What is the best Houdini Octane render farm in 2025?
Are you looking for the best Houdini Octane render farm? This article is for you.
Let’s discuss and find the most suitable render farm for Octane in Houdini with Radar Render!
Introduce Octane for Houdini
Houdini?
Houdini is developed by SideFX, known for its professional effects simulation capabilities that allow VFX artists to simulate smoke, fire, water, and destruction realistically.
It’s also known for its procedural node-based workflow, allowing flexibility and control in creating complex simulations and effects.
Houdini can be integrated with both built-in and external render engines, including CPU and GPU rendering. Houdini features two integrated renderers: Mantra and Karma. While Mantra is a CPU render engine, Karma includes both Karma CPU (for CPU rendering) and Karma XPU (for hybrid GPU/CPU rendering).
Besides, Houdini can use the third-party render engines, such as V-Ray, Arnold, Octane, Redshift… But in this article, we will focus on OctaneRender for Houdini.
Octane for Houdini?
OctaneRender for Houdini is a powerful, GPU-accelerated rendering plugin that integrates the photorealistic capabilities of OTOY’s OctaneRender directly into SideFX Houdini, one of the leading procedural 3D software platforms.
Do you wonder why Octane can be a good choice for the Houdini project? When using Octane as a render engine for Houdini, it allows VFX artists:
- Render directly within the Houdini interface.
- Fast render time with GPU acceleration.
- Use Octane’s materials, lighting, and camera tools, supporting a physically accurate workflow.
- Take advantage of Octane’s standalone features (like the Node Graph Editor and LiveDB) while still working within Houdini.
Reborn by Rafael Lopes Rosa using Houdini and Octane Render.
Source: sidefx.com
Why need a render farm for Houdini Octane?
Houdini is very powerful in handling simulations such as particles, liquids, fabrics, and rigid objects. When integrating with Octane, it brings us stunning results but reaches the hardware limits. That’s the reason why render farms become more important. The render farm offers high VRAM and powerful multi-GPU setups to handle these demanding scenes.
OctaneRender strongly depends on GPU power and allows you to access high-end GPUs (such as RTX 4090). It will decrease your rendering time from days or hours to even minutes. Instead of buying a bunch of expensive GPUs, a render farm gives you on-demand performance; you scale up only when you need to render, without a big upfront investment.
Offloading your render to the cloud means you can continue working on other tasks (or projects) while rendering happens in the background.
Looking for the best Houdini Octane Render Farm
Actually, there are not many render farms on the market that fully support Houdini and Octane, including big render farms like Fox RenderFarm, Garage Farm, and Ranch Computing. Here are a few render farms that support Octane Render for Houdini; let’s find out with Radar Render.
1. iRender
iRender is from Vietnam, allowing you to rent and have full control over the workstations. Although it is a new render farm, iRender has made impressive progress and is mentioned in the world’s render farm rankings. iRender is an IaaS-based render farm, supporting full versions of Houdini and Octane.
Suitable for professional users or artists who need a custom setup.
Features:
- Full control over Houdini and Octane plugin installations of the version you need. Customers need to use their own license.
- Powerful GPU: RTX 4090/RTX 3090, multi-GPU support (up to 8 cards).
- Support for caching, simulation, and baking (Houdini FX).
- Can use Redshift, Karma, V-Ray, etc. if needed.
- Strong CPU: AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 3955WX and AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 5975WX.
- Professional and dedicated 24/7 customer support and technical team.
OS: Windows, Ubuntu
Price:
- From $8.2 per hour per machine to $52 per hour per machine.
- Currently offering promotions for new users, educational promotions, volume discounts, and seasonal promotions.
Read more about iRender here.
2. Xesktop
Xesktop is also an IaaS render farm that rents powerful GPU workstations via Remote Desktop. You have full control over installing software and plugins (just like using a powerful personal computer).
It’s suitable for freelancers or small studios.
Features:
- Install software and plugins of your choice. For instance, Houdini + Octane, Redshift, Blender…
- Users can connect and use Xesktop servers from anywhere, just like working on a personal computer.
- Simple interface, easy to access for beginners.
- CPU: Intel Xeon E5 v4 8-core 3.0 GHz and Intel Xeon E5 v4 10-core 3.2 GHz.
- GPU: 10x GTX 1080Ti and 8x Tesla V100
- Packages are less diverse than iRender.
OS: Windows 10
Price:
- From $6 per hour per server to $8 per hour per server.
- Volume discounts and a free trial are available.
Read more about Xesktop here.
3. Anima Render
Unlike the two render farms mentioned above, Anima Render is a SaaS-based render farm from Russia, operating since 2016. And it is the only SaaS-based render farm that supports Houdini and Octane.
Features:
- Support a wide list of supported 3D software, including both CPU and GPU rendering.
- Do not queue jobs or prioritize clients. Everyone gets the same base rate and full available capacity.
- Providing a maximum of free servers without any priorities and additional payments.
- Built-in plugin for rendering directly from Houdini.
- Stable support for Octane and popular engines.
- CPU: Dual AMD Epyc/Threadripper/Dual Xeon 128-256 GB RAM
- GPU: RTX 2080Ti
Price:
GPU Rendering: 0.01 USD/OBh.
CPU Rendering:
- Dual AMD EPYC 7642 (256 GB RAM): $6.2/hour/server.
- AMD Threadripper 3970x (256 GB RAM): $4.95/hour/server.
- Low-priority mode: about $0.5/hour, but limits the queue and low quality.
Offers Demorender to estimate render time.
Read more about Anima Render here.
Final Thoughts
In 2025, the best Houdini Octane render farm depends on your priorities.
- iRender stands out as the most powerful and flexible choice for professionals, offering full control, support for complex Houdini + Octane workflows, and up to 8× RTX 4090 GPUs.
- Xesktop is great for users who want simple GPU rental at a lower cost, ideal for short-term or freelance work, though you’ll need to handle plugin setup yourself.
- AnimaRender is a cost-effective SaaS option with built-in plugin support for Houdini + Octane and competitive OctaneBench pricing, making it a smart choice for straightforward rendering needs.
Each render farm brings its own strengths. For complex simulations and heavy GPU scenes, iRender leads the way. For smaller projects or budget-friendly GPU access, Xesktop and AnimaRender are solid alternatives.
FAQ: Houdini Octane Render Farm in 2025
- What is the fastest Houdini Octane render farm?
iRender offers up to 8× RTX 4090s, making it the fastest and most scalable option for Houdini + Octane in 2025.
- Which render farm is the most affordable?
AnimaRender is the most cost-effective, starting at just $0.01 per OctaneBench hour (OBh), with bonus credits for larger deposits.
- Do these farms support custom plugin installations?
iRender and Xesktop: Yes, they do.
AnimaRender: Limited to supported plugins and workflows.
- Can I use multi-GPU rendering?
iRender: You can use up to 2/4/6/8 x RTX 4090 or 2/8 x RTX 3090.
Xesktop: They offer 2 servers. The first server has 10 x GTX 1080Ti and the second has 8 x Tesla V100.
AnimaRender: Supports up to 5 GPUs.
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