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# Compute Cost Index — Dataset v2026.3
Scrutica

# Data & Citation

The packaged Scrutica datasets and how to cite them. Each bundle ships as a CSV with a paired JSON Schema, methodology Markdown, SHA-256 checksum, and Croissant JSON-LD descriptor; the Citation view carries the reuse forms for the datasets and for any number rendered on the site.

# Compute Cost Index

Cite

Cloud GPU pricing normalized to $/petaFLOP-day across on-demand, spot, and reserved tiers, using dense BF16 throughput from Epoch AI ML Hardware (no 2:4 structured sparsity). Coverage: AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle OCI, CoreWeave, Lambda.

Version **2026.3**·508 rows·Released 2026-07-17·License [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)·SHA-256 9d4ad1306206…

Download bundle

[CSVFlat data, UTF-8](/api/datasets/compute-cost-index/csv)[Data DictionaryColumn definitions](/api/datasets/compute-cost-index/data-dictionary.md)[JSON SchemaColumn types](/api/datasets/compute-cost-index/schema.json)[MethodologyMarkdown](/api/datasets/compute-cost-index/methodology.md)[Croissant JSON-LDMLCommons 1.0](/api/datasets/compute-cost-index/croissant.json)[SHA-256Integrity](/api/datasets/compute-cost-index/sha256)

Hosted mirrors

ZenodoDeposition pending — a versioned Zenodo record with a resolvable DOI is in preparation. Until it lands, cite by version, URL, SHA-256, and retrieval date.

Pending

Hugging FaceMirror pending — a Hugging Face dataset mirror is in preparation. The canonical download above is complete and hash-verifiable in the meantime.

Pending

Citation

Gringras, D., & Scrutica. (2026). Scrutica Compute Cost Index (Version 2026.3) \[Data set\]. Zenodo. (DOI pending deposition)

BibTeXCopy BibTeX

@dataset{scrutica\_compute\_cost\_index\_2026\_3,
  author    = {Gringras, David and {Scrutica}},
  title     = {Scrutica Compute Cost Index},
  year      = {2026},
  version   = {2026.3},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  note      = {DOI pending Zenodo deposition; cite by version + SHA-256 hash from /datasets/compute-cost-index until assigned},
  url       = {https://scrutica.com/datasets/compute-cost-index}
}

Methodology

\# Scrutica Compute Cost Index — v2026.3

\*\*Release date:\*\* 2026-07-17
\*\*License:\*\* CC-BY-4.0
\*\*Suggested citation:\*\* see \`CITATION\` block at the bottom.

## Coverage

508 (instance × pricing-tier) rows across 6 providers and 9 accelerator types. Pricing tiers covered: on-demand, spot, reserved 1-year, reserved 3-year.

## Normalisation

Each row's hourly instance price is divided by the instance's dense BF16 throughput to give a $/petaFLOP-hour figure, multiplied by 24 for the day figure. Throughput uses Epoch AI's ML Hardware corpus (e.g., 989.5 dense BF16 TFLOP/s on H100 SXM); \*\*no 2:4 structured sparsity\*\* factor is applied — the index is intended to be comparable with dense training cost. Reserved-tier rows are amortised at the provider's published commitment-term pricing; we do not impute hidden discount tiers.

## Sources and authority tiers

| Source | Authority tier | What it contributes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AWS pricing page | 1 | On-demand and reserved hourly rates |
| Azure pricing page | 1 | On-demand and reserved hourly rates |
| GCP pricing page | 1 | On-demand and reserved hourly rates |
| Oracle OCI pricing page | 1 | On-demand hourly rates |
| Lambda pricing page | 2 | On-demand hourly rates |
| CoreWeave pricing page | 2 | On-demand hourly rates |
| ec2.shop JSON API | 2 | Cross-verification of AWS rates and spot pricing |
| Epoch AI ML Hardware | 1 | Per-accelerator dense BF16 throughput denominator |

## Refresh path

Pricing is refreshed via the scripts that produce \`data/processed/cloud\_pricing.json\`; this dataset is regenerated by \`scripts/package-datasets.ts\`.

## Known limitations

- Spot pricing is a snapshot; real-world spot prices fluctuate intraday.
- On-prem TCO (build-vs-buy) is rendered alongside on \`https://scrutica.com/cost-index\` but is \*not\* in this CSV — it is a derived view, not a primary measurement.
- Commitments that require enterprise procurement (private negotiated rates, GPU reservation deals) are out of scope; this index is the public-rack-rate floor.

## Citation

\`\`\`bibtex
@dataset{scrutica\_compute\_cost\_index\_2026\_3,
  author       = {Gringras, David and {Scrutica}},
  title        = {Scrutica Compute Cost Index},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {2026.3},
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  note         = {DOI pending Zenodo deposition; cite by version + SHA-256 hash from /datasets/compute-cost-index until assigned},
  url          = {https://scrutica.com/datasets/compute-cost-index}
}
\`\`\`

See also

The interactive surface that consumes this dataset lives at [/economics/cost-index](/economics/cost-index); for the platform-wide data-provenance overview, see [/methodology](/methodology).

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[CC BY-SA 4.0·© 2026 Scrutica](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0")

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