---
title: "Run Ollama on a cloud GPU from $0.021/hr | PowerGPU"
description: "Ollama on a fixed-price cloud GPU: one-click template, running in ~30 s, from $0.021/hr on RTX 3060. Best GPUs, volumes, per-second billing."
url: https://powergpu.ai/templates/ollama
last_modified: 2026-09-14T11:04:20+00:00
prices_as_of: 2026-09-14
site: PowerGPU (powergpu.ai)
---

Template · LLM serving & chat

# Run Ollama on a cloud GPU, in 30 seconds

Pull and run quantized models in one command, with a clean REST API. Ollama pulls and runs quantized models with one command and exposes a clean REST API on port 11434. It is the fastest way to get Llama, Qwen, Gemma or Mistral answering requests — and per-second billing turns a test into pennies. From **$0.021** /hr on an interruptible RTX 3060.

Ollama

powergpu/ollama

(ARM) (SSH) (Jupyter)

Pinned image, rebuilt on upstream releases. Override env, ports and disk at deploy.

### Running in ~30 s

Pre-cached image, ports mapped, TLS terminated — the stack is working before you finish reading this.

### Template is free

You pay the GPU price only: Ollama on a RTX 3060 is $0.042/hr on-demand, $0.021/hr interruptible, billed per second.

### Volumes for state

Models, datasets and outputs live on a $0.08/GB/mo volume; the instance stays disposable.

### Private by default

Dedicated GPU, encrypted disk, crypto payments, no KYC, no stored IPs — Jupyter and SSH behind your own credentials.

## Best GPUs for Ollama

Three price points that run this template well — Good, Better, Best. Every model in the catalogue works; these are the value picks.

| Tier | GPU | VRAM | On-demand | Interruptible | Why this card |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| (Good) | [RTX 3060](https://powergpu.ai/gpu/rtx-3060) | 12 GB | $0.042 | $0.021 | 12 GB: 7B–8B models at the lowest price on the sheet. | [Deploy](https://cloud.powergpu.ai/?gpu=rtx-3060) |
| (Better) | [RTX 4090](https://powergpu.ai/gpu/rtx-4090) | 24 GB | $0.327 | $0.163 | 24 GB: 14B FP16 or 32B 4-bit models, fast. | [Deploy](https://cloud.powergpu.ai/?gpu=rtx-4090) |
| (Best) | [RTX 5090](https://powergpu.ai/gpu/rtx-5090) | 32 GB | $0.439 | $0.219 | 32 GB GDDR7: the best tokens per dollar for mid-size models. | [Deploy](https://cloud.powergpu.ai/?gpu=rtx-5090) |

Need more VRAM? The [full catalogue](https://powergpu.ai/gpus) lists all 80 models with live availability; the [VRAM guide](https://powergpu.ai/guides/llm-vram-requirements) sizes models to cards.

## Deploy Ollama from the console, CLI or API

Pick the template in the [console](https://cloud.powergpu.ai/) deploy bar, or script it:

- **Console** — filter by GPU, choose *Ollama* in the template picker, set disk and env, deploy.
- **CLI** — pip install powergpu, then the command on the right. [CLI reference](https://powergpu.ai/cli).
- **API** — POST /v1/instances with "template": "ollama". [REST reference](https://powergpu.ai/api).
- **Own image** — any OCI reference works too; we inject the NVIDIA runtime. [Template docs](https://powergpu.ai/docs/templates).

*deploy — ollama*

```
$ powergpu launch --gpu rtx-3060 --template ollama \
    --disk 100 --volume models:/workspace/models
✓ instance i-7a41c0e2 running (27.9s)
# Ollama · RTX 3060 · $0.042/hr · per second
# https://i-7a41c0e2.powergpu.ai:8888 (TLS)
$ powergpu stop i-7a41c0e2   # billing ends this second
```

## What is inside the Ollama template

- **Image**: powergpu/ollama
- **CUDA**: inherits host driver (any 12.x / 13.x)
- **Access**: also builds for ARM hosts · SSH shell · JupyterLab on a mapped port
- **Category**: [LLM serving & chat](https://powergpu.ai/templates#llm)
- **Storage**: Instance NVMe disk (sized at deploy) + optional [network volumes](https://powergpu.ai/products/volumes)
- **Billing**: GPU price only, per second — no template fee, no setup fee

## Other llm serving & chat templates

- [vLLM on a cloud GPU](https://powergpu.ai/templates/vllm) — Production LLM serving with PagedAttention — an OpenAI-compatible endpoint from any HF model.
- [vLLM Omni on a cloud GPU](https://powergpu.ai/templates/vllm-omni) — vLLM extended for multimodal models — vision and audio inputs on the same fast server.
- [SGLang on a cloud GPU](https://powergpu.ai/templates/sglang) — High-throughput serving with RadixAttention — excels at structured and agentic workloads.
- [Llama.cpp on a cloud GPU](https://powergpu.ai/templates/llama-cpp) — GGUF inference with a built-in server — the lightest way to run quantized models.
- [Open WebUI (Ollama) on a cloud GPU](https://powergpu.ai/templates/open-webui-ollama) — A full chat UI over Ollama — conversations, RAG and model management in the browser.
- [Oobabooga Text Gen on a cloud GPU](https://powergpu.ai/templates/oobabooga-text-gen) — The text-generation WebUI & API — load GPTQ, EXL2 or GGUF with extensions.
- [All 37 templates](https://powergpu.ai/templates)

## Ollama on a cloud GPU: FAQ

Environment variables, ports and custom images are covered in the [template docs](https://powergpu.ai/docs/templates).

**How much does it cost to run Ollama on a cloud GPU?**

Only the GPU price — the template is free. From $0.021/hr on an interruptible RTX 3060, $0.042/hr on-demand on a RTX 3060. Billing is per second, so an hour of tinkering costs an hour, not a day. Storage is $0.08/GB/month.

**How long does Ollama take to start?**

About 30 seconds from the deploy click: the image is pre-cached on hosts, ports are mapped and TLS is terminated for you. Restarting a stopped instance is faster, and your disk is exactly as you left it.

**Can I keep my models and outputs between sessions?**

Yes — attach a volume at deploy. Everything on the volume survives instance destruction and mounts on the next instance in the region in seconds, at $0.08/GB/month. The instance disk itself survives stop/start but not destroy.

**How do I keep pulled models between instances?**

Mount a volume on /root/.ollama. Models download once and every future instance in the region starts with the library already present.

---

*About PowerGPU:* PowerGPU (powergpu.ai) is a cloud GPU rental service offering 80 NVIDIA GPU models — from the RTX A2000 at $0.024/hr to the B300 — at fixed prices set at least 30% below the public GPU marketplace median and re-checked weekly (H100 SXM: $1.428/hr on-demand). Billing is per second with no minimums; payment is crypto only (USDT, BTC, XMR, ETH, SOL, LTC, TRX) with no KYC. Instances run in Tier-III datacenters across 32 regions with a 99.9% uptime SLA and deploy in about 30 seconds from the web console (cloud.powergpu.ai) or the REST API.

Source: https://powergpu.ai/templates/ollama · Site index for AI assistants: https://powergpu.ai/llms.txt · Full content: https://powergpu.ai/llms-full.txt
