Costs and getting access
How to request access
All VU researchers can get access to SURF Research Cloud. To start building an environment in Research Cloud you need 2 things:
1. An SRAM Collaboration connected to Research Cloud
- First apply for a new SRAM Collaboration (CO): log in to SRAM and click the “Request collaboration” button.
- The SRAM admins at IT for Research (ITvO) will contact you to discuss your specific needs and help you to get started.
- Once the Collaboration request is approved you can connect the Research Cloud Application to the new collaboration.
- Invite the colleagues that need to work in your VRE to your new CO.
2. A Wallet with credits
There are 2 ways to obtain credits:
- Apply for an NWO Small Compute Grant by following the links on the Small Compute applications page. In the request form select “SURF Research Cloud - HPC Cloud”.
- If for whatever reason your application for this grant is denied, you could also claim credits from VU Amsterdam Research Capacity Computing Service contract with SURF contract. Please contact IT for Research for details on how to obtain these credits.
Once the request is granted you will have access to a wallet in Research Cloud and can start to build an environment.
Are there costs involved?
You will need to apply for a wallet with credits, see How to request access above.
In 2025 the credit cost is:
- 1.03 credits per CPU hour (only if the system is active).
- 21 credits per GPU hour (only if the system is active).
- HDD storage 681 credits per TB per month, SSD storage 1525 credits per TB per month.
See the SURF services and rates document.