GPU rendering on a rented server: Blender Cycles and 3D by the minute

What it is good for

Cycles on CUDA works with 8 GB or more; scenes with large textures or simulations need 16–24 GB and up.

Video memory

8 GB+

Templates

Ubuntu + CUDA

How to start

1. Rent a server with the Ubuntu + CUDA template.
2. Connect over SSH, install Blender from the archive or snap, and upload the scene.
3. Start the render with blender -b scene.blend -a inside screen or tmux, download the result and stop the server.

Ubuntu + CUDA: A clean system with the driver and CUDA. SSH only, install what you need.

Rental price

Questions and answers

Do I need to keep the session open during a render?

No. Use screen or tmux, and the render keeps going after you disconnect SSH.

Is renting cheaper than buying a card?

For occasional load, renting is usually cheaper. Compare the cost of an hour of rendering with the card price divided by the hours you will actually use it.

Guides

• How not to overpay for GPU rental: stopping, disk and trafficWhat is actually billed when renting a GPU per minute: the GPU, the disk while stopped, and traffic. How to stop or delete a server so you do not pay for idle time.
• Connecting to a GPU server over SSH: keys, first login and filesHow to create an SSH key, add it to your account, connect to a rented GPU server and transfer files. Commands for Linux, macOS and Windows.

Solutions

• Run LLMs on a rented GPU: Llama, Qwen, DeepSeek, Mistral
• Stable Diffusion and FLUX on a rented GPU: Forge and SDXL online
• ComfyUI online on your own server: FLUX, Wan and HunyuanVideo