Compare Google Colab and Maxim AI free tiers side by side. Pricing, limits, change history, and risk assessment for developers.

Google Colab vs Maxim AI

Side-by-side free tier comparison. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-11-10.

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Verdict

Both Google Colab and Maxim AI offer free tiers. Google Colab provides "Free" while Maxim AI offers "Free".

A verdict here is not a fixed property of the vendor. A one-off pricing event demotes a vendor while its recorded date falls in the last 180 days and then lapses on its own, with nothing about the vendor having changed; a standing condition — a free tier withdrawn and not restored, a product retired — does not lapse with time. A badge carrying a date states the record it rests on; a badge with no date rests on no record in force.

Google Colab

Riskstable
CategoryAI / ML
TierFree
Verified2026-11-10
Last read2026-11-10
Changes0 recorded
Hosted Jupyter notebooks with free access to GPUs and TPUs. In the free version, notebooks run for at most 12 hours, depending on availability and usage, and idle runtimes time out. GPU access is heavily restricted, GPU and TPU types vary over time, and usage limits fluctuate. Colab Pro, Pro+ and Pay As You Go offer more compute, based on a balance of compute units.The page we cite for Google Colab states in words that it is free, which confirms the price — the limits stated here come from our own record rather than from that page.
  • On a free runtime with no compute-unit balance, Google may terminate without warning sessions that use SSH shells, remote desktops, a web UI instead of the notebook, chess training or distributed computing workers. SSH shells, remote desktops and working in a web UI instead of the notebook are allowed on a paid plan while the compute-unit balance is positive. (From research.google.com/colaboratory/faq.html, read 2026-10-08.)
  • A paid Google AI plan adds a monthly allotment of Colab compute units and stronger GPUs and TPUs to the same account. Storage-only Google One plans and free trials do not. (From research.google.com/colaboratory/faq.html, read 2026-10-08.)
  • Google AI Plus adds 50 Colab compute units a month, but not during a free trial of the plan. (From support.google.com/googleone/answer/16882689, read 2026-10-16.)
  • Google AI Pro adds 200 Colab compute units a month, but not during a free trial of the plan. (From support.google.com/googleone/answer/14534406, read 2026-10-16.)
  • Google AI Ultra adds 1,000 or 2,000 Colab compute units a month, depending on the plan, with longer background execution and premium GPU access, but not during a free trial of the plan. (From support.google.com/googleone/answer/16286513, read 2026-10-16.)
  • Colab Pro for Education, a free year of Colab Pro for students and faculty at US universities, is closed to new signups. (From research.google.com/colaboratory/faq.html, read 2026-10-16.)
  • A running notebook can be terminated if compute units run out. The account then uses the free tier's rules until more units are added. (From research.google.com/colaboratory/faq.html, read 2026-10-10.)
  • Colab bans file hosting, media serving and other web services not related to interactive compute on every managed runtime, free or paid. (From research.google.com/colaboratory/faq.html, read 2026-10-10.)
  • Google publishes no RAM figure for Colab. The free version gets VMs with a standard system memory profile. Paid plans can get a high memory system profile, subject to availability and the compute unit balance. (From research.google.com/colaboratory/faq.html, read 2026-10-23.)
  • On Colab Pro+ with a positive compute unit balance, a running notebook keeps executing after the browser closes, for up to 24 hours. Idle VMs are still deleted. Colab Pro gets extended execution times based on availability. Without a paid subscription, execution stops when you stop interacting. (From colab.research.google.com/signup, read 2026-10-23.)
  • Google Colab offers Pay As You Go at $9.99 for 100 Compute Units or $49.99 for 500 Compute Units, with no subscription. Colab Pro is $9.99 per month for 100 compute units. Colab Pro+ is $49.99 per month for 600 compute units. Compute units are not refundable, not transferable, and expire after 90 days. These are US prices. (From colab.research.google.com/signup, read 2026-11-09.)

Maxim AI

Riskstable
CategoryAI / ML
TierFree
Verified2026-10-29
Last read2026-10-29
Changes1 recorded
Simulate, evaluate, and observe your AI agents — The 'OSS' tier is free forever for developers, small teams, and self-managed deployments. It includes features like a drop-in replacement, OTel compatibility, metrics & traces, built-in observability, budget management, and more. A 14-day free trial of 'Bifrost Enterprise' is available.

Pricing Change History

Google Colab

No recorded pricing changes for Google Colab.

Maxim AI

restructured discovered 2026-10-04 · effective date unknown low impact
The free tier is now the 'OSS' tier and is described as being for developers, small teams, and self-managed deployments. While still free, the description is more specific. A 14-day free trial of 'Bifrost Enterprise' is also offered. Source ↗

Watch Both Vendors for Pricing Changes

We do not push notifications. Every change we record is readable the moment it lands, and the JSON answer carries an ETag — send it back as If-None-Match and an unchanged answer costs one 304.

curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=Google%20Colab curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=Google%20Colab curl https://agentdeals.dev/api/changes?vendor=Maxim%20AI curl https://agentdeals.dev/pricing-changes/feed.xml?vendor=Maxim%20AI

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