Quantum computing cost calculator
Budget$20
Shots a $20 balance buys on each processor, at provider list price.
| Manufacturer | Processor | Qubits | Rate | Max shots per job | Shots for $20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rigetti | Cepheus-1-108Q | 108 | $0.30 / task + $0.000425 / shot | 50,000 | 46,352 |
| IQM | Garnet | 20 | $0.30 / task + $0.00145 / shot | 20,000 | 13,586 |
| IQM | Emerald | 54 | $0.30 / task + $0.0016 / shot | 20,000 | 12,312 |
| QuEra | Aquila | 256 | $0.30 / task + $0.01 / shot | 1,000 | 1,970over 1,000 per job, so split across tasks |
| AQT | IBEX Q1 | 12 | $0.30 / task + $0.0235 / shot | 2,000 | 838 |
| IonQ | Forte Enterprise 1 | 36 | $0.30 / task + $0.08 / shot | 5,000 | 246 |
- Provider list rates, passed through without markup. Generated from the same registry that bills each job, so this page cannot quote a price the service will not charge.
- Aquila: runs Friday 04:00 to Monday 04:00 UTC, pauses 12:00-13:00 and 00:00-01:00 daily
- Queue time is not billed.
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What these numbers say
- $20 buys roughly 46,352 shots on Rigetti Cepheus-1-108Q
- The same $20 buys about 250 on IonQ Forte Enterprise 1
- Neither number is a mistake
- They are different physical technologies billed on different clocks, one by the shot and one by the second
- Simulation costs a fraction of a cent a circuit, which is why most work should start there
Why the spread is so wide
- A superconducting chip repeats a circuit thousands of times a second, so a shot is cheap
- A trapped-ion machine moves real atoms with lasers and repeats far more slowly, so a shot costs more
Splitting a budget across engines
- The table shows each engine on its own, because that is the honest unit
- Every rate is also given per shot and per task, so a top-up divides however you like
- Run the search in simulation for a fraction of a cent, then spend the rest on the one hardware run that genuinely needs a real device
- Every job can be estimated before it runs, at no charge, and simulations are then billed by the second they run