterprise bulk pricing
- Compute rates vary by machine, from $0.51 to $9.86/hour; billed by the second
- Additional storage: pay-as-you-go; storage page lists $0.10/GB-month
- Teams seats listed at $140/user/month monthly or $119/user/month annually
What a team pays per month
| Plan | 1 seat | 5 seats | 10 seats | 25 seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams (max. 10) | $119 | $595 | $1,190 | — |
02What the plan grid doesn't tell you
Compute beyond included credits
Additional CPU/GPU credits are pay-as-you-go. Rates vary by machine from $0.51 to $9.86/hour, billed by the second.
Extra persistent storage
Additional storage is pay-as-you-go; Lightning's storage page lists $0.10/GB-month. Free includes 50GB; Teams includes 2TB.
Seat and GPU caps
Free caps at 2 seats and 2 concurrent GPUs; Pro at 5 and 6; Teams at 10 and 12. Enterprise lists unlimited seats and GPUs.
Free Studio restart limit
Free includes one Studio that restarts every 4 hours. Pro includes one free 24/7 Studio.
03Which plan should you buy?
| If you are… | Get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Students and hobbyists | Free | It costs $0 and includes up to 30 starting credits, 2 seats, 2 concurrent GPUs and 50GB storage. |
| Developers and researchers | Pro | It includes 40 monthly or 240 annual credits, up to 5 seats, 6 concurrent GPUs and a free 24/7 Studio. |
| Research labs and teams | Teams | It offers up to 10 seats, 12 concurrent GPUs, 2TB storage and 96-core CPUs. |
04Is Lightning AI worth the money?
Lightning AI covers data preparation through training and inference, and its Free plan offers a capped way to start. But the headline Pro and Teams prices are not the whole bill: credits are limited, compute is charged by machine and extra storage costs $0.10/GB-month. It is worth considering for teams building or training models, but it is not a like-for-like price comparison with a general AI assistant subscription. Get a workload estimate before choosing a paid plan.
Lightning AI pricing FAQ
Is Lightning AI free?
Yes. The Free plan costs $0 and includes up to 30 starting credits, two seats, two concurrent GPUs, 50GB persistent storage and one Studio that restarts every four hours. It is a capped entry tier, not unlimited free GPU time; extra CPU/GPU credits are pay-as-you-go.
How much does an AI cost?
Lightning AI lists compute at $0.51–$9.86 per hour, varying by machine and billed by the second; its homepage lists on-demand H200 GPUs from $4.50/hour. Those are infrastructure rates, separate from Pro ($50 monthly or $20/month annually) and Teams ($140 or $119/user/month).
Is Lightning AI private?
The published plan details do not publish enough information to confirm particular privacy controls, data-retention terms or deployment isolation. Enterprise is positioned for security-first organizations and includes custom credits, unlimited seats and GPUs, unlimited storage, a 99.95% uptime SLA and 24/7 expert support. Ask Lightning AI for its security terms.
How much does a Lightning AI subscription cost?
Pro is $50/month, or $20/month with annual billing. Teams is $140 per user monthly or $119 per user monthly with annual billing. Free is $0; Enterprise pricing is custom. GPU and storage usage may add pay-as-you-go charges, so plan prices are not a guarantee of total cost.