3 facts you need to know about Render Farm Price

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post talking about Ghz hour, OB hour and how the render farm price works. I’m just like many of you. At first, I had no idea what Ghz hour / OB hour is? What I don’t know, I have to find it out. I read a lot of blog posts on this topic, many of which give very detailed information, some of which point out unique aspects. The newbies can get something from these kinds of posts. But there are some articles that are quite useless.

Today, I talk about a specific post.

https://www.foxrenderfarm.com/share/render-farm-price-of-the-top-10-render-farms

This is an article showing the price of the Top 10 render farms according to Fox renderfarm’s ranking.

The article gives very basic information: an introduction to 10 render farms and the prices listed on each render farm’s website. Too simple and low effort! It’s super easy for readers (like me) to find this information. I was expecting something more helpful than that 🙁 For example, a guide on how to calculate the price of render farms, or which render farm is cheaper. Or Fox renderfarm can prove how their prices are better than its competitors. But there is nothing at all. Fox simply goes to each render farm, takes a screenshot of the price, and put it in the article.

Although this is a low-effort article, I still want to add more insight from the information that article gives.

1. Render farm price problems

In the article, Fox renderfarm lists the prices of the Top 10 render farms. Each render farm uses a different pricing unit. I sum them up and put in the table below:

From above, I can see that among 10 render farms, there are 4 pricing units for CPU rendering, and 4 pricing units for GPU rendering.

In my opinion, Fox’s article has the following problems:

1. Many readers will not understand what is Ghz hour, OB hour, node hour, or server hour. (Except for those who have used render farm many times or those who have researched as much as me).

Even if readers regularly use render farms and understand the terms, then:

2. It is not possible for them to compare prices between render farms. Because each render farm uses a different pricing unit. I might be able to compare prices between render farms having the same ones only. For example, Rebusfarm, Garagefarm and Ranch Computing (using Ghz hour and OB hour). Or Renderstreet and Concierge Render (using server hour).

3. Even in the case that render farms all use the same pricing unit, the comparison of render farm prices is relative.

As I mentioned in my previous ‘Render farm cost’ article, I can only compare the prices of render farms when all factors are the same. But in fact, the factors of the render farms are different.

• Different hardware (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc).
• The definition of core is different.
• Most importantly, I don’t know the hardware I’m rendering on (SaaS render farms).

Please read the post below to better understand what I mean. In addition, my post also explains Ghz hour, OB hour, node hour, and how render farm cost works (for those of you who don’t know).

In case you want to check out other sources, here are the articles I found helpful:

https://vfxrendering.com/render-farm-price-guide-for-5-best-render-farms/

https://radarrender.com/how-the-render-farm-pricing-works/

https://blog.render.st/render-farms-costs-pricing/

Also, this is just my personal opinion. I know the listed price of SaaS render farms. But I wonder if I pay anything extra than the actual render cost. The reason why I worry is because I don’t know what the render farms do, or what hardware is used for my project after I have uploaded it.

In short, the prices of render farms are relative. It depends on the hardware (which varies from farm to farm) and depends on each project. So I couldn’t compare at all. The best way is always to use the real project.

It seems that Blendergrid’s pricing model is the most optimal in 10 render farms. Since this farm will calculate the price based on each specific project after I submit it. Yet, Blendergrid still has the disadvantage of SaaS render farms. That is, I don’t know the current hardware that is rendering my project, nor the process after I upload the scenes.

For me, IaaS render farms (for instance, iRender from the Top 10 render farms by Fox) is better in terms of rendering cost clarity. I can control the rendering process and hardware. As a result, I can calculate the rendering cost in real time.

2. Render farm price ranking

Fox renderfarm introduces the price of the Top 10 render farms. I don’t know what Fox means here is the Top 10 best render farms in general or the Top 10 render farms having the best price. Anyway, as it’s the “Top”, it means the ranking, right? 🙂 I list 10 render farms according to Fox’s ranking:

1. Fox renderfarm
2. Rebusfarm
3. Garagefarm
4. Renderstreet
5. Blendergrid
6. Concierge Render
7. Ranch Computing
8. SheepIt
9. iRender
10. TurboRender

No surprise, Fox is 1st while Garagefarm is 3rd position. Well, let me relate a bit to my Foxrenderfarm vs Garagefarm post.

In the video, I used a project in Blender and rendered on Fox renderfarm and Garagefarm. What a coincidence that the Top 10 above have many render farms specialized in Blender rendering, too. The actual results are the opposite of the ranking. Not to mention the rendering speed, just the render cost alone, Garage is much cheaper. The cost of Garage is even half of Fox for CPU rendering.

The Render Farm Price article by Fox renderfarm further proves my point when placing Fox in the render farm group 1 (render farms talk a lot about themselves). Soon I will write another in-depth price/cost comparison between the 2 render farm groups Loud & affirmative vs Calm & quite.

If you still have doubts about my test, feel free to check other websites for more objective results. But there are very few guys comparing Fox renderfarm and Garagefarm. Well, I’ll insert a video I know so you can use it as a reference.

Next time!