#1
Voltage Park
US neocloud selling on-demand and reserved bare-metal NVIDIA HGX H100 clusters from $1.99/hr; acquired TensorDock (2025) and merged with Lightning AI (Jan 2026).
from $1.99 per GPU/hr
io.net Review: fees, KYC and how to sign up
A broad, well-funded stack with genuine Intel TDX confidential-compute attestation, but it publishes no consumer price table and its quiet, utility-questioned token economy makes cost evaluation impossible without an account.
site reachable · checked 11 h ago · daily check
// Review
by the bestcloudmining editorial desk · curated review · prose updated 2026-10-02 · facts as of 2026-10-02 · how we verify
Overview
io.net is a decentralized GPU network on Solana operated by IO.NET Inc. (Delaware), claiming 30,000-plus GPUs in 130-plus countries at "up to 70% lower cost than AWS" [1]. The scale claim is now modest enough to be checkable (it was much higher before the tokenomics rework), but it remains unverified by third parties [1]. The fee model simplified to a 5% card-top-up charge only [1]; no public pricing exists.
What you can rent
GPU compute through the io.net dashboard (IO Credits at $1 each) [1][2], plus a new Agent Cloud product launched in July 2026 that lets AI agents provision their own GPU infrastructure [4]. There is no public price table - /pricing returns 404 [2] - and no minimum purchase published. KYC policy: undocumented in public docs [2]. The scale claim of 30,000-plus GPUs is the operator's own count [1].
Contract & terms
Payments run through IO Credits (1 dollar per credit), with no booking or crypto-top-up fees - a 5% fee applies only to card top-ups via Stripe [2]. The terms of service are governed under IO.NET Inc. (Delaware) [2]. KYC policy: undocumented in public docs [2]. The Incentive Dynamic Engine (a 2026 tokenomics rework) restructured provider rewards and introduced a burn program [4]. No SLA is published [2].
Proof & verifiability
What verifies: the fee schedule from the operator's own docs [2], the homepage claims (30,000+ GPUs, 130+ countries) [1], and public token market data [3]. What stays unverified: the actual GPU count (no third-party audit) [1], the "4 billion daily AI tokens" and "$8 million deal" figures from the press release [4], and the execution of the 12-million-IO burn [4]. The /pricing page remains 404 [2], so buyers cannot compare rates without a dashboard account.
Reliability & history
The community is effectively dormant: r/io_net's latest substantive thread asks "Sub Reddit dead?" with zero comments [5]; a February 2026 question about when worker onboarding reopens also has zero responses [5]. No provider-payout-collapse complaints surfaced in this sampling [5]. The 2026 tokenomics rework (12-million-IO burn tied to an $8 million deal and "4 billion daily AI tokens" per press releases) and the Agent Cloud launch are the material 2026 developments [4]. No fraud, exit or insolvency events surfaced [5].
Pricing
No published $/GPU-hour rate - /pricing is 404 [2]. IO Credits cost 1 dollar each [1]. Fees: zero booking, zero crypto top-up, 5% on card [2]. $IO trades at about $0.16 with a $65.9 million market cap [3]. KYC: undocumented [2]. There is no minimum published, and no deposit schedule beyond the credit system [2].
Verdict
io.net is a real GPU network with published fee mechanics and a live dashboard [2] - hampered by unverifiable capacity claims [1], no public pricing [2], and a community that has gone quiet [5]. The 5%-only-card-fee model is cleaner than the old multi-fee structure [2]. If you use it, price a benchmark workload first - there is no public rate to compare against before signing up [2], and the community signal that remains is a dormant subreddit asking if the platform is still relevant [6].
++ What works
- Real hardware attestation via Intel TDX on H100/H200/B200 (confidential tier)
- Broad product range: clusters, VMs, containers, bare metal, inference, training
- Prepaid IO Credits are simple (1 credit = 1 USD); card and crypto accepted
- Hourly Proof-of-Work and Device Reliability Score for standard supply
-- What to watch
- No public price table; rates only via authenticated APIs (io.net/pricing is 404)
- Token-denominated supply economics (IO ~$0.15, mcap ~$59M on 2026-09-24)
- Community reports worker onboarding was paused and the subreddit is nearly dormant
- Historical criticism of inflated/aggregated GPU-count claims
Pricing reality check
| Documented price | see provider site |
|---|---|
| Payouts | hourly |
| Notes | No public $/GPU-hr price table exists (io.net/pricing returns HTTP 404 on 2026-09-24). Rates are only exposed via authenticated price-estimation APIs (CaaS price-estimation, VMaaS get-deployment-price), so no verifiable rate is quoted here. IO Credits are prepaid and 1 credit = 1 USD. |
Run the long math before paying: cloud mining calculator →
// How to get started with io.net
Built only from what is documented on this page as of 2026-10-02 - anything not documented stays a gap on purpose.
- Open the provider site
Everything happens on io.net - we count the click, nothing else changes for you.
- Pay
Accepted: USDC, IO plus card transfer. Check the network and the deposit address inside your account, never from an email.
- Read the term before you sign
maintenance · refund: Not verified. A term you did not read is money you cannot get back.
- Verify the output, not the dashboard
Proof is documented as partial - Confidential Compute VMs provide Intel TDX hardware attestation on H100/H200/B200. Standard supply is verified by an hourly Proof-of-Work check plus…. Compare the first payout with the pool or wallet before scaling up.
- Know the exit
Payout frequency: hourly. Refunds: Not verified.
Then run the math: mining calculator · contract vs. HODL · all GPU compute providers.
// Is io.net legit?
Short answer: Based on our checks as of 2026-10-02: io.net scores 5.3/10 in our weighted review. We logged no red flags. User reports and operator background are documented with dated sources in the meta-review below.
| Status | active |
|---|---|
| Operator | io.net · HQ USA (high) |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Proof | partial |
| KYC | not documented |
Red flags
No red flags logged as of 2026-10-02.
What "legit" does not mean
A real, operating provider can still lose you money: with a contract you own no hardware, revenue follows coin price and difficulty, and most published contracts are priced so the seller comes out ahead. "Legit" means the operator exists and pays what its terms promise - not that the deal is profitable. 15 dated sources back this page; they are listed under sources.
// Alternatives to io.net
Same category, scored on the same criteria - so the comparison stays honest. Compare only in the same unit, and read the minimum, KYC and proof columns before switching.
#2
Salad / SaladCloud
Distributed consumer-GPU cloud with published per-second prices and measured host earn rates; no token, fiat only.
no KYC
from $0.015 per GPU/hr
#3
Lambda (Lambda Labs)
Established US GPU cloud: on-demand H100/B200 instances, 1-Click Clusters and Superclusters, billed per minute with no ingress/egress charges.
from $0.690 per GPU/hr
#4
Akash Network
Open permissionless marketplace for containerised GPU/CPU compute; providers bid, tenants pay per block.
from $0.090 per GPU/hr min $0.500
Ready to try io.net? Start small, verify one payout, and only scale up once the hashrate or compute actually matches what you paid for.
// io.net FAQ
Is io.net legit?
Based on our checks as of 2026-10-02: io.net scores 5.3/10 in our weighted review. We logged no red flags. User reports and operator background are documented with dated sources in the meta-review below.
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