Introduction
This article explains the difference between GPU quota and GPU capacity on Crusoe Cloud, and why increasing your quota does not always mean you can immediately launch new VMs. If you have submitted a quota increase request and are still seeing "insufficient capacity" or "out of stock" errors when trying to provision GPU instances, this FAQ will help you understand why and what steps to take next.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a quota, and what does increasing it actually do?
A quota is a software-enforced ceiling on the number of GPU resources — measured in GPUs — that a project or organization is permitted to allocate. It acts as a guardrail to prevent runaway resource consumption.
Increasing your quota raises that ceiling. It does not provision physical hardware, it does not guarantee availability, and it does not change your billing. Think of quota as a spending limit on a credit card: having a higher limit doesn't mean there's money in the account. You can have a quota of 128 H100 GPUs and still be unable to launch a single VM if no physical nodes are available for your account type.
What is capacity, and how is it different from quota?
Capacity refers to actual available physical GPU nodes in a given region. A node must be physically present, healthy, and accessible to your account model (on-demand or reserved) before you can launch VMs on it.
Even with sufficient quota, VM creation will fail with an insufficient capacity error if no eligible nodes exist in the region at that moment. Quota and capacity are two independent dimensions — you need both to successfully launch a VM.
Which GPU instance types are available on-demand, and which require a reservation?
Crusoe Cloud offers two access models depending on the instance type:
| Instance Type | Access Model |
|---|---|
| C1a (CPU) | On-Demand |
| S1a (CPU/Storage) | On-Demand |
| L40s PCIe | On-Demand |
| A100 PCIe | On-Demand |
| H100 SXM | RIPA Only |
| A100 SXM | RIPA Only |
| MI300x | RIPA Only |
| B200 | RIPA Only |
| B300 | RIPA Only |
| GB200 | RIPA Only |
On-demand instances are available on a first-come, first-served basis. If nodes are occupied or undersupplied in a region, you will see an out-of-stock error even with a valid quota.
RIPA-only instances (H100 SXM, A100 SXM, MI300x, B200, B300, GB200) are not available on-demand under any circumstances. These high-density GPU nodes require a Reserved Instances Purchase Agreement (RIPA) — a commercial contract negotiated with the Crusoe Sales team that guarantees dedicated physical capacity for a fixed term. A quota increase alone will not unlock access to these instance types.
How do I get access to H100, MI300x, B200, or B300 instances?
These SKUs are exclusively available through a Reserved Instances Purchase Agreement (RIPA). To get started:
- Contact your Account Executive directly if you are an existing named account customer.
- If you do not have an assigned Account Executive, reach out to our Sales team via the Contact Sales page.
- Support tickets requesting RIPA-only instance types (H100 SXM, A100 SXM, MI300x, B200, B300, GB200) will be routed to the Sales team for a RIPA discussion — increasing quota alone will not unblock you for these instance types.
ℹ️ Note: RIPA contracts include both a node reservation (guaranteed physical hardware) and a billing reservation (the commercial rate applied to your VMs). Both must be in place before you can launch RIPA-covered instances.
How do I request a quota increase for on-demand GPU instances?
Submit a support ticket requesting a quota increase and include the following:
- Organization name and project name
- Instance type and the number of GPUs requested
- Brief description of your use case
Support can process on-demand quota increases directly. Note that quota approval does not guarantee immediate capacity — on-demand availability is subject to regional supply. If you see insufficient capacity errors after your quota has been increased, monitor availability and retry VM creation, or ask Support whether capacity is expected in your preferred region.