# Modal

> modal.com | Storage, Compute; 3 records: free tier, limits, identity cost and evidence.

HTML https://fshy.ajam.dev/p/modal/ | JSON https://fshy.ajam.dev/api/v1/entity/modal.json | how to read a record: https://fshy.ajam.dev/llms-full.txt

## Modal (Storage)

- `storage/modal` | qualifies | evidence reported | binding retention-clamped | category iaas
- identity a placeholder: card and phone unknown | verified 2026-10-21 (inherited) | stale on 2026-11-05
- url https://modal.com
- free tier: Volumes: 'Volumes include up to 1 TiB free' on the Starter plan, then $0.09/GiB/mo (per PricingSaaS capture of the Jun 2026 pricing change). Starter also includes $30/mo of compute. | unit: TiB | metered on: unstated | read on: 2026-10-21 | source: [1]
- per-object cap: not stated | source: [1] | note: not stated
- retention: 500,000 inodes per Volume; 1 TiB free per workspace; volumes snapshot once/day for billing (deleted data can bill up to 4 days); $30/mo compute is the real ceiling — serving costs CPU-seconds, so throughput is bounded by the credit, not the disk. | days: 4 | source: [1] | note: not stated
- egress: 1 TiB/billing cycle included on Starter, then $0.04/GiB — metered but with a 1 TiB monthly floor. Explicitly: 'Reads from and writes to Modal Volumes do not count as network egress.' | metered: yes
- identity: card
- interface: s3, rest, cli
- limits:
  - retention-clamped (binding): deleted data can bill up to 4 days [1]
- limits note: 500,000 inodes per Volume; 1 TiB free per workspace; volumes snapshot once/day for billing (deleted data can bill up to 4 days); $30/mo compute is the real ceiling — serving costs CPU-seconds, so throughput is bounded by the credit, not the disk.
- interface detail: rest
- tooling: `modal` Python SDK + `modal volume put/get/ls` CLI; volumes mount as a POSIX filesystem inside containers. Anyone who needs S3 semantics writes a tiny FastAPI shim on a web endpoint.
- composes with: 1 TiB free volume per workspace x N free workspaces (Starter allows 3 users/workspace, workspaces themselves are free) => multi-TiB at zero cost. Each TiB is fully read-write and persists with no session attached.
- reliability: Data persists independent of compute and survives container shutdown; the failure mode is billing, not deletion — exceed $30/mo of compute and the workspace needs a card.
- notes: the same as the free tier
- evidence:
  - [1] 2026-10-21: 'Volumes include up to 1 TiB free'; 'Starter has no monthly fee and includes $30 of compute'
  - [2] 2026-10-21: egress pricing table: Starter 1 TiB included, $0.04/GiB after; volumes I/O not counted as egress
  - [3] 2026-10-21: 500k inode cap, sub_path mounts, read-only mounts
  - [4] 2026-10-21: 'Added Volumes storage pricing ($0.09/GiB/mo, 1 TiB/mo free)'
- sources:
  - [1] https://modal.com/pricing
  - [2] https://modal.com/docs/guide/network-egress-billing
  - [3] https://modal.com/docs/guide/volumes
  - [4] https://pricingsaas.com/companies/modal/diffs/2026Q2

## Modal Volumes

- `storage/modal-volumes` | qualifies | evidence reported | binding none | category paas
- identity a placeholder: card and phone unknown | verified 2026-10-21 (inherited) | stale on 2026-11-05
- url https://modal.com/docs/guide/volumes
- free tier: 1 TiB of Volume storage free per workspace on the Starter plan ('Volumes include up to 1 TiB free'; 'Volumes $0.09 / GiB / mo *includes 1 TiB / mo free'), plus 1 TiB/month free network egress. This is the single largest clean free-tier number. | unit: TiB | metered on: stored-bytes | read on: 2026-10-21 | source: [1]
- per-object cap: not stated | source: [1] | note: not stated
- retention: Files must be < 1 TiB each; Volumes v1 capped at 500,000 inodes (v2 removes the inode cap); concurrent commits should stay under ~5; billing is a daily snapshot of total storage and deletions keep billing for up to 4 days. | days: 4 | source: [1] | note: not stated
- egress: 1 TiB/month free egress on Starter (10 TiB on Team, 100 TiB on Enterprise); beyond that $0.04/GiB. Not CDN'd for public download — egress is measured per workspace. | metered: yes | free allowance: 1 TiB per month
- identity: card
- interface: s3, rest, cli
- limits note: Files must be < 1 TiB each; Volumes v1 capped at 500,000 inodes (v2 removes the inode cap); concurrent commits should stay under ~5; billing is a daily snapshot of total storage and deletions keep billing for up to 4 days.
- interface detail: rest
- tooling: modal Python SDK (`modal.Volume`, `modal volume put/get/ls` CLI), a real distributed POSIX-ish filesystem mounted into containers, 25 MB chunking + caching. Not S3, and no public HTTP object URL — you must go through the CLI or a small deployed app. Frontend download UI caps at 16 MB/file, so bulk extraction is CLI-only.
- composes with: 1 TiB x unlimited free workspaces (each a separate account/org with its own Starter plan). Also separate storage objects: multiple Volumes per workspace, and Volumes are independent of the $30/month compute credit — the 1 TiB is a storage allowance, not compute spend, so idling costs nothing.
- reliability: Very stable; the awkward part is retrieval latency and the absence of a public URL — this is storage you must front with your own service, so it fits the 'cold archive' workload better than 'serving'.
- notes: the same as the free tier
- evidence:
  - [1] 2026-10-21: 'Volumes $0.09 / GiB / mo *includes 1 TiB / mo free'; FAQ: 'Included usage applies to compute ... Volumes include up to 1 TiB free.'; plan table 'Included network egress 1 TiB / month' (Starter)
  - [2] 2026-10-21: 'While there's no file size limit for individual files in a volume, the frontend only supports downloading files up to 16 MB. For larger files, please use the CLI'; 'Files must be less than 1 TiB'; 'hard limit of 500,000 inodes ... per Volume' (v1)
- sources:
  - [1] https://modal.com/pricing
  - [2] https://modal.com/docs/guide/volumes

## Modal (Starter)

- `compute/modal` | fails-identity | evidence documented | binding write-gated | category platform host | tier Starter
- needs card yes, phone no, ID no, institution no | verified 2026-10-24T03:25:00.000Z (live) | stale on 2026-11-24
- url https://modal.com/pricing
- price parsed USD 9.99/mo
- free tier: Starter has no monthly fee and includes USD 30 of compute per month, renewed monthly, plus up to 1 TiB of free Volume storage; a payment method must be on file | unit: none | metered on: none | read on: 2026-10-24 | source: [1] | note: The allowance is denominated in dollars of compute, not hours, so the hours depend on the shape chosen.
- per-object cap: not applicable: the unit is a session, not an object
- retention: Volumes persist while the Workspace exists; up to 1 TiB is free | source: [1]
- egress: a network egress allowance exists and is not part of the USD 30 | metered: yes | free allowance: unstated on the pricing page | source: [1]
- identity: card | detail: a payment method on file before anything runs: 'you must have a payment method on file in order to use Modal'. No hold is stated on either page read. Debit acceptance is not stated.
- interface: rest, cli
- limits:
  - volume-quota: USD 30 of compute a month on Starter [1]
  - write-gated (binding): a payment method on file is required to use the service at all [2]
  - volume-quota: 3 users per Workspace on Starter [1]
- limits note: The 3x multiplier is the fact that decides this row: functions are preemptible and cheap, Sandboxes are not and cost three times the list rate on CPU and memory.
- binding note: the card, not the USD 30, is what stops a signup without a card; the credit is unusable without one
- interface detail: Python SDK, JavaScript client, Go client; Sandbox.create with a timeout up to 24 hours
- tooling: modal CLI and SDKs; sandbox exec, filesystem API, tunnels
- composes with: the largest recurring credit in this class, and it buys the most expensive per-hour machine in it
- reliability: a function is capped at 24 hours and a container is kept alive 60 seconds after its last billed input, so short jobs are billed for a tail
- notes: USD 30 a month at a 2 vCPU / 4 GB shape is roughly 170 hours a month; the arithmetic depends on the published per-second rates, which this record does not recompute. The card is the whole story for a user.
- evidence note: the credit, the card requirement and the free Volume are quoted from two first-party pages today.
- extras:
  - shape.vcpu: 2
  - shape.ram_gib: 4
  - shape.note: a representative small shape; Modal bills per second for CPU, memory and GPU separately
  - billing_model: usage
  - granularity.min_billed_s: 1
  - granularity.rounding_s: 1
  - session_cap.wall_clock_min: 1440
  - session_cap.idle_reap_s: 60
  - session_cap.restart_required: no
  - session_cap.note: 24 h maximum function duration; 60 s billed keep-alive
  - keep_rate.value: 0.0
  - keep_rate.basis: a scaled-to-zero container is not billed
  - keep_rate.source: https://modal.com/pricing
  - persistent_storage.included_gib: 1024
  - persistent_storage.price_gib_month: up to 1 TiB free
  - persistent_storage.durability: volume
  - persistent_storage.survives_stop: yes
  - persistent_storage.survives_destroy: yes
  - persistent_storage.max_retention: until deleted
  - network_out.allow_outbound: yes
  - network_out.allow_inbound_listen: yes
  - network_out.ports: web endpoints and tunnels
  - network_out.static_ip: no
  - network_out.ipv6: no
  - free_tier_kind: credit
  - m10h_usd: 4.11
  - m24h_usd: 9.99
  - price_arithmetic: USD 30 of compute a month on Starter. Modal's per-unit rate table was not extractable from the pricing page, so the figure below is derived from the vendor's own worked example on that page, not from a published rate line: '50% of one CPU core and 256 MiB of memory ... $0.02365/day for the CPU, and $0.00200/day for the memory' gives USD 0.0473 per core-hour and USD 0.0080 per GiB-hour. A 2 vCPU / 4 GiB shape is 1 physical core plus 4 GiB, so 0.0473 + 4 x 0.0080 = USD 0.0793 an hour, and USD 30 / 0.0793 = 378 hours = 15.8 days at 24/7. Treat as inferred: the rate line itself was not read.
  - price_note: 2 vCPU and 4 GiB at the non-preemptible Sandbox rate: 1 physical core is 2 vCPU, so the shape is 1 core plus 4 GiB, which is USD 0.2380/h.
  - price_basis: 10 h/day x 30 = 300 h; 24/7 x 30 = 730 h
  - egress_note: the charge began 2026-10-01, three weeks before this read
  - burst_x: 1.0
  - crosscheck.boat_compare_2026-09-26: USD 0.760/h at 4 vCPU / 8 GB
  - term: monthly
  - credit_usd: 30
  - credit_expiry: monthly; unused included compute does not accumulate
  - unattended: yes
  - unattended_mechanism: cron-scheduled functions and Sandboxes run with no client attached; a function may run 24 hours
  - units: RAM and disk are quoted in the vendor's own decimal GB, not GiB. The ram_gib and disk_gib keys carry the vendor's number unconverted, so where a vendor writes 30 GB the key holds 30 and the true value is about 27.9 GiB. No conversion was performed.
- evidence:
  - [1] 2026-10-22: Starter includes USD 30 of compute a month with no monthly fee; a 3x multiplier applies to CPU and memory for non-preemptible resources
  - [1] 2026-10-22: Modal Sandboxes are priced at the non-preemptible Function rate; minimum request 128 MiB and 0.125 cores
  - [3] 2026-10-22: sandboxes default to a 5-minute maximum lifetime, extendable to 24 hours
  - [4] 2026-10-22: sandboxes reach any public IP by default; outbound can be blocked, allowlisted by CIDR, or allowlisted by domain on 443
  - [5] 2026-10-22: egress billing started 2026-10-01; Starter includes 1 TiB a cycle and overage is USD 0.04 per GiB
  - [1] 2026-10-22: 'Starter has no monthly fee and includes $30 of compute (GPUs, CPUs, Memory) per month', quoted; the allowance resets monthly
  - [6] 2026-10-22: a competitor's comparison table lists Modal at USD 0.760 per hour for a 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 50 GB machine, with list prices dated 2026-09-26; this is a reported rate about a third party and not a reading of the vendor's own page
  - [2] 2026-10-23: 'Note that you must have a payment method on file in order to use Modal.', quoted; the pricing page states 'Get started with $30 / month free credit' at https://modal.com/pricing on the same date
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Starter has no monthly fee and includes $30 of compute (GPUs, CPUs, Memory) per month.'; 'Modal Sandboxes are priced at the rate of non-preemptible Functions'; 'On Modal, a 3x multiplier is applied to the CPU and Memory list price for non-preemptible resources.'; 'Included usage applies to compute: Functions and Sandboxes, billed by the second for CPU, memory, and GPU time. Volumes include up to 1 TiB free.'
  - [2] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Note that you must have a payment method on file in order to use Modal.'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Starter has no monthly fee and includes $30 of compute (GPUs, CPUs, Memory) per month.'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Volumes include up to 1 TiB free.'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'The starter plan allows up to three users in a workspace.'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Free usage of Shared Endpoints is not part of the Starter plan. Tokens are billed from your first request' — effective September 1, 2026
- sources:
  - [1] https://modal.com/pricing
  - [2] https://modal.com/docs/guide/billing
  - [3] https://modal.com/docs/guide/sandbox
  - [4] https://modal.com/docs/guide/sandbox-networking
  - [5] https://modal.com/docs/guide/network-egress-billing
  - [6] https://boat.dev/compare