RTX 3060 vs RTX 3090: Specs, VRAM & Price
Short answer: choose the RTX 3090 when 24 GB of VRAM is the gating requirement. Choose the RTX 3060 when 12 GB is enough for the workload and the lower hourly rate points that way.
The RTX 3060 has 12 GB of VRAM; the RTX 3090 has 24 GB.
You can rent both by the hour, no purchase required. RTX 3060 from $0.132/GPU/hr; RTX 3090 from $0.198/GPU/hr. The RTX 3060 is 33% cheaper at the entry rate.
RTX 3060
Good for inference and small-scale training workloads
RTX 3090
Good for inference and small-scale training workloads
Last updated: 2026-10-16 UTCRefreshes every 6 hours
Specs side by side
| Spec | RTX 3060 | RTX 3090 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12 GB | 24 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | – | 936 GB/s |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| Compute capability | 8.6 | 8.6 |
| Precisions in hardware | FP32, FP16, BF16, INT4 | FP32, FP16, BF16, INT4 |
| Peak FP16/BF16 tensor TFLOPS | – | 142 TFLOPS |
| NVLink / multi-GPU interconnect | – | NVLink, 2-way |
| Max board power (TDP) | – | 350W |
| Form factor | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Regions | 1 | 2 |
On-demand price
| Rate | RTX 3060 | RTX 3090 |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest per GPU/hr | $0.231/GPU/hr | $0.198/GPU/hr (cheapest overall) |
Which is better for AI: RTX 3060 or RTX 3090?
Choose the RTX 3090 when 24 GB of VRAM is the gating requirement. Choose the RTX 3060 when 12 GB is enough for the workload and the lower hourly rate points that way.
RTX 3060 vs RTX 3090: common questions
Is the RTX 3060 or the RTX 3090 better for AI?
Short answer: choose the RTX 3090 when 24 GB of VRAM is the gating requirement. Choose the RTX 3060 when 12 GB is enough for the workload and the lower hourly rate points that way.
Is the RTX 3060 or the RTX 3090 cheaper to rent?
On Aquanode's live marketplace the RTX 3060 starts at $0.132/GPU/hr (median $0.232/GPU/hr) and the RTX 3090 starts at $0.198/GPU/hr (median $0.639/GPU/hr). The RTX 3060 is the cheaper of the two at the entry rate, by 33%.
What is the difference between the RTX 3060 and the RTX 3090?
The RTX 3060 has 12 GB of VRAM against the RTX 3090's 24 GB; both are Ampere parts; both run BF16, INT4 workloads in hardware. On price, the RTX 3060 lists from $0.132/GPU/hr and the RTX 3090 from $0.198/GPU/hr.
How widely available are the RTX 3060 and the RTX 3090?
The RTX 3060 is listed in 1 region and the RTX 3090 in 2 regions right now.
How much does 1,000 GPU-hours cost on the RTX 3060 vs the RTX 3090?
At the lowest rates listed today, 1,000 GPU-hours costs $132 on the RTX 3060 and $198 on the RTX 3090, a difference of $66 for the same runtime. Rates are per GPU per hour and update hourly.
How much VRAM does the RTX 3060 have compared to the RTX 3090?
The RTX 3060 has 12 GB of VRAM; the RTX 3090 has 24 GB.
How this comparison is calculated
Every price is normalized to a per-GPU hourly rate using the same pipeline as every other pricing surface on Aquanode, and only the cheapest qualifying offer per provider is shown. A dash means that provider does not currently list that GPU.
Architecture, compute capability and supported precisions come from each vendor's published datasheet for that generation, not from the marketplace feed. This page regenerates at most once per hour.
Memory bandwidth, tensor TFLOPS, NVLink/interconnect and max board power are the same verified-from-datasheet figures shown on each model's own RTX 3060 page and RTX 3090 page, which link the primary vendor source for that model. A dash here means Aquanode hasn't verified that figure from a primary source yet, never a guess.
Go further
Check what fits in each card's memory with the RTX 3060 VRAM calculator and the RTX 3090 VRAM calculator, or browse every model by generation in the GPU index.
More RTX 3060 comparisons
More RTX 3090 comparisons
Related reading: H100 pricing and specs, H100 vs H200, A100 vs H100, H100 and H200: SXM vs NVL vs PCIe, and The best GPUs for AI, ranked.
