Paperspace, now part of DigitalOcean, offers a compelling GPU cloud platform tailored for machine learning and AI workloads. Its standout feature is Gradient, a managed notebook environment that lets users spin up Jupyter notebooks on GPU instances with minimal setup " ideal for prototyping and experimentation. The free tier with community GPUs is a genuine differentiator, making it one of the most accessible entry points for AI development.

Pricing starts at $0.45/GPU-hr, which is competitive for on-demand instances, though heavy users may find dedicated cloud providers or reserved instances elsewhere more cost-effective at scale. The platform supports a range of NVIDIA GPUs from consumer-grade to A100s and H100s. API access enables programmatic management of machines and deployments, which is essential for production workflows.

Strengths include an intuitive UI, pre-built ML templates, and seamless DigitalOcean ecosystem integration. Limitations include occasional GPU availability constraints during peak demand and fewer data center regions compared to hyperscalers like AWS or GCP. Overall, Paperspace strikes an excellent balance between accessibility and power for individual developers and small-to-mid-sized teams.