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RadarRender tools · prices checked 9 Nov 2026

Render Farm Cost Calculator

This render farm cost calculator turns a few test frames into a cost estimate. Time a few frames on your own machine, enter the numbers, and see what the same job would cost under the three common billing models: GHz-hours for CPU farms, OctaneBench-hours for GPU farms, and hourly machine or card rental. Results are planning estimates, not quotes.

New to farm billing? Read how render farm pricing works, compare providers on the render farm comparison page, or open a software guide for Blender, Redshift or Corona.

Your job

Renderer type

Corona and V-Ray CPU are CPU renderers. Redshift, Octane, Cycles GPU and V-Ray GPU are GPU renderers.

Measured on your own machine at final settings. Average three test frames from different parts of the shot.
Use 1 if you timed frames at final resolution. Going from 1080p to 4K usually costs about 3 to 4.5 times more per frame, not exactly 4.
Cores × clock speed. Example: 16 cores × 3.8 GHz = 60.8. Farms measure this their own way, so treat the result as approximate.
Used only by farms that bill per core-hour.
Run OctaneBench on your machine and enter the total score. The default is only an example value.
Storage, transfer or minimum charges listed by the provider you are checking, in the same currency as that provider’s rate.

Rates to compare

Example value. 2 means twice as fast.
Multi-GPU speed does not scale linearly: 2, 4 and 8 cards often land near 1.9×, 3.6× and 6.5× one card, and real numbers vary by engine and scene.
Local render time 0 hFrames 0Planning band shown under each figure is ±25%. It is a margin for planning, not a measured error rate.
CPU farms

GHz-hour or core-hour billing

$0
GPU farms

OctaneBench-hour billing

$0
Rental or per-card

Hourly billing

$0

How to read this

  • The three models measure work differently, so the cheapest figure here is not automatically the cheapest farm. Licences, queue time, priority, minimum charges and how each farm measures your hardware all change the final bill.
  • GHz-hour and OctaneBench-hour estimates assume the farm does the same total work your machine would. Hourly estimates depend on the speed you enter, which only a test render on the target machine can confirm.
  • On remote machine rental the meter usually runs from start to shutdown, including setup and file transfer, and you often bring your own render engine licence. On managed farms you usually pay for render time only.
  • OctaneBench-hour rates may refer to different OctaneBench versions, so the same scene can score differently from farm to farm.
  • First-deposit bonuses, volume discounts and trial credits are not applied. Check the provider’s page for current conditions.

Render farm cost calculator FAQ

How is render farm cost calculated?

Most farms bill in one of three ways: GHz-hours or core-hours for CPU rendering, OctaneBench-hours for GPU rendering, or a fixed price per machine or card per hour. Each model multiplies a measure of hardware capacity by time, so the same job can cost different amounts depending on which unit a farm uses.

Why does my estimate differ from the farm’s own quote?

Farms measure hardware their own way, add priority multipliers or minimum charges, and may run your scene faster or slower than your workstation. A test render on the target farm is the only reliable check before a full job.

Do remote GPU rental services charge for setup time?

On remote machine rental the meter usually runs from start to shutdown, which includes installing software and transferring files. Managed render farms usually charge only for render time. Check each provider’s billing terms.

Preset sources

    Providers are listed alphabetically. Presets cover only rates RadarRender read on official pricing pages on the date shown, in the currency each page uses; nothing is converted. A farm missing from a list either uses a unit the calculator does not cover or did not show a readable rate. For any other farm, choose “Custom rate” and enter its published price.

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