Running a 1,000-shot job on IonQ’s Forte quantum computer through AWS Braket can cost $80, while some jobs on the same platform cost under $1. This price difference illustrates a broader lack of transparency in quantum computing access; IBM lists pay-as-you-go rates at $96 per minute, but reserved capacity requires contacting sales to determine cost.
Quip Network is building an alternative model where payment is tied to the result rather than reserved machine time, allowing both quantum and classical computers to compete for rewards and offering a quoted maximum cost before execution. The network currently operates on the Aglais testnet with free credits for new users.
AWS Braket Per-Task Costs Scale to $80 Per Job
This disparity highlights the complexity of accessing quantum computing resources and the varying costs associated with different hardware. The per-shot rate on Rigetti’s Cepheus machine is $0.000425, while IonQ’s Forte reaches $0.08 per shot, creating a significant price difference for the same computational workload. These costs add to the time and effort required to model a problem for a quantum computer, a task the user must undertake independently.
The cloud-based, per-task model contrasts with traditional enterprise access, where D-Wave and IBM offer reserved machine time and support through direct contracts. IBM publishes pay-as-you-go rates of $96 per minute, but pricing for reserved capacity and dedicated support requires a sales consultation. This lack of transparency in the higher tiers of access is a common criticism within the field, as the true cost remains obscured until late in the procurement process.
According to one source, pricing is private, so those who learn the real number are already far enough into a sales process to ask. Compute providers, both quantum and classical, compete to deliver the best answer to a posted optimization job, with the chain verifying submissions and awarding payment based on performance. The company claims that “you can run a job on a quantum computer this week,” emphasizing the accessibility of its platform.
Allowing classical solvers to compete is a key feature of Quip Network’s approach, creating a public record of where quantum hardware demonstrates a genuine advantage. If quantum hardware only wins a job when it returns a better answer for the price, the market will reveal the specific problems where quantum computation outperforms classical methods. The open-source tooling provided by Quip Network enables users to build and test problems on their own machines before committing to hardware costs, further reducing the barrier to entry.
Source: https://quip.network/blog/what-does-it-actually-cost-to-run-a-job-on-a-quantum-computer
