Google Colab vs. Vast: Which Platform Is Best for Your Projects?

If you’ve ever dabbled in machine learning, data science, or coding in general, chances are you’ve heard of Google Colaboratory – better known as Google Colab. But what exactly is it, what are its limitations, and how can you make the best use of it?

Let's take a closer look at these questions and more…

What Is Google Colab?

In a nutshell, Google Colab is a free, browser-based platform that lets you run and write code in a Jupyter notebook environment without having to set up anything locally on your machine. It's widely used for Python-based projects, especially in machine learning and data analysis.

Colab offers an easy starting point for experiments, since you can use the Jupyter notebook interface to write and execute code, visualize results, and keep everything neatly organized in one place. This type of interactive programming allows you to experiment with code in real time, making it ideal for data science and research projects that require immediate feedback and iteration.

Some other benefits include:

• Accessibility – The browser-based platform allows you to access your projects from anywhere.
• Integration with Google Drive – Save your notebooks and datasets directly to your Google Drive.
• Collaboration – Easily share your notebooks with others for real-time collaboration across teams.
• Wealth of Resources – Plenty of tutorials, sample notebooks, and community support are available in the Colab ecosystem, making it easier for you to learn and troubleshoot along the way.

These features make Google Colab a convenient tool for a wide range of users. However, it does have some significant limitations that may prompt you to look for other solutions – such as running a Jupyter instance right here on Vast and uploading your notebook directly.

Why Choose Vast Over Google Colab?

While Google Colab is helpful for smaller-scale projects or initial experimentation, Vast's cloud GPU platform offers a much more flexible, powerful, and reliable experience through our Jupyter integration. Here’s why you should consider using Vast instead.

No Resource Limits

With Google Colab, free-tier users face dynamic usage limits with idle timeout periods and resource caps that sometimes fluctuate. The paid plans have their own set of restrictions as well. For example, notebooks can run for up to 12 hours on a free plan, and the highest-tier paid plan supports continuous code execution for at most 24 hours.

But with Vast, there are no imposed time limits, so your projects can run uninterrupted for as long as you need. Whether your project takes hours or days, you won't be cut off or forced to restart.

Note: Google Colab does include the option to pay for a dedicated virtual machine (VM) to get around usage limits, but Vast's pricing is extremely competitive as we are the market leader in low-cost cloud GPU rental.

Customizable GPU Power for Every Project

Google Colab offers different VMs based on the plan you choose. The free tier only allows access to VMs with a standard system memory profile, restricting the compute power you can use. Paid versions of Colab provide access to machines with a higher system memory profile, but you still don't get to select specific GPUs unless you opt to manually pay for a dedicated machine.

Vast gives you access right from the start to powerful and customizable hardware options that are also highly affordable. You can select the exact GPU setup you need, whether you're running small tasks or large-scale machine learning models. For high-end performance, Vast supports multi-GPU configurations, making it easy to scale up your projects without hitting resource bottlenecks.

Simplicity and Reliability

Vast simplifies the entire process by running your Jupyter notebook directly in the cloud with no need for SSH or complex setups. Jupyter by itself is much more reliable than Google Colab and doesn't require setting up SSH keys – you can always open a terminal right inside the browser.

And while Google Colab does facilitate sharing and collaboration, Vast offers the same, with the added benefit of running on a more stable platform without timeouts or interruptions. Team members can collaborate in real time, sharing notebooks and results without worrying about session limits.

Making the Switch to Vast

If you've been using Google Colab for simple notebooks and want to step up your workflow, switching to Vast is straightforward. Simply download your notebook from Colab as a .ipynb file, run a Vast Jupyter instance with the recommended PyTorch template, and upload your notebook into Jupyter directly.

For a step-by-step guide on running Jupyter notebooks on Vast, check out our detailed doc here.

While Google Colab is a useful starting point for basic tasks, it often falls short when you're dealing with more complex workflows. Vast provides a more robust and customizable solution through its Jupyter notebook integration, with greater control, higher performance, and fewer interruptions.

With Vast, you'll enjoy the freedom to push your projects even further. Explore the possibilities today!